NBA Playoffs Update: Final Four Teams Clash for Title
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00:00 And then there were four only four teams remaining in the NBA playoffs now on the
00:08 conference finals in the Eastern Conference it's the team we all expected
00:13 to be here all season long the Boston Celtics who will host the Indiana Pacers
00:19 as the C's have home floor advantage in the Western Conference maybe an unlikely
00:24 matchup it's the Minnesota Tinder Wolves and the Dallas Mavericks here is how
00:29 we have reached this point with only four teams remaining at this stage of
00:34 the NBA postseason Boston and Indiana on one side on the other it's Dallas and
00:40 Minnesota and this is what we expected not we thought the Denver Nuggets would
00:46 be in this spot here and also just taking a look overall at the numbers at
00:49 the fans of sportsbook to win the NBA championship you see the Celtics price
00:53 getting a little bit deeper there at - 160 I do that's a direct correlation
00:57 here to the Denver Nuggets actually not making it into the Western Conference
01:00 finals as the NBA champions from last year that might have been maybe the
01:04 toughest effort that you would get now granted we're not get taking anything
01:07 away from Minnesota Timberwolves they were better than Nuggets why because
01:09 they just beat the Nuggets in a seven game series but I just think that
01:13 pedigree of heading into the NBA finals where the Boston Celtics over the past
01:16 couple years have had a lot of success getting to at least the Eastern
01:19 Conference finals but not over the top now if you're taking a look at the
01:22 finals let's just say it is the Dallas Mavericks and or the Timberwolves we're
01:26 not looking at either one of those teams like ah Dallas you know what I mean five
01:30 out of six times in the finals two championships here or even the Minnesota
01:33 Timberwolves so now you're looking as the veteran team is the Boston Celtics
01:37 with championships because the other three teams that are fighting with them
01:40 all in the same boat right now so I do believe the Boston Celtics is priced
01:44 correctly at the - 160 and again that's not taking anything away from me on the
01:48 Minnesota Timberwolves the Celtics through most of this second round the
01:52 conference semifinal series were booked around a - 130 - 140 odds on favorite
01:59 getting into the second round even at times in the opening round with the
02:03 carnage in the Eastern Conference Boston flipped to - money in odds on
02:07 favorite to win the NBA title now - 160 because of the perceived weakness on the
02:13 other side the top seed in the conference Oklahoma City ousted by the
02:18 Dallas Mavericks the Minnesota Timberwolves of course knocking out the
02:22 reigning NBA champs the Denver Nuggets who threw a good majority of the season
02:26 DRS were booked as that other when you looked at either an NBA championship
02:31 series exact matchup or just who were the favorites in either conference it
02:36 was Boston and Denver Boston versus Denver and a potential NBA finals now
02:41 the Nuggets are no longer there and when you look at the Eastern Conference title
02:46 odds you even paint a further path to the NBA championship odds but really
02:52 for Boston Dottie as a - 1250 - 1250 hefty outright favorite to win the
03:00 Eastern Conference crown in a best-of-seven series against Indiana
03:04 that - 160 price is only an indication that either of these two teams
03:10 Minnesota or Dallas on the other side is by far Boston's best test because you
03:16 see the Eastern Conference title odds for the Eastern Conference finals -
03:21 1250 is the number in favor of the C's who oh by the way were - 1250 before
03:27 game number one of the second round against Cleveland - 1500 if not greater
03:32 than that entering round number one against the Miami Heat probably greater
03:37 than that closer to - 5000 after we got the official confirmation that Jimmy
03:41 Butler would not play in that opening round set yeah you take a look at the
03:46 pathway towards an NBA finals I have to talk about winning it Ben for the Boston
03:49 Celtics but it seems to be one of the easier ones we've seen at least over the
03:52 past 20 years now also how does that play out look if you equate the football
03:56 terms right in college football you play in a weak division let's just say the
04:00 ACC you run through that division and that conference all the way through the
04:04 season when you have teams like in the SEC getting battle-tested having
04:08 adversity on week to week meaning you need late scoring drives to beat
04:11 football teams the reason I'm bringing that up is we haven't seen that of the
04:14 Boston Celtics you get an injured Miami Heat team yeah they surprised him in
04:18 game number two but then wiped him off the court same thing with Cleveland
04:20 surprising game number two then wiped him off the court we're expecting them
04:23 to wipe the Pacers off the court now granted coming into the series the
04:27 Pacers aren't banged up and injured like you weren't getting a hobbled Cleveland
04:30 team and a hobbled Miami Heat team from what you have in those first two series
04:34 you're not getting that with the Pacers they're gonna be healthy for this one
04:37 that price is crazy at - 1250 but hear me out on this let's just say again the
04:42 Boston Celtics win this series in five games which is probably the favorite at
04:46 this point now you know win two in Boston will split out there in Indiana
04:49 we'll come home for game number five and get a victory as you see up there on the
04:52 graphic five games at a plus 155 price and that makes some sense are we going
04:56 to penalize the Celtics like oh what an easy run five games five games five
05:01 games when you take a look at the Western Conference where these teams are
05:04 going to six and seven games of absolute wars and we don't even know how the
05:08 Western Conference finals are going to turn out that's something to look at
05:11 here but also there's something to be said for the Boston Celtics not having
05:14 that wear and tear those high leverage situations aren't there so they're not
05:17 stressed out as if the other teams in the Western Conference just taking a
05:20 deep breath when they get to the finals like man that was a tough run when the
05:24 Celtics are rested and ready yeah listen there's going to be those narratives
05:28 already starting to build because also whoever they face from the West it's not
05:33 the reigning champs the Denver Nuggets it would be the first NBA Finals
05:37 appearance in a very long time for either Minnesota or Dallas more recently
05:41 but really the story here is Boston having the championship pedigree of
05:46 these four organizations now on to the conference finals round Boston of course
05:51 one of the most historic organizations in the history of the National
05:55 Basketball Association 17 NBA titles but none since 2008 only one in this
06:04 current millennium that was 2008 only one since 1986 also 2008 for a Celtics
06:11 team that has reached the Eastern Conference Finals three consecutive
06:15 seasons in four of the previous five NBA years now is the time to make good on
06:21 what was expected and frankly Donnie it was expected the story entering this
06:27 year was the big four the two teams from the Eastern Conference Boston and
06:31 Milwaukee co-favorites to win the NBA championship and the other two from the
06:35 Western Conference right behind the Nuggets and the Suns Boston the only
06:39 team of the big four to even reach the conference finals round because the
06:44 Celtics before the year plus 380 to win the NBA title plus 120 at the start of
06:50 the postseason and now minus 160 favored all along you can see how the odds have
06:57 moved for the other three teams reaching this stage Indiana 260 to 1 before the
07:04 year got started out 26 to 1 because they match up against the Celtics
07:09 Minnesota 55 to 1 16th of 30 NBA teams before the year got started even tied
07:15 for the seventh best price because they were an underdog in their opening round
07:19 series ever so slightly against Phoenix and the Dallas Mavericks actually a
07:24 pretty good price entering the postseason at 16 to 1 top 5 number to
07:29 win the NBA championship but now no longer the favorites to win the Western
07:33 Conference crown that's the Timberwolves who have home floor advantage yeah these
07:37 prices I think are correct too because you have to take a look at the Celtics
07:40 being the prohibitive favorite why because they have the easiest path to
07:43 get to the NBA finals hence a minus 160 price to win it all you take a look at
07:48 the Timberwolves at a plus 280 price they got a formidable opponent coming up
07:51 here in the Dallas Mavericks who are a 5 to 1 price to win the NBA championship
07:55 so still a lot of ways to go but I do think that Celtics price that you're
07:58 looking at now is if we think it's gonna be so easy to get by the Pacers that
08:02 does make some sense because again you're going to line up in the finals
08:05 you're gonna have home court advantage and also it is to your advantage if
08:09 you're the Celtics to put away the Pacers as quickly as possible and also
08:13 keep in mind here we love what we see out of the Celtics on the court and
08:16 we're still waiting for Chris Tapps Porzingis to get back into the equation
08:19 and he still might be sitting out games one and two which tells you how
08:22 devastating some of these calf/hamstring injuries can actually be in the time
08:26 that you're going to miss but granted you're not the Boston Celtics we don't
08:30 need to see Chris Tapps Porzingis hobbling up and down the basketball
08:33 court like we saw OG Ananobis because of a must-win game number seven they're
08:36 afforded they can rest him extra time and if you do think they easily
08:40 dispatch of the Pacers why even bring them back for this series if you don't
08:43 need them make sure he's 100% by the time you get to the NBA finals that's
08:47 probably the goal here so because you're that good being the Celtics and is such
08:51 a heavy favorite you could be afforded that chance to rest your superstar
08:54 player and Chris Tapps Porzingis. Boston a nine and a half point favorite for
08:59 game number one inside TD Garden tomorrow night game one in Minneapolis
09:04 of the Western Conference Finals the T-Wolves a four-point favorite on
09:08 Wednesday night Minnesota into the Western Conference Finals for the first
09:12 time in 20 years since 2004 Indiana into the Eastern Conference Finals for the
09:18 first time since 2014.
09:22 (upbeat music)