In a battle between the deeper, more balanced Boston squad and top-heavy Dallas, it’s the Celtics who came out ahead in a five-game NBA Finals as Strat-O-Matic (@strat-o-matic), the market leader in sports simulation games, simulated the championships series which begins Thursday in Boston. Fans may recall that the Celtics were tabbed as the champion in Strat-O-Matic’s preseason simulation as well.

Paced by the trio of Jayson Tatum (28.4 ppg, 11.2 rpg, 5.6 apg), Jaylen Brown (26.2/7.0/3.8) and Derrick White (19.4/6.0/5.0), with support from former Mav Kristaps Porzingis (16.4/6.6/2.4) and Jrue Holiday (12.8/5.2/7.2), Boston used that depth to its advantage in taking a 2-0 series lead at home with competitive 135-127 and 128-124 victories.

After Dallas pulled to within two games to one with a 115-108 win at home, Boston took game four, 118-103, and game five back home, 123-103, by more comfortable margins, for its 18th championship.

Dallas’s Luka Don?i? led all scorers in the series at 35.6 ppg, nearly averaging a triple double with 9.6 rpg and 9.0 apg, and Kyrie Irving contributed 26.8 ppg and 5.6 apg.

Game One 1  2  3  4 TOT

DALLAS 24 46 32 25 127

BOSTON 39 38 27 31 135

Dal: Don?i? 38, Irving 21; Bos: Tatum 36, Brown 25

Game Two 1  2  3  4 TOT

DALLAS 25 29 36 34 124

BOSTON 27 29 38 34 128

Dal: Don?i? 35, Irving 31; Bos: Tatum 34, Holiday 24

Game Three 1  2  3  4 TOT

BOSTON 24 29 26 29 108

DALLAS 24 23 38 30 115

Bos: Brown 27, Porzingis 22; Dal: Don?i? 43, Irving 24

Game Four 1  2  3  4 TOT

BOSTON 29 25 31 33 118

DALLAS 35 13 29 26 103

Bos: Brown 26, Tatum 24; Dal: Don?i? 26, Irving 26

Game Five 1  2  3  4 TOT

DALLAS 30 35 19 19 103

BOSTON 32 37 33 21 123

Dal: Don?i? 36, Irving 22; Bos: Brown 31, Tatum 27