MORE: Full list of players for All-NBA First, Second and Third Teams What is LeBron James' record in Conference Finals? History shows that James is nearly a lock to advance to the NBA Finals once he makes it to this stage of the playoffs. The good news for Angelenos doesn't stop there. James has now reached at least the Conference Finals in 12 of his 20 seasons.

The four-time NBA champion once again secured a spot in that round after the Lakers defeated the Warriors in Game 6 on Friday night.

“We’re looking forward to this.LeBron James finds himself back in a familiar place: the Conference Finals. “Everybody has that right mindset,” Celtics guard Derrick White said. Olympian this summer, just like Tatum - in the offseason to help anchor a defense built for this time of year. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis all finished averaging at least 20 points per game only two other Celtics teams had three 20-point scorers in a season. There is no apparent weakness with the Celtics, who finished the season ranked No. “That’s a really hard threshold to meet no matter how good you are, no matter how well organized you are from a coaching standpoint, how many options you have from a playing standpoint. “You can’t even expect that you’re going to be a 64-win team,” Celtics President Brad Stevens said. Of the four Boston teams that had better regular season records, three went on to win NBA titles. Boston is a very different story much was expected from the Celtics, and they delivered.Īll Boston did this season was put up the fifth-best record in franchise history, which is a big deal for any team and an even bigger deal when a team is as storied as the Celtics franchise. The Thunder weren’t expected to be in this position they were given 100-1 odds to win the NBA title when the season started. 1 seed: “This leather jacket cost a lot,” he said, drawing laughs. Thunder guard Jalen Williams was asked why he wasn’t wearing his division title T-shirt when the Thunder clinched the No. They are young, they might be brash, and they certainly are fun. And that’s always a plus when your home court is like ours.” “But at the end of the day, it’s home-court advantage, I guess, until the Finals. “It means a little more, how we got here, for sure,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder guard who is a legit MVP candidate after averaging 30.1 points this season. Those days are long gone already: 40 wins last season showed the potential, and 57 wins this season - with no full-time starter over age 25 - suggest that OKC’s time may be now.

The Thunder won 22 games three seasons ago, then 24 games the year after that. On Sunday, four more Game 1s await: Miami at Boston in a rematch of the last two East finals, Dallas at the Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana at Milwaukee and New Orleans at Oklahoma City. Round 1 begins Saturday with four games: Orlando at Cleveland, Phoenix at Minnesota, Philadelphia at New York and the Los Angeles Lakers at Denver. “Pace yourself for what? Now it’s the sprint. “There ain’t no more pace,” said the 39-year-old James, the league’s oldest active player and all-time scoring leader who is seeking a fifth NBA title. They’ll open that quest against the Lakers and James, who is seeking a fifth title and has never hidden that this is, by far, the time of year that matters most to him. The Nuggets - with most of last season’s core back this year, including probable NBA MVP Nikola Jokic - are trying to become the eighth franchise to win back-to-back titles. “We have the world championship trophy and everybody’s trying to take it from us.” “Come Saturday, there are 15 other teams that want what we have,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. After a seven-month ramp-up through training camp, a preseason, the regular season, the inaugural NBA Cup and then a play-in tournament, the league finally wakes up on Saturday with 16 teams left in the chase for the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The NBA playoffs are about to begin with the Celtics and Nuggets the heavy favorites - at least according to BetMGM Sportsbook - to collide in the Finals, and no shortage of teams have realistic belief that they can win the whole thing as well. And, once again, there’s LeBron James, too.

Lebron finals record