The Conference Finals Are Here, and They Are Mid

Mid is the best word that I can think of to describe these conference finals. We have had some fun looking basketball from three of the four teams, but they haven't been able to put it together at the same time. As a fan of basketball with no stake in these teams, I simply want fun basketball, and I've been disappointed with the product so far. But there is still a lot of talk about, so I'll break down what I've seen.

Celtics and Heat tied up at 1s

We've seen some great ball from both of these clubs at different points. From the Heat, its been a collection of amazing defense and great shooting that sparked the run leading them to a game one win. They had 12 blocks and 10 steals for a total of 22 stocks. Outside of stocks, they played amazing defense by pressing ball handlers and contesting shots even if they didn't get blocked. Jimmy Butler has been amazing putting the backpack on for the heat on both ends of the floor. Bam has been struggling on offense, but he has been a non-factor on offense. Gabe Vincent and Max Struss have been phoenonimal filling in for Lowry, two examples of how damn good the heat are at finding talent in unexpected places. Tyler Herro has been lackluster for his standards, as you would like to see him score more as a spark plug. We've seen them live and die by the three, so they're going to have to hit shots and play their impregnable defense if they want to make it to the finals.

For the Celtics, I've like what I've seen when they have had their team healthy. In the first game, due to the loss of Al Horford, they had to play Daniel Thies a lot of minutes, which he played poorly in. He finished -16 and didn't look great. But, since Horford returned, Theis only had to play 6 spot minutes in which he looked fine. The return of Marcus Smart in game 2 also helped their defense look much better, both on Jimmy Butler and as a team. He also helped to take over ball handing duties for the C's, helping them to move the ball more and cut down on turnovers. Jayson Tatum was amazing in the first half of game 2, and Jaylen Brown has been solid since the fourth quarter of game 1. Outside of all of those players, I think that the x-factor of this series is going to be Grant Williams III. He has proven to be a reliable shooter in the playoffs, and I think the celtics are going to need him to shoot a lot of threes efficiently and defend well if they want a chance at a win this series.

The Warriors Hold a One Game Lead Over the Mavs

There isn't a lot to say about this series after the first game. Seeing the Warriors fire on all cylinders was a fun thing to watch, but the game being a blowout took some of the fun out of it. For the Mavs, Luka struggled, which is generally going to result in a loss. The others also failed to do the things that led to wins in the suns series like hitting shots and playing solid defense. This series was always going to be an uphill battle for the Mavs, so we'll see going forward if they're able to make any noise.

That's all for this edition of For Three! There wan't a whole lot to say about this series so far because it's still so young and the games haven't been close, but I'm excited to watch the rest of the games, hopefully they'll be better than the first three. Have a great day and spread positivity!