On Tuesday, the Eastern Conference Finals in the National Basketball Association will get underway. It is the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics. This best of 7 series will start with a pair of games in Boston, before it heads to Indianapolis for the next two games. The winner of this series will head to the NBA Finals and take on either the Dallas Mavericks or Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Indiana Pacers went 47-35 in the regular season, and finished 6th in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers have pulled off two upsets in the postseason. Indiana has played 13 games, and won 8 of them. The first round was over the Milwaukee Bucks, and the second round was over the New York Knicks.
On the other side, the Boston Celtics have been the best team in the National Basketball Association all season. The Celtics went 64-18 in the regular season, and ran away with the top seed, In the postseason, the Celtics are 8-2. They took care of the Miami Heat in five games in the first round. In the second round, it was the same, as Boston eliminated Cleveland in five games.
The Boston Celtics are big favorites here. The Celtics are -9.5 at home over Indiana.
High Flying Pacers
The Indiana Pacers were the top scoring team in the National Basketball Association during the regular season. Indiana scored 123.3 points per game. In the four wins over the Knicks, the Pacers scored 120 per game. In the three losses, the Pacers scored 109 per game.
In the game 7 win, the Pacers used six guys scoring double digits. Pascal Siakam, who came over from Toronto scored 20 in the win. Tyrese Haliburton has been the top athlete for Indiana all season. The guard scored 26 in the win over the Knicks Sunday.
The Indiana Pacers have not been in the NBA Finals since the 1999-2000 season. In that series, they lost in six games to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Pacers last time in the Eastern Conference Finals was in 2013-2024 when they lost in six games to the Wizards.
Top Seeded Celtics
Boston in the regular season scored 120.6 points per game, and allowed opponents to score less than 110. They won a bunch of games by double digits. In the postseason so far, in 7 of their 8 wins, they were by double digits.
Jayson Tatum was the leading scorer all season for Boston. He scored just shy of 27 points per game. In the postseason, Tatum has not needed to go too crazy. He did score 33 in back to back games, but games 2 and 5 saw him score 25. Jaylen Brown scored just 11 in the Game 5 wins.
Kristaps Porzingis may be able to come back for this series. The forward is out with a calf injury. He has not played since April 29th in the Game 4 win at the Heat. Porzingis was third on the team with 20.1 points per game in the regular season.
Celtics Top Pacers in Game 1
The Boston Celtics are not going to lose in the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season. They are ready for this series. Indiana will get a win somewhere along the way, but it will not be in Game 1.
The Boston Celtics are going to win this game, and go ahead in the series. The final bet for this game is the Boston Celtics -9.5 over the Indiana Pacers. Enjoy the game and best of luck with all your National Basketball Association betting.
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