Lakers and Celtics could break 65-year-old NBA record with another playoff loss
The scenario for the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers looks grim. Both teams lost back-to-back games on consecutive nights. The Nuggets beat the Lakers 119-108 in game three, while Boston was blown out by the eight-seed Miami Heat.
It has been 65 years since both divisional finals ended up in double sweeps. The Celtics crushed the Syracuse Nationals in three games in the 1956-57 season. The St.Louis Hawks also waltzed to the finals beating Minneapolis in three games the same year. The finals would be much more entertaining as Boston beat St.Louis 4-3 in seven games,
In an era where you only needed three wins to clinch the divisional title, few would have expected a double sweep would be on the cards ever again.
However, all records must be broken and rewritten at some point. The 65-year-old record could be broken as soon as this Tuesday (23rd May), assuming that the Nuggets and the Heat get the job done.
The NBA's two leading franchises are in big trouble
The Celtics and Lakers are by far the NBA's most crowned and privileged franchises. They have both won the NBA finals 17 times each and have 54 combined finals appearances.
Since 2020, the Lakers have won a ring in the bubble whilst the Celtics went to the finals last season before losing to Golden State.
Jimmy Butler is averaging 26 points per game in the first three games of the series, and Caleb Martin is loving life with his 19 points a game on average. Bam Adebayo is dominating when it comes to claiming rebounds. Gabe Vincent and Duncan Robinson are also chipping in with valuable three-pointers through the series.
The Celtics defense was able to halt the 76ers in game seven of the previous series, now they need to do it four times to Miami, a tall order.
Nikola Jokic and his teammates can do anything to the Lakers currently without any response from their opponents. Jamal Murray has 37 points for the Nuggets in back-to-back games and Jokic is playing his role perfectly as a provider and scorer. The Nuggets have 5 different players shooting at least 40% on at least 10 three-point attempts in this series.
It's been a long time since an NBA conference finals were this lopsided, it is up to the Lakers and Celtics to avoid the unwelcome piece of history.