The Celtics WILL Beat the Warriors in a 7 Game Series
The NBA season just began, so let’s overreact! Kyrie sucked, and the Celtics smoked the 76ers by nearly 20. The Thunder didn’t have Russell Westbrook playing and the Warriors barely beat them. Using the games that each of them played to start the season as evidence is quite ridiculous. I’m using the eye test on everything besides the result of the games as to why the Celtics will beat the Warriors in a 7-game series.
Celtics go 10 Deep
Everybody is well aware of the Celtics incredible starting 5. The starters consist of Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford. SHEESH. Those guys are all tall, all play defense, and can all knock down deep range shots. Good luck to anyone defending them with all the switches they execute. The 5 after them are Terry Rozier, Marcus Smart, Marcus Morris, Aron Baynes, and Daniel Theis. Those dudes are a better starting 5 than half of the Eastern Conferences and they’re the second unit. We all know about the Warriors All-Star starting 5 of Curry, Thompson, Durant, Green, and Cousins. However, their second unit gets a bit questionable. The backups consist of Shaun Livingston, Quinn Cook, Andre Iguodala, Kevon Looney, and Jordan Bell. YIKES. The Celtics would scorch that unit with any lineup they toss out there. But of course, the Warriors will likely always sprinkle a starter to stay in the game with the bench squad.
Celtics are Hungrier
The Warriors have won 3 out of the last 4 NBA Finals. Their goal is still to win it this year of course, but this Celtics team really wants it this year. Every player on the roster knows about the tradition that the Celtics bring and being a part of an NBA Championship winning Celtics team will have them be remembered forever. To boot, the Celtics got so close to tasting the championship last year. Losing in game 7 at the Garden to Lebron James is all the motivation in the world. On the other end, the Warriors could lose this upcoming NBA Finals and still have the claim that they’ve won 3 of the last 5 NBA Finals. The Celtics want it bad and I’ll be damned if they don’t get it.
The Celtics should have Home Court Advantage
Whether or not you believe the Warriors are better than the Celtics, there is no denying that Boston has far less competition in their conference. The Warriors didn’t even get the top seed last year, and now they have Lebron James joining their conference. Lebron in the West means that the Celtics only see him twice a season opposed to three or four times. The Celtics should easily get to 60 wins whereas the Warriors might struggle to reach 60. Also, Golden State is known for taking some of the season off to save their energy for the playoffs. If they do such a thing, that will cost them some losses that could make the difference between them or Boston have home court advantage in the NBA Finals.
Just Watch
This season is going to move forward in the way we all expect it to with the Warriors being really good and the Celtics also being really good. We might get some stretches where each team struggles and Stephen A Smith and those fools overreact. Either of these teams could get bounced from the Conference Finals, but they’re both without a doubt making it as two of the final four teams. I predict that the Celtics will beat the Warriors in 7 games in the NBA Finals. Home court advantage and depth will be the reason I’m swaying towards Boston. Al Horford will finally be recognized by winning the Finals MVP. This NBA season is looking to be wild, so I’m locking in this slightly wild hot take.
-Brandon Black (Follow @bhblack02)
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