For ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, the Boston Celtics are the team to beat among the four franchises who have made it to the conference finals round in the 2023 NBA Playoffs.
“When you're looking at the 4 teams remaining, it's justifiable to call the Boston Celtics the favorite to win it all,” Smith said about the Celtics during Tuesday's edition of First Take.
On paper, the Celtics do appear to have the easiest route to the NBA Finals. They have the lowest-seeded opponent in the form of Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat, who made it to the NBA Playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference. That being said, the Heat have proven to be very much capable of punching above their weight. Miami took down the No. 1 seed in the East in the first round by destroying Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in five games before bullying the New York Knicks out of NBA title contention with a six-game victory in the second round.
The Celtics are also healthy, with all their stars and key players ready to rumble versus the Heat. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have consistently been fantastic for the Celtics through the first two rounds against the Atlanta Hawks and the Philadelphia 76ers.
In any case, the road to the top of the NBA is never going to be a walk in the park for any team. Assuming that the Celtics manage to stave off the Heat and book a return trip to the NBA Finals, they will be facing either the Nikola Jokic-led Denver Nuggets or the loaded Los Angeles Lakers, who, like the Heat, are playing a whole lot better than their seed suggests.
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