Boston Celtics – NBA Season Preview
For the better part of the last decade, at the beginning of each season it was a foregone conclusion that the Boston Celtics would win the Atlantic Division and would be one of the top favorites to capture the Eastern Conference.
2011/2012 NBA Team Betting Previews- Boston Celtics
Odds to win the Eastern Conference +500
Odds to win the NBA Championship +1200
This year is no exception as the odds clearly favor the Celtics to add a fifth-straight division title to their resume and their sixth in the last eight years. They are the third-favorite to win the conference at +500, but the gap between themselves and Chicago at +200 and Miami at -110 has certainly widened.
After falling to the Heat in five games in last season’s best-of-seven conference semifinals, Boston realizes exactly what it is up against if it is going to have any chance to get back into the NBA Finals. One thing that is evident is that the Celtics still believe that the talent they already have on the roster is enough to get the job done. Everything still revolves around the big three of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce with the fourth key player being Rajon Rondo. Garnett and Allen are both getting near the end of a stellar career and injury concerns always rears its ugly head when it comes to such a veteran ballclub such as Boston.
Some of the other players currently on the roster such as Jeff Green, who came over last season in a trade for Kendrick Perkins along with newcomers Chris Wilcox and Brandon Bass will have to step up and make their minutes count in order for the Celtics to have any chance to close the gap with the Bulls and the Heat. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Boston won the Atlantic Division by 14 games last season with an overall record of 56-26. In a shortened 66-game season, it will be pressed right out of the box by a much improved New York Knick team which is still trying to add a few more key ingredients to make a title run of the own. Another team on the rise is the young, but talented Philadelphia 76ers.
Do not expect such a comfortable margin of victory this season, but in the end, the Celtics add another Atlantic Division Title banner to the rafters at the TD Garden. Unfortunately, that will be about as far as it goes as Boston does not get past the conference semifinals for the second year in a row as once again Miami and Chicago battle it out for the Eastern Conference Title.
