State of Arizona rooting for Celtics over Luka Doncic’s Mavericks, according to social media data
Jun 5, 2024, 11:52 AM | Updated: 12:36 pm
2024 NBA Finals rooting interest by state (Courtesy of BetOnline.AG)
(Courtesy of BetOnline.AG)
Apparently, we here in Arizona are over the 1976 NBA Finals. Or maybe Phoenix Suns fans really just hate Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks that much, because the Grand Canyon State is rooting more for the Boston Celtics as we approach the 2024 NBA Finals.
That’s according to a BetOnline study based on geotagged X data from last Friday through Tuesday.
Official fan hashtags posted in Arizona — #OneForDallas for the Mavs and #DifferentHere for the Celtics — favored Boston.
It made Arizona stand out among a sea of Dallas support in the West and Southwest of the United States. Celtics fans have pockets of rooting support in the Northeast down the East Coast. Boston also curiously got support in the Upper Midwest and in Oregon.
But the vast majority of states in the middle of the country and westward support Dallas.
The Mavericks have majority support in 29 states to 21 for the Celtics.
Suns fans have more recent bad blood against Mavericks than Celtics
Obviously, the Suns’ clash with the Mavericks in the 2022 Western Conference Semifinals likely has to do with the Dallas distaste in Phoenix.
The Devin Booker-Doncic rivalry could be felt between Suns and Mavs fans. In Phoenix, there’s probably some complex bitterness toward Doncic because the Suns drafted Deandre Ayton instead of Doncic way back in 2018 — a big whoopsie looking back.
The older crowd probably gets triggered by Texas things thanks to run-ins with the Mavs way back in the 2006 postseason, where a six-game conference finals matchup saw the Mavericks advance past a Boris Diaw-, Shawn Marion- and Steve Nash-led Suns team before falling to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
Phoenix won a six-game conference semifinals series over Dallas the year before that in its first Seven Seconds or Less iteration, with a healthy Amar’e Stoudemire, Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson joining Marion and Nash.
As for Suns fans’ relationship with the Celtics, that 1976 Finals matchup appears long enough in the past. At least a little bit.
