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The 2022 NBA conference finals are set, with the Miami Heat meeting the Boston Celtics in the East bracket and the Golden State Warriors facing the Dallas Mavericks in the West bracket. The round begins Tuesday, May 17 with Game 1 of Heat-Celtics.
The Heat are making their second conference finals appearance in the last three seasons, winning in the 2020 bubble to reach the NBA Finals. Miami has made the conference finals four times in the last 10 seasons. The Celtics are headed back to the conference finals for the first time since 2020, where they lost in the Orlando bubble to the Heat 4-2. Boston has made the conference finals three times in the last 10 seasons prior to this appearance.
The Warriors are back in the conference finals after a two-year absence from the postseason. Golden State made the conference finals five times as part of a dynastic run from 2014-15 to 2018-19. This is the team’s sixth appearance in the last 10 seasons. The Mavericks pulled out an all-time display in Game 7 on the road, smashing the Suns to reach the conference finals. Luka Doncic is a one-man wrecking crew, but he’s got enough support in Jalen Brunson, Spencer Dinwiddie and Dorian Finney-Smith to win this series. We’ll see if Doncic can pull a Dirk Nowitzki-like performance from 2011 and take Dallas to the Finals.