Boston Celtics analyst sends strong message on Heat doubt before Eastern Conference Finals: ‘That projection feels like a punch line’

The Boston Celtics have been sloppy against a Miami team that thrives on executing perfectly. Boston has turned the ball over eight more times and has been outrebounded by 11. The Heat seemingly want it more than the Celtics, who continue to sleepwalk through a postseason in which the path back to the Finals couldn’t seem more clear given a healthy Milwaukee’s elimination in the first round. Jimmy Butler’s continued across-the-board dominance, coupled with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown taking turns with disappearing acts, prove that point thus far through two games.

And yet, before the series even started, Miami was counted out to an extreme extent: the Heat were given just a 3% chance of advancing past the Cs in the Eastern Conference Finals by ESPN Analytics — a prediction that is now looking freezing cold in hindsight, bordering on satire.

Boston.com’s Chad Finn pointed out the absurdity of the assessment, saying it feels like a punchline at this point. “That projection feels like a punch line, a painful wallop-packing truth about the differences between what the Celtics could be and what they are,” Finn prefaced before threatening, “That punch line will sting the Celtics into the fast-approaching offseason if they don’t get their act together immediately.”

The Boston Celtics would have to break up its core with Eastern Conference Finals loss

Reaching the Eastern Conference Finals probably would’ve been enough justification to keep the current Boston Celtics core together, but the circumstances surrounding how they got here and what they are doing at this moment calls that into question. Miami is, on paper, a weak conference finals opponent, and thus far, the Cs have let inferior teams look more motivated and energized than them en route to both a six-game and seven-game series in the first two rounds.

Since the team’s championship hopes aren’t on schedule at this point, it’s hard to envision no changes taking place in the offseason should the results not be reversed during this series.