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The 37-23 Boston Celtics lost 126-116 to the 16-44 Chicago Bulls on Saturday despite 37 points and 10 assists from point guard Kyrie Irving.
After the game, Boston’s floor general said he still believes that no team can beat the Celtics in a seven-game playoff series:
Celtics on NBC Sports Boston @NBCSCeltics
Kyrie still doesn’t see anyone beating the Celtics in 7 games (Presented by https://t.co/Av8GdCiYr0 ) https://t.co/8rwntIKrCa
Of course, one bad outing against an inferior opponent doesn’t spell doom for a season, and Boston has shown an ability to hang with any team in the league. The Celtics were also one game from making the NBA Finals last season despite missing Irving for the entire playoffs and Gordon Hayward for all but five minutes in the season opener.
But the Celtics have also lost four of their last six and sometimes play down to the level of their opponents. Of note, they’ve dropped games to the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns, who are last in the Eastern and Western Conferences, respectively.
The oddsmakers don’t share Irving’s optimism, as the Celtics carry 15-1 odds to win the NBA Finals, per Vegas Insider. The Warriors (at a dominant 2-5), Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors (at 10-1 each) are ahead of them. The Philadelphia 76ers are also listed at 15-1.
The Celtics’ issue is they may have to roll through a brutal playoff gauntlet to win it all. If the season ended today, they’d be the No. 5 seed sans home-court advantage against the 76ers. Even if they won that first-round series, they’d more likely than not have to face the aforementioned Bucks and Raptors before even getting a shot at the Western Conference champion.
Boston is a deep, talented team that for whatever reason hasn’t put it all together. However, its playoff experience should be beneficial in an Eastern Conference where no team without LeBron James has made the Finals since 2010. Irving is an NBA champion, and most of his other teammates took James the Cleveland Cavaliers to the limit in 2018.
That X-factor could be enough to push Boston into the NBA Finals, but it’s a long road to get there.
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