Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics Eastern Conference Finals Best Bets

The Miami Heat and Boston Celtics advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, with the guys from Beantown holding a significant edge in this series. This is a rematch from the NBA bubble playoffs in 2020, which saw the Heat advance past the Celtics. Can Boston exact revenge this time out as big favorites, or will Miami’s Cinderella run as an eight-seed continue?

All odds courtesy of the FanDuel Sportsbook.

Boston Celtics

Led by superstar forward Jayson Tatum, the Boston Celtics continue to make noise in the postseason. You won’t find a better path for the Celtics to win an NBA championship after they got stuffed in the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors in 2022. Considering they’re one of the final four, it’s odd to say, but something has felt off about Boston in this postseason. It’s certainly possible that Tatum’s 51-point outburst in Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers flipped a switch, but you wouldn’t have expected that Boston would be challenged the way they have been. 

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To get to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics finished off the Atlanta Hawks in six games, followed by a tight seven-game series victory over the 76ers. The C’s haven’t had the urgency you’d like from them in the postseason, yet they’ve still been able to get the job done when it counts ultimately. Will that change against a well-coached team like the Heat, or will the Celtics finally begin playing to their potential and get back to the NBA Finals for the second straight year?

Tatum vs. Jokic for MVP

Miami Heat

Jimmy Butler will be tasked with matching Tatum’s elite presence in this series, and if we’ve been shown anything in the NBA playoffs, it’s that Butler will be up to the task. Led by an elite head coach in Erik Spoelstra, the Heat might not have the depth on their roster that the Celtics boast. That said, they play a great team brand of basketball, leading them to find consistent success in the postseason with this core. 

If you said you were expecting the Miami Heat to make it through two rounds of the NBA playoffs and be sitting in the Eastern Conference Finals as an eighth seed, you’d be lying. The Heat took down the favorites entering the playoffs in the Milwaukee Bucks in just five games and followed that up with a convincing six-game series win over the New York Knicks. The Heat are sizable underdogs in this series, but we’ve seen that movie before against Milwaukee, and look how that turned out. 

Verdict

There is no doubt in our mind that the biggest edge the Heat have over the Celtics is in the coaching department. In saying that, there’s an apparent talent discrepancy between these two teams, and that’s highlighted by the Celtics being sizable favorites to advance to back-to-back NBA Finals. Miami aren’t going to back down without a fight, though. That much is certain in this series. With the inconsistencies the Celtics have shown us in the postseason, this won’t be a cakewalk for them, but we still expect them to come out on top in six games.  

Best Bet: Celtics to Win Series 4-2 (+360)