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One lofty projection currently lists the Celtics as NBA title favorites
ESPN's FiveThirtyEight projects the Celtics as the most likely team to win an NBA championship this season.
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It seems like just yesterday the Celtics were hovering just about the .500 mark and pointing fingers in the media about the need to pass the ball more.
Now, after winning 12 of their last 14 games in February and March, Boston is rocketing up the Eastern Conference standings — and the title projections of analytics groups.
In the most recent update of its NBA predictions, FiveThirtyEight lists the Celtics as the team most likely to win the NBA Finals this season. Boston currently has a greater than 99 percent chance of making the postseason and a 17 percent chance to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2022.
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That’s a long way from mid-January, which saw the Celtics have about 60 percent probability to make the postseason and virtually no shot to win the title according to the site’s projections.
They’re currently the second-most likely team to make the NBA Finals (29 percent) aside from the Western Conference’s Phoenix Suns (30 percent), their presumed opponent in this situation. The Celtics also barely edge out the Bucks both in their likelihood to make the Finals (27 percent) and win the Finals (16 percent), suggesting a showdown in the Eastern Conference Finals between the two squads.
But while Boston is tied for just the seventh-best projected record in the NBA to finish the season (50-32), FiveThirtyEight lists them as the best team in basketball at the moment when they’re at full strength, giving them the slight nod in these close matchups.
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That’s not surprising given the run the Celtics have been on of late. On top of that, Jayson Tatum, their biggest star, has taken his game to another level since the All-Star break, averaging 34 points a game on 47 percent from the field (37 percent from three-point range). His 54-point outburst against the star-studded Brooklyn Nets is only increasing the hype around him and the Celtics’ future prospects.
Though it’s obviously too early to crown Boston’s basketball team the champions just yet, they’re in a far better position to compete for a title now than they were just a few weeks ago.
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