The Boston Celtics are without a doubt the frontrunners to advance to the Finals from the Eastern Conference.
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After a great regular season that managed to etch its name in NBA history, the Boston Celtics are without a doubt the frontrunners to advance to the Finals from the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Celtics face tough competition from Milwaukee, New York, and Philadelphia. These teams are either plagued with injuries or have a star player waiting to make a comeback after a long time.
The Celtics’ first-round adversary has faced similar challenges. The Miami Heat played games without Jimmy Butler and Terry Rozier on Friday. Despite securing the No. 8 seed by beating the Chicago Bulls with a 21 points. Jimmy Butler might not be available for this series as well.
Boston managed to win all three regular-season matchups, with their most recent matchup on Jan. 25 marking the Heat’s most efficient offensive performance, conceding in the 28 seasons of available play-by-play data. The Celtics scored 143 points on just 96 possessions, equating to 149 points per 100 possessions.
For the Celtics, Brown, Holiday, Horford, Porzingis, and White will not be playing the game. Besides, Tatum is also questionable for the game. As for the Heat, Butler, Richardson, and Rozier will be sitting this one out.
These teams have a decorated history, marking their fourth playoff encounter in the last five years. If any Eastern Conference opponent has the capability to unsettle the Celtics, it’s certainly the Heat.
However, the main focus of this series lies in the Celtics’ capacity to handle their tasks efficiently. They boasted top-two rankings on both offense and defense and possessed the fifth-best point differential in NBA history. With a clean bill of health, if they maintain their peak performance, this series should be over quickly. They must maintain intensity from the outset of Game 1 and sustain it until the series is concluded.
The Heat continued their trend of leading the league in zone defense usage for the second year running, accounting for 13.4% of their defensive possessions, according to Synergy data. Although the Celtics’ offense excelled against zone defenses, ranking seventh with 1.12 points per possession this season, they had limited encounters with the Miami zone, encountering it only 16 times across their three regular-season matchups.
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