3 reasons the Celtics can make (and win) the NBA Finals

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1. They have a great record against top opponents

The Boston Celtics have the tendency to play to the level of their opponents.

While it is the NBA, and any team can go off if given a chance, it seems like the Celtics are fine with giving them those chances.

Proof of this comes in their game against the Brooklyn Nets, in which they allowed 51 points to the Nets in the fourth quarter, and watched Caris LeVert single-handedly erase the Celtics’ 21 point lead.

Other games include their loss against the Sacramento Kings early in the season and a loss against the Washington Wizards in early 2020.

However, they play the exact opposite against superior teams. Against the top five teams in the Eastern conference, they are 6-2. Those two losses came against the Bucks in Milwaukee, in what turned out to be a narrow game. The second loss came on the back-end of a two-game series against the Raptors.

After blowing out the Raptors in Toronto on Christmas Day, Toronto responded with a similar blowout in Boston.

Aside from those games, they are 2-0 against Miami, have a win over the Bucks, and have beaten the Raptors twice.

Of course, that kind of success does not mean they will do well if they make it to the Finals.

The Celtics actually do very well against the Western Conference, only trailing the Bucks for wins against the West. They are 16-9 in those games.

To go back to the last slide’s point, some of those wins have come while lacking their full rotation. Wins against the Utah Jazz and Portland Trailblazers came without Kemba Walker, and their win against the Clippers was without Brown.

Even their close losses have come while missing a player or two. Games like the Kings loss and the Clippers loss in November came without Hayward, and both were close until the final minute. They almost beat the Denver Nuggets in the same game Kemba was stretchered off.

More notably, they dropped a close one against the Lakers without Kemba.

It’d be a safe bet that they would have won at least two of those games with a full lineup. However, we’ll never know for sure.

What we do know is that the Boston Celtics rise to the occasion, and if they can get out of the East, they can stand a real chance against whoever their matchup is.