Ex-Knicks Kidd, Hardaway Clinch NBA Finals Berth With Mavs

Some former New York Knicks will get a chance to go at the ultimate metropolitan rival in the 2024 NBA Finals.

With a 124-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Thursday night, the Dallas Mavericks will battle the Boston Celtics for championship glory. Dallas clinching a 4-1 series victory sets up the Finals matchup, as the Mavs will take on the Boston Celtics in a series that begins on June 6 at TD Garden (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

Like Boston before them, the Mavericks featured their fair share of former Knicks on the cause: though he did not take the floor on Thursday night, 2013 first-round pick Tim Hardaway Jr. has come off the bench all season. The Mavericks are also led by head coach Jason Kidd, who spent the final year of his Hall of Fame playing career with the Knicks in 2012-13.

Dallas will face a Boston group that features another metropolitan draft night favorite in Kristaps Porzingis (who has missed each of the Celtics’ last 10 games with a calf injury) as well as deep reserve Svi Mykhailiuk.

Dallas, of course, is also known in Manhattan circles as the former employer of current Knicks franchise face Jalen Brunson. The fact that Dallas has returned to the Finals just two years after losing Brunson … and missing the playoffs last year … creates one of several headlines for the upcoming series, Dallas’ first since lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2011.

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