top of page

Eastern Conference Finals: Predictions + Analysis (Miami vs. Boston)

Writer's picture: Ryan MobleyRyan Mobley

Who had Miami in 5 against the deepest Bucks team we’ve seen in a decade? How about Boston in 7 led by clutch time maestro.. Marcus Smart? Alright Tatum was phenomenal as well and showed true playoff leadership down for a 22 year old in his third season. Jimmy Butler has led his Miami squad to the first Eastern Conference Finals since Lebron was the king of South Beach. This Heat team is 8-1 in the playoffs and has been extremely impressive on the defensive end and has the shooters to score with any team in the league. Oddsmakers are having a tough time placing the line for this series as it’s fluctuated from -2 Mia to a current -1.5 Bos, with the 1 and 2 seed down these two storied franchises are on the brink of a finals appearance inside the bubble.



#3 Boston Celtics (48-24) vs #5 Miami Heat (44-29)



Celtics Rundown:


Defensively this team was lights out against the raptors as they were able to hold them at 100 points or less 5 times and clamped up all star Pascal Siakam leaving him with 14.9 a game shooting 12.5% from three. The starting lineup is extremely well balanced touting two all stars in Tatum and Kemba, two defensive studs that can go out and get a bucket if needed in Brown and Smart, and an anchor big man in Theis. Robert Williams has been huge off the bench for the C’s and Wanamaker has good spurts but other than that the bulk of scoring has come from the starting 5 in Boston. Depth and bench scoring is going to be critical in this series as the Heat average 28.4 free throws a game showing they know how to get stars in foul trouble by getting to the line. Jayson Tatum averaged 24.3 PPG / 10.3 RPG / 5.3 APG against the raptors in 7 games, the young man has his game on full display in Orlando and has shown a wide variety of moves showing us how deep his bag is. If the C’s can stay out of foul trouble and lock down on perimeter defense they have a real chance at making a finals run.



Heat Rundown:


The Miami Heat have had their foot on the gas all postseason so far as they are 8-1 and averaging around 112 points per game with 24.4 assists per game as a team. Veterans Jimmy Butler and Goran Dragic have led the way in scoring for Miami in the playoffs both averaging over 20 PPG with all star Bam Adebayo close behind averaging 16.2 PPG to go along with 11.7 RPG. The 3 point supporting cast including Duncan Robinson, Tyler Herro, and Jae Crowder are essential to this teams success and we’ve seen spurts from all of these guys showing they can go off and needed to be tightly guarded around the 3 point line. The most absurd stat i’ve seen so far is Jae Crowder shooting 10.2 threes a game in the Conference Semi’s and knocking down 43% of those shots. The perimeter defenders are going to be crucial to this Miami team getting past the celtics and on to the finals, Jimmy Butler, Andre Iguodala, and Jae Crowder are going to have they’re hands full trying to contain Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, if they can slow down the young wing stars you will be seeing the Heat back in the NBA Finals.



Starting Lineup Advantage: Celtics


The Celtics got 87.7 points per game from their starting unit. They have key defenders as well as go to scorers that can get it done off the dribble and shoot off the pass. Jayson Tatum stat wise is the best player in this series and spearheads this aggressive boston starting 5.



Overall Depth: Heat


The Heat get more production off their bench despite having a typical 8 man rotation compared to Boston’s 9-10 man rotation. Iguodala, Herro, and Nunn have been huge off the bench and all provide solid defense and energy off the bench. Herro is by far the top bench scorer in this series and will be crucial to this team's success.


Picks:


Maher: Miami in 7


Vince: Miami in 6


Patrick: Miami in 7


James: Miami in 6


Ryan: Celtics in 7




Cover photo: Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

23 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


Follow Us:

  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Subscribe:

Thanks for submitting!

bottom of page