Eastern Conference Finals Preview

After a blowout win in Game 7 on the Sunday, the Boston Celtics are moving on to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second 5th time in the last 6 years. Joel Embiid will have to pack up his MVP trophy, and continue his career long streak of never making it to a conference final. Jayson Tatum proved he was the man on Sunday, answering the bell after a suspect couple of outings, with a record setting 51 point performance. His running mate Jaylen Brown chipped in 25, the two of them nearly outsourcing the 76ers by themselves.

Himmy Butler

The C’s are rewarded with a rematch vs the Miami Heat and playoff superstar Jimmy Butler. Himmy was one three point shot away from sending the C’s packing a year ago, and looks to be  playing the best hoops of his career during this post season run.

Miami knocked off the mighty Bucks in round 1, and completely discarded the pesky Knicks in Round 2 to set up this show down. As the 8th seed, they remain heavy underdogs going into Boston. In fact, the C’s are -550 to prevail in the series. Meanwhile, the Heat are sitting at +350, which are some fairly astronomical odds for a team that was one shot away from going winning this same series a year ago.

Heavy Underdog Heat

While Tatum is the first team all NBA guy, and Brown just made his first All NBA team, it is hard to argue that Jimmy Butler isn't the guy you want most on your team in any playoff series. He simply shows up this time of year, where other guys find it tougher to be consistent (cough cough Tatum). For that reason alone, it is easy to fall in love with the value you are getting on Miami this series. ESPN currently is giving the Heatles a 3% chance to reach the NBA finals, but how much of a chance did they even give them to get to this point in the first place.

This team has proven to be 1-800 Built Different, and Jimmy Butler can carry them to the promised land. There is one other reason to back the Heat, and that is a colossal coaching mismatch. On one side, Erik Spoelstra roams the sideline with his championship pedigree and genius adjustment making ability. On the other side, Celts rookie head coach Joe Mazzula has appeared to be in way over his head throughout this run. His lack of adjustments and timely timeout calls have been costly in multiple games, and part of the reason Boston was forced to go 6 vs the Hawks and 7 vs the 6ers.

Heat +350

Although I picked Boston to win the whole thing, I can’t ignore the value on this Heat team. With coaching and Jimmy Butler, I predict this series to be a lot closer than the insiders say. The C’s have shown an inability to bury teams down the stretch, and that is something you can not mess around with when Jimmy Butler is playing. I’ll sprinkle the Heat +350 to win the series, and keep an eye on the changing value as the series progresses.