Bostons road to finals

[badpotato]

They are >-1000 favorite in every single series in the east playoffs? Has that ever happened before?

I don't pay attention to odds, but you might look at Lebron's teams from 2011-2018, Dude basically ran the entire conference year in and out, his finals appareance was a forgone conclusion up until he moved West.

Surprisingly none of those years were they this heavy favorites. 2013 was the closest but the ECF was only -850.

Thank's for checking, still Boston got this unique situation where their biggest rivals in Bucks and Sixers both lost a step, while they have only gotten stronger with Porzingis pickup that worked out nicely.
They sit at the top of the Conference, just like Lebron was back in the days - the unusual odds are just byproduct of East being historically decimated by injuries this year, most likely it will never happen again.

Yeah, it feels like Celtics road is one of the easiest imaginable, but they can only play who's in front of them.

[BrianInPhilly]

I'm seeing the odds at -900 for Celtics, not "more than" -1000 as you state.

Seems too high though - objectively during season Pacers played them well, add on Pacers offense rolling, Porzingis banged up ... It should be -300 to -500 range. As we saw in last season anything injury wise can screw things up too. Tatum goes out Game 1 and suddenly it would be about a "pick em" series in my opinion.

[nbafan38]

I'm seeing the odds at -900 for Celtics, not "more than" -1000 as you state.

Seems too high though - objectively during season Pacers played them well, add on Pacers offense rolling, Porzingis banged up ... It should be -300 to -500 range. As we saw in last season anything injury wise can screw things up too. Tatum goes out Game 1 and suddenly it would be about a "pick em" series in my opinion.

Maybe it depends on the sportsbook. Fanduel they are -1300.

[Celts17Pride]

Maybe it’s because the Celtics are good, 72-20 this year

[RB34]

What about Indiana's road to the finals. Nothing but injured teams, even now in the ECF.

Don't know if anyone remembers this, but there was a speed skater who won the gold from last place because a crash happened and everyone else fell and he was so far back the collision didn't affect him. That is basically the pacers this year. They aren't great, but everyone else is getting injured and they are reaping the rewards

Steven Bradbury the Australian hero.

[AussieCeltic]

What about Indiana's road to the finals. Nothing but injured teams, even now in the ECF.

Don't know if anyone remembers this, but there was a speed skater who won the gold from last place because a crash happened and everyone else fell and he was so far back the collision didn't affect him. That is basically the pacers this year. They aren't great, but everyone else is getting injured and they are reaping the rewards

Steven Bradbury the Australian hero.

Funny story about him. I was at a club in Brisbane not long after he’d won and he was there. Everyone was pretending to fall over in front of him haha. He was a good sport about it. People were buying him drinks all night as well.

[life_saver]

Just an absolute joke lol. Atleast things might have been slightly more interesting without injuries to Heat, Cavs, Knicks but sigh... it's one thing to have your 2nd or 3rd option getting injured but Heat, Cavs had their first option injured

[Celts17Pride]

Maybe teams should go for the #1 seed instead of resting 35% of the games

[web123888]

The East is incredibly weak. Out West Boston would be a 1st or at best 2nd round exit.

[life_saver]

Maybe teams should go for the #1 seed instead of resting 35% of the games

This is quite disingenuous argument. Obviously No1 seed is a helpful factor but here, it has more to do with injuries than seeding. A healthy Heat team with Butler not being injured and Cavs with Mitchell not being injured would have made things atleast little bit more interesting. Also a healthy Knicks team likely would have won 2nd Round and atleast would have made ECF bit more interesting.

[life_saver]

East was already relatively weak and these injuries made it even more weaker. Like I doubt Pacers would have even made playoffs in West

[Celts17Pride]

Maybe teams should go for the #1 seed instead of resting 35% of the games

This is quite disingenuous argument. Obviously No1 seed is a helpful factor but here, it has more to do with injuries than seeding. A healthy Heat team with Butler not being injured and Cavs with Mitchell not being injured would have made things atleast little bit more interesting. Also a healthy Knicks team likely would have won 2nd Round and atleast would have made ECF bit more interesting.

If Butler and Mitchell were healthy the Celtics would be in the same exact spot they are today

[Baz]

In a way it might not necessarily benefit them because they won't be hardened for the finals. If they win the finals they'll deserve it. Don't want to hear any of this asterisks BS.

[ItsDanger]

If they win the championship, nobody will remember this part.

[brackdan70]

Nice. We needed a third thread on this.

[wegotthabeet]

Maybe teams should go for the #1 seed instead of resting 35% of the games

maybe the league should move to 1 vs 16. that way no one can complain about who had an easier path to the Finals.

[bmurph128]

They are >-1000 favorite in every single series in the east playoffs? Has that ever happened before?

Those Lebron Cavs during his second stint there felt similar. East was just as weak during those years

Nah no way we were huge favorites in 2015 - the Bulls were good and we got a little lucky they dealt with some injuries. And then the 60 win Hawks were a paper tiger, but again no way we were favored by that much. 2016 and 2017 maybe....and then in 2018 we were underdogs to both Toronto and Boston.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using RealGM mobile app

[itrsteve]

So #1 seed in the NBA is best positioned to go to the finals?

GET OUT OF TOWN

These threads are strange. If they don't win it all then it doesn't matter if 60ppg Jimmy Butler was hurt.

[baldur]

How many times a 7th or 8th seed won the championship in the entire history? You can't float the season, go to play in tournament with 40 wins and act like a contender. That's a wet dream. Ask clippers

[Johnny Fontane]

Indiana about to get thoroughly handled. Even if they take one of the first two games, there’s too many glaring weakness on that team