Celtics: 3 bold predictions post-All Star break
3. The Celtics finish with the 2nd-best record in the league
This one may not be as bold as the others will be going forward, but it is still a bold and entirely plausible scenario for the Boston Celtics.
The one team they’d be trailing is the Milwaukee Bucks, of course. No team seems ready to catch the Bucks in the standings, so they’ll have home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
The Lakers and the Toronto Raptors, however, are right within striking distance for the C’s. They have another game against Toronto in early March and can lessen the games between them with a win there. As mentioned before, the Lakers and Celtics meet soon after the break, and the same applies to that game.
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Viewing the league as a whole, Boston trails the Raptors by a 1.5 games, and they are behind the Lakers by 3.5 games. Those are differences that can most certainly be made up by the Celtics during the last 28 games.
If the Boston Celtics are truly in the midst of taking the next step, and they can stay healthy for a majority of the home stretch, this may turn out to not be a bold prediction. For now, it is classified as one due to many people around the NBA world putting Toronto and Los Angeles ahead of Boston in power rankings. So to one of those believers, this is a wild prediction.
It’s also one that has a strong chance of occurring.