A yr when you might have 61 victories and end second within the classification of the Japanese Convention, it will be the celebration of a lot of the groups. However not these Boston Celtics. These Boston Celtics come out of a successful championship season throughout which they gained 64 video games and completed on the Japanese Summit. So, like that or not, 61 victories is a slight regression.
However not large. One other facet that makes their regression appear slightly extra critical than it’s actually how a lot different groups have higher. The Celtics gained seven extra anybody who was anybody who final yr, however the Cleveland Cavaliers and OKC Thunder exceeded them this yr.
Will additionally they see a regression within the playoffs, that’s to say: will they not repeat as champions of the NBA in 2025? NBA’s principal analyst at Sporting Information, Stephen Noh, believes that the reply is sure. However not earlier than the top of the playoff match.
They are going to play Orlando Magic or Atlanta Hawks on the first spherical, which they need to have the ability to ship in 5 video games or much less. In flip 2, they’re prone to receive the seeded n ° 3 New York Knicks, which they dominated by going 4-0 throughout this yr’s season collection.
These are the finals of the japanese convention the place they may meet their match within the type of the seeded n ° 1 Cleveland Cavaliers. Noh believes that even when Jrue Vacation has improved his capturing lately, the regression of Jaylen Brown will price Boston the collection and the title of the Japanese Convention.
“The 4 video games of the common season had been determined by a single determine, they usually divided the 2-2 match. The Celtics appears stronger general, however the Brown knee might change the calculation of this collection. … In the long run, this collection will come right down to the effectivity of Brown.
Celtics want him extra locked up and wholesome. He offers them one other high quality defender to launch on Mitchell and Darius Garland. Given how he has taken a substantial step again this season at each ends of the soil, I don’t belief that he may be at his most effectivity. “”
Brown has confronted a bone bruise in his proper knee in current weeks, and it appears to harass the celebrities guard for a very long time when he ought to have. This prevented him from the final three video games of the common season, though Boston has nothing to play both.
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The MVP of the NBA 2024 closing, which has not been appointed All-Star this yr for the second time solely up to now 5 years, had nevertheless stepped again earlier than the knee downside. He improved his help numbers from 3.6 to 4.5, however his rating common fell by roughly one level.
He additionally decreased defensively and probably the most worrying by way of capturing effectivity. Its proportion of objectives on the bottom made a dive from 0.499 to 0.463, whereas its three -point effectivity went from 0.354 to an virtually unusable .324.
The Celtics are ready for the winner of the Magic-Hawks match on Tuesday night to begin the preparations for the primary spherical. The collection begins on Sunday April 20.
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