NBA games of the week: All-Star Starters

Saturday, Jan. 27: Boston at Golden State, 8:00 p.m. ET

All-Star starters: Kyrie Irving, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant

Depending on who you ask, Al Horford losing his starter’s spot to Joel Embiid is a diss to the season Horford’s been having, especially since Embiid has missed nine games. The injuries haven’t seem to have been too much of a factor in the selection process — both Curry and Durant have missed 15 and eight games, respectively. Curry’s contribution to the defending champs is undeniable, but Embiid is far and away the most important player on the Sixers. It’s an interesting argument either way.

In their first matchup, the Celtics held the Warriors to 88 points. It’s impressive considering they had their full team — the Warriors were held to 81 points against the Nuggets without Stephen Curry — and the Warriors have been held under 100 points seven times this season.

The C’s are in a bit of a slump after they’ve lost three straight games last week, but it’s nothing short of incredible how they’ve been playing without Gordon Hayward. The Celtics could be the rare team that makes a trip to the Finals for a couple reasons. The first is they are a team in the East that doesn’t have LeBron James. The second is they’re the top defense, while being the 19th ranked offense. Their inability to score can be a huge problem, but if they’re able to stop teams from erupting then their defense will keep them in it.

Perhaps this is the best Finals matchup that can actually happen. (Rockets-Warriors is probably the best possible NBA Finals.) I’d love to see the Raptors get at least four cracks at the Warriors just to see which team they face — the one the Warriors were beating by 27 or the one who pulled it to within a single point.