With the Celtics sitting at 12-4 which is the best record in the league, are they the favorites to win the championship. Imo their roster is much better than lost year even though they lost smart and some depth, they have a legit third option in Porzingis and Jrue who’s a lockdown perimeter defender and an all star. Tatum is also playing the best basketball I’ve seen him play, his shot making, rebounding and defense is much improved and tbh I can seem him making an MVP case either this year or next year. The Bucks and Suns are looking good but I don’t think they’re gonna face up well against the Celtics. The Nuggets are the only team I think can beat them just because the Nuggets have great team chemistry and even though their bench sucks, Jokic is the best player on the court and I don’t think Horford or Porzingis match up great with him.
Not if they play like they did against the Magic in the 2nd half
Yes, feel like Celtics is the worst team to matchup for anyone in the east. It’s more so when they player don’t show up for a series or have injuries for them to truly be weak and even then I’m still slightly pushing for them
Tatum is a bit too young 25/26 and haven’t won an MVP or FMVP yet. That’s historically not a good combination to win a title, but their roster may be.
You need to win a FMVP before winning a ring?
On paper, yes. However, they still have a huge issue with blowing leads. I dunno what their problem is but it’s been like this for years now.
The only parameter that hasn’t changed over the years is the Tatum-Brown duo. Logic dictates that they must be the culprit.
Boston has the best starting 5. However, their bench is unproven. And Joe Mazzula doesn’t inspire confidence either. I think Mazz and the bench keep them from running away with it.
Also I’m surprised Celts didn’t try harder to get Theis. That would’ve been a nice addition.
Mazzula will have to show up in the playoffs where coaching and gameplanning matters a lot.
The league goes through Minnesota
According to the oddsmakers, yes, the Celtics are favored. But it’s not by an overwhelming amount. They are only slightly favored over the Bucks and Nuggets.
Maybe technically, but they’ve kind-of sucked lately. They consistently just take the 4th quarter off for some reason. They’ll need a depth big because they can’t keep pretending Luke Kornet is a viable option on a Title contender.
No, Porzingus is injury prone and bad at defense, while Holiday is a massive brick machine in the playoffs. Both are massive risks come playoff time.
Feels like they still have the same issues in terms of blowing leads, bad decisions late in games
Too early to really pick favorites now but they’ve been the best team so far. Hard to say though because they are one of the few contenders not getting fucked by injuries right now (sad laker fan noises)
Against the Bucks and the Sixers I think Boston would win but if they come across a Florida team it’s 50/50. Nobody is better than the other, they are equal.
Potential final match up: honestly with this lineups we have right now I have no idea how we match up
I think the Celtics are clearly better than either Florida team.
The issue is that both teams always play us hard, especially the playoff heat.
Part of it is our mentality - we know we are almost always the more talented team, so we just expect the other team to just give up. When teams don’t give up, we act surprised.
You saw this both times the Heat beat us and went to the finals. The Heat never quit, but lacked talent to win the Finals. The Celtics don’t lack in talent, but they lack the killer mentality to put teams away that deserve to be put away.
Elite starting 5, shit bench. If Heats or Magic play in the ECF, they will get cooked
As long as they don’t cross paths with Miami they should be fine.
Nuggets or Suns. East is just a weak conference