The Boston Celtics will repeat as champions, easily (Hot Takes We Might Actually Believe)

The 2024-25 NBA season is here. We take our annual trip too close to the sun, daring you to stand the swelter of these views. This is Hot Takes We Might Actually Believe.

Trivia question: Who came close to stopping the Boston Celtics last season?

Answer: Nobody.

The sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers, who were without All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton for the second half of the Eastern Conference finals, came closest to giving the Celtics a series. Boston did not take the Pacers seriously. And the Celtics still swept Indiana from the playoffs in four games.

No NBA champion has repeated since the Golden State Warriors in 2018. And wouldn’t you know it: The Celtics posted the best regular-season record (64-18), best regular-season net rating (11.6), best playoff record (16-3) and — prior to a blowout loss in Game 4 of the NBA Finals — best playoff net rating (11.2) since Kevin Durant joined a 73-win roster and formed the greatest collection of talent we have ever seen.

By any metric, the 2023-24 Boston Celtics were among the most dominant teams in history. You know what dominant teams do in the NBA? They win multiple championships. As Boston’s Jayson Tatum said on media day, “It was never about just trying to win one.” And if they are to win two, this is the season.

The Celtics are for sale this fall, and a prohibitive luxury tax bill will come due next year, when Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porziņģis and Derrick White — (easily) the league’s best starting five — are owed a combined $200 million. Odds we see them again as a unit in the 2025-26 season are long.

They are in their Last Dance before a dynasty got off the ground. We can debate the merits of a league designed to destroy continuity, but Boston has common enemies: a collective bargaining agreement that does not believe in their right to exist and a basketball world at large that does not believe in them at all.

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Sure, the Celtics are favorites to win the championship again, per BetMGM, but they are not listening to a sportsbook. They are listening to Grant Hill, who did not select…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/the-boston-celtics-will-repeat-as-champions-easily-hot-takes-we-might-actually-believe-145552665.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-21 14:55:00

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