After a 50-win regular season, the New York Knicks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers by seven points in Game 1 of the First Round. Surely, diehard Knicks fan Stephen A. Smith would be over the moon. However, when dishing out his pick for the 2024 NBA finals, he looked at the playing field with an analyst view. Instead of the Knicks, the ‘First Take’ host picked their long-time Eastern Conference rival to win it all.
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As per the ESPN vet, the Boston Celtics will probably make it out of the East. While talking to Alex Rodrigues on the Bloomberg-powered ‘The Deal’, Smith picked his teams for the NBA finals and crowned the Jayson Tatum-led squad as the 2024 champions. When asked, “Who will win the NBA Finals this year and why?”
“Da**. I’m still going to say the Boston Celtics. I have no reason to feel this way. But it’s Jayson Tatum time,” Stephen A. Smith told Alex Rodriguez. So far in his career, Tatum has made four trips to the Eastern Conference finals. However, he managed to win the EC just once in 2022 but lost the championship to the Warriors.
Thus, Smith believes that it is time for him and the Celts to land a title after 16 years. Meanwhile, he predicted Jokic and the Nuggets to make their second straight finals appearance, “I think it’s going to be Boston-Denver. I think Boston is going to win the championship,” added the analyst.
Smith believes that the finals series between the two heavyweights would go all the way to Game 7. While the 56-year-old did pick the Celts as the title winners with a heavy heart, what does he think about his Knicks?
Stephen A. Smith likes the chances of his favorite squad
Ahead of their Game 1 battle against the 76ers, the Knicks superfan set the bar high for his team. While previewing the match, the excited analyst touched upon the gigantic hopes for the squad. During ESPN’s NBA Countdown show, the First Take host was in a jovial mood while predicting that the Knickerbockers would go all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals.
He referred to the Game 1 against the 76ers as the stepping stone to trigger a prolonged postseason run. “I have declared the New York Knicks are going to the Eastern Conference Finals. Step one begins today,” Smith claimed.
If the Knicks win their series against the 76ers, they will play the winner between the Bucks and the Pacers in the second round. Considering the sub-par defense of these two squads, the Knicks would fancy their chances. At any rate, if Smith’s prediction holds true, it will be the 16th playoff series between the Knicks and the Celtics, in their rich 72-year playoff history.
They have played in 67 games against each other with the Celts emerging on top in 36 contests, per Land of Basketball. It will be the first time they meet in a playoff series since 2013. The Knicks ended up winning that series 4-2 behind Carmelo Anthony’s heroics.
