Boston Celtics: Predicting every 2017-18 game and playoffs series
First Round
#1 Boston Celtics over #8 Philadelphia 76ers in 4 games
Philly is not a great team, but in the Eastern Conference, they can play well enough to claim the last playoff seed. Boston will march all over them with their star power. Joel Embiid, Markelle Fultz, and Ben Simmons are not enough to take on even just Boston’s big 3. Add in Tatum, Brown, and Smart, and the Sixers have no chance in a series against the Celtics.
I’d expect Kyrie Irving to be the MVP in this series, taking over games and leading in scoring and assists. He’s the top star on Boston’s roster. Gordon Hayward will step up at times too, but Kyrie will be the man with the ball in his hands more often than not. For this series, I think he can average 28 points and 8 assists per game.
Boston wins this easily in 4 games, with 2 blowouts and 2 close calls. It’ll be fun to watch Boston beat up on the extremely slow “process”.
Second Round
#1 Boston Celtics over #4 Milwaukee Bucks in 6 games
This is where things will start to get tough for the Boston Celtics in the playoffs. A couple of losses to the Bucks in the regular season only adds to the intrigue here. Giannis will take over some games, as he’s one of the best players in the league. Milwaukee has the ability to push the Celtics, and they will force this series to 6 games. Boston won’t let it get to 7 though and they’ll beat the Bucks in Game 6 in Milwaukee to close things out.