Ramp to Camp: Who is the biggest threat to Celtics in the East?

Ramp to Camp: Who is the biggest threat to Celtics in the East? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics absolutely shredded the Eastern Conference last season.

Boston posted a 41-11 conference record during regular-season play, finished 14 games clear of their nearest rival (New York), then lost just two games over three playoff rounds before hoisting the Bob Cousy Trophy.

That’s an .803 winning percentage against the East over an eight-month span.

A common refrain this summer is how the East got better. That seems like a fair suggestion based on the big-swing moves that some rivals made, or the experience gained last season by the younger teams in the conference. But it also seems fair to suggest that all of Boston’s conference rivals have a pretty sizable gap to close based on last season’s results.

So which team is most likely to truly push the Celtics during the 2024-25 season? For Part 2 of our Ramp to Camp 2024 series, we asked our NBC Sports Boston panel to power-rank the top four teams behind the Celtics in the Eastern Conference. (Check out Part 1 of Ramp to Camp series here.)

Here are our preseason rankings of seeds 2 through 5:

Look, no one at this network has slandered the Sixers more over the past half decade than this writer, so slotting Philly here should surprise a lot of people. But remember two things: 1) The 76ers made a big-splash addition this offseason and 2) They have that beefy big man who is capable of dominating a playoff series.

But enough about Guerschon Yabusele.

Jokes aside, we really like what the Sixers did this summer. Sure, their overall ceiling hinges on Joel Embiid’s health and whether he can get up and down the court throughout a big-time playoff series. But between the growth from Tyrese Maxey, the addition of Paul George, and some intriguing depth additions (we truly think Yabusele is ready to help an NBA team now), Philly has all the pieces to be a legit thorn in Boston’s side.

These ain’t your Tobias Harris-era Sixers anymore.

Man, we really wanted to put the Pacers here. They deserve so much respect for the way they pushed Boston, even in a…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ramp-camp-biggest-threat-celtics-132618827.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-09-03 13:30:25

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