While there is some debate about who will reach the NBA Finals out of the Western Conference, everyone seems to agree the Boston Celtics are the prohibitive favorites to win the Eastern Conference.
They have the best record in the league by a comfortable margin, and they also have arguably the best starting five in all of basketball.
There is a debate regarding which East team has the best chance of at least challenging Boston in the playoffs, but NBA on TNT personality Charles Barkley said Boston is the only team in the East that is scary.
“Other than the Celtics, there’s not a single team in the East that scares you. … [The Bucks have] Giannis and Dame but nobody fears them because they don’t have a lot of athletic ability.”
Chuck on the Eastern Conference playoff race pic.twitter.com/Jb0ZCfFRRc
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 8, 2024
Barkley said that while the Milwaukee Bucks have two great players in Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, they lack athleticism, while the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers have key players out due to injury.
The Celtics have been one of the NBA’s best teams over the last several years, and they have reached the Eastern Conference Finals five times and the NBA Finals once in the previous seven seasons.
However, they have nothing to show for all that competitiveness, as they haven’t won the world championship since 2008.
While star forward Jayson Tatum continues to put up fantastic numbers, there are still questions as to whether he will play up to his standards under pressure in the playoffs and put his team over the top.
He played poorly in the 2022 Finals, and in Game 7 of last spring’s Eastern Conference Finals versus the Miami Heat, he scored just 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
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