Boston Celtics: The best path to an NBA Championship
Eastern Conference finals: (1) Boston Celtics vs (3) Miami Heat
The Boston Celtics’ best shot of breaking through to their NBA finals since 2010 is avoiding the Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets. The Miami Heat are not trending in a positive direction in the midst of a losing streak and on-court issues involving the likes of Jimmy Butler, Udonis Haslem, and Coach Erik Spoelstra.
There are three brief reasons why I still think the Heat could break through to the ECF: experience, bench depth, and they are well-coached. I know it’s bold considering their struggles as of late.
The Celts have blown out Miami in each of their two meetings this season, the first game, winning 95-78, and more recently the 30 point blowout in January. Boston winning by a margin of 23.5 points this season and they have one more meeting to go this season.
Bam Adebayo has been held in check against the C’s this season only averaging 12.5 points, six rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game on a mediocre 47% from the field. A pretty bad shooting mark for one of the best young bigs in the league. Beantown has so many bodies to throw at the star center.
I feel this matchup is personal for this Celtics group because most of the core was a part of that 2020 playoff team that got bounced by the Heat handily in six games. I believe the opposite will happen this time around in favor of Boston.
Miami is heavily reliant on the three-ball and the Cs have the personnel to shut down their elite shooters such as Max Strus, Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson, Gabe Vincent, and Tyler Herro.
Guys like Kyle Lowry and Victor Oladipo seem to be on a steady decline. The ‘Jays’ will have to deal with getting buckets on grit-nosed defenders like Jimmy Butler and a former NBA champ in PJ Tucker.
Also, in my scenario the Miami Heat are on the much tougher side of the bracket, they could see the Nets or Raptors in the first round and would most likely meet the Bucks in the semifinals. All of these matchups could be dragged out as seven-game affairs. Making them completely gassed by the ECF.