Basketball fans are preparing to watch the NBA finals that start at 8:30pm on Thursday, 6 June 2024 in Boston. The Boston Celtics and Dominican team member Al Horford are at their second recent attempt to clinch the championship. The previous attempt was in 2022. The Dallas Mavericks will do their best to take the trophy back to Texas.
The odds seem to favor Boston this time, as SportsLine has analyzed for those who bet on sports.
Boston Celtics has won 17 NBA cups from 1957 to 2008. The team has won its conference 11 times since 1974, including in 2022 and now against the Indiana Pacers 4-0 in 2024.
Dallas Mavericks is the underdog in the finals. It has to its credit only one NBA trophy, won against the Miami Heat in 2011. In 2006, Dallas had reached the playoffs but would lose to the Miami Heat. Dallas reached the finals defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves, 4-1.
The Boston vs Dallas series is especially of interest to Dominican fans because it would be a first NBA championship win for a Dominican NBA player. 38-year old Al Horford hopes this will be his year and his championship. He has been playing in the NBA since he was recruited by the Atlanta Hawks in 2007.
For the Dominican Republic, if Al Horford and his team get the trophy, Horford just might as well join the Dominican national team as it participates in a forthcoming Olympic Games qualifier.
Karl Anthony Towns, the star basketball player of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team that made the Western Conference playoffs, is another national basketball team player. He played with Horford on the national basketball team when he was just starting to play college basketball with the University of Kentucky.
There are four remaining places in the 12-team Paris 2024 Olympic field and these are reserved for the winners of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments. The DR is playing Greece, Slovenia, Croatia, New Zealand and Egypt for a slot.
The DR will play Egypt on 2 July and Greece on 3 July in Piraeus, Greece in the teams its last chance at a slot.
Read more:
FIBA
Sportsline
Olympics
NBA
NBA
5 June 2024