The world's premier basketball league enters the final stretch of its post-season. The Conference Finals decide the title of Conference Champion. As you may know, the NBA consists of the Eastern and Western Conference, dividing the United States into two distinct parts. The two conference winners will face each other in the NBA Finals to compete for the Larry O'Brien trophy. And this year promises to be a promising one.
Starting with the one closest to Europe, the Eastern Conference will pit the Indiana Pacers against the New York Knicks. The two finalists are the big surprises, eliminating the defending champions and one of the best regular season teams. The Indianapolis team almost swept the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had a very good regular season, finishing first in the standings, 4-1. And regarding the Big Apple team, they eliminated a Boston Celtics side that looked little like the previous season's champions. Jayson Tatum's Achilles injury and the team's poor performance resulted in a 4-1 win for the Knicks. Thus, we will relive the conference finals of the 1993-94, 1998-99, and 1999-2000 seasons.
And closing with the Pacific side, in addition to experiencing an unprecedented conference final, it will be the first time since 1996 that no teams from the state of California or Texas participate, pitting the Oklahoma City Thunder against the Minnesota Timberwolves. This match-up will pit one of the most promising young cores in the Thunder against one of the faces of the league in Anthony Edwards and the Wolves. The Oklahoma Thunder have eliminated the Denver Nuggets, champions two years ago, in Game 7 and the Minneapolis Timberwolves have eliminated the injury-depleted Golden State Warriors 4-1.
NBA Conference Finals 2025 potential milestones
These matchups are very interesting because of the implications for the long term of the league. Indiana Pacers could return to the NBA Finals after 25 years and win their first ring. New York Knicks would also return to the Finals 26 years later, even though they won two championships more than 50 years ago. Oklahoma City Thunder won a ring before the change of location, but now they have not been to a Finals since 2012. And the Minnesota Timberwolves are looking for their first Finals appearance ever.
The first game of the West series is this Wednesday, May 21 at 1:30 BST, 2:30 CEST and in the East series they start on Thursday, May 22 at 1:00 BST, 2:00 CEST.
Which teams do you think will make it to the Finals?