Tag: 2023 nba championship

NBA title tiers: Where do the Boston Celtics stack up against their peers?

Which are the teams that could realistically have a shot at winning the 2023 NBA Championship?

As the NBA heads into the stretch run ahead of the 2023 NBA playoffs, which teams realistically have a shot at winning the championship?

The Boston Celtics have been a favorite most of the 2022-23 season. The Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers have been considered potential contenders in the league’s Eastern Conference. The Miami Heat perhaps have a fringe claim as well. In the West, the Phoenix Suns elevated themselves to the top of the pack by trading for Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant.

The Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks are in a tier below them, and maybe if you squint, you can include the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans, too.

The folks over at the Athletic’s Game Theory podcast recently debated this topic; take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they had to say.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Who is more likely to win a title this season – the Boston Celtics, or the Bruins?

With the Patriots and Red Sox out of the running for banners this season, which two New England sports franchises might bring home a title this season, the Celtics or the Bruins?

The New England teams that have competed for titles most recently, the NFL’s Patriots and MLB’s Boston Red Sox, are in rebuilds.

However, the Boston Celtics and their NHL equivalent, the Bruins, are both title contenders this season. But which has the best chance of bringing home a title, the Celtics or the Bruins?

NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry and Chris Gasper recently debated this question.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what it is that they had to say about which Bostonian sports clubs will be hanging a banner this season.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Have the Phoenix Suns passed the Boston Celtics as the team to beat to win it all in 2023?

Now, with players having changed teams as Boston and the rest of the contention-hopefuls gearing up for a deep push into the 2023 NBA Playoffs, are the Suns the ball club in pole position to win it all?

For much of the 2022-23 NBA season, the team to beat has been the Boston Celtics, freshly focused after falling to the Golden State Warriors in six games in the 2022 NBA Finals. After the Celtics blazed a trail to the league’s best record in the Eastern Conference, it helped change the minds of the Brooklyn Nets front office, who sent superstar forward Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns in a trade deadline deal in early February.

Now, with players having changed teams as Boston and the rest of the contention-hopefuls gear up for a deep push into the 2023 NBA playoffs, are the Suns the ball club in pole position to win it all?

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix recently sat down with The Volume’s official YouTube channel to discuss it.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what he had to say.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Boston Celtics ranked top team in the NBA for contention odds pre-stretch run

The Boston Celtics may have seen other teams around the league loading up on talent at the 2023 trade deadline, but still find themselves at the top of potential title contenders.

The Boston Celtics may have seen other teams around the league loading up on talent at the 2023 trade deadline, but still find themselves at the top of potential title contenders according to SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell. Per O’Donnell, the “Celtics have been playing like the best team in basketball for more than a year now.”

The SB Nation analyst points to how “last season’s stunning turnaround at the halfway point” under the ball club’s prior head coach Ime Udoka would lead to a berth in the 2022 NBA Finals, one Boston would eventually squander to lose in six games, only to return with a vengeance on Game 1 of the 2022-23 season.

Now, O’Donnell notes how Boston has since morphed into “a group with the best net rating and point-differential at the All-Star break this year.”

New Bleacher Report projection places Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns in 2023 NBA Finals

They also see another grueling path for Boston to get there — but will they win it all?

The Boston Celtics are by many accounts seen as the team most likely to win it all in 2023. But Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes has gone a step further, mapping out the entire 2023 NBA Playoffs from the first rounds of both the Eastern and Western Conferences all the way to picking a winner for the 2023 NBA Championship.

Hughes breaks down each potential matchup the Celtics and other postseason participants may face in detail, with Boston making a deep run yet again to the Finals, but let’s dive into whether the team achieves the goal of star Celtics forward Jayson Tatum of hanging his first (and Boston’s 18th) banner.

Fittingly, the path envisioned by Hughes for the Celtics is not unlike what they faced in 2022.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla on Boston’s postseason expectations

The freshly minted full head coach at the Salt Lake City All-Star game on the new title, the season so far, and the Celtics’ postseason expectations.

The title may have changed for Boston Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla — the interim tag is no more — but the expectations are every bit the same as the second after the Golden State Warriors won Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals: Win the 2023 NBA championship.

But with the rest of the league loading up on depth to make their own postseason run in the 2023 NBA playoffs, what are the expectations for the Celtics relative to the arms race that has been building to temper their regular season excellence both in their own conference and the exoduses from the Brooklyn Nets to the Dallas Mavericks and Phoenix Suns?

The folks over at the Yahoo Sports YouTube channel had the good fortune to have reporter Kristin Peek interview the freshly minted full head coach at the Salt Lake City All-Star game on the new title, the season so far, and the Celtics’ postseason expectations.

Take a look at the clip embedded above to hear what they had to say.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Who will the Boston Celtics need to compete against to win the 2023 NBA championship?

While they only need to worry about who comes out of the West if they make it to the finals in the first place, the best of the best coming out of the Eastern Conference are by no means guaranteed to ba a cakewalk, either.

Are the Boston Celtics truly among the 2023 NBA championship contenders? More importantly, who are the teams at their level they will have to go through to win the long-coveted Banner 18?

While the Celtics need worry about who comes out of the West only if they make it to the finals, the best in the Eastern Conference will be no cakewalk. To get to the bottom of these questions, the hosts of the popular “Thinking Basketball” podcast recently took a deep dive into who they believe are the contenders at the midpoint of the 2022-23 NBA season.

Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what they had to say.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Boston Celtics’ lack of consistency has them falling out of favor with some analysts

Some well-known analysts are picking other teams higher given their record of bringing their best nearly every night.

When it comes to winning NBA titles, consistency matters. If you do not have the discipline to give every team your best no matter the opponent, it is nearly impossible to win a championship.

For this reason, the host of the eponymous podcast “Hoops Tonight with Jason Timpf” does not believe the Boston Celtics are title contenders this season. Instead, he favors teams that have a history of consistency when it comes to not playing down to their opponents. He places the Celtics as the third-most likely club in the league to win it all in 2023.

To hear what teams he holds in higher regard and the finer details of his argument, take a look at the clip embedded below.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MlvMznQZw1s

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Boston, Brooklyn alum Kenny Anderson picks Celtics over Nets for the 2023 NBA title

“I just don’t think right now that (Brooklyn) can win without getting two or three more pieces,” Anderson opined.

The two hottest teams in the NBA’s Eastern Conference are the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets, and for retired point guard Kenny Anderson, it can be tough to bear when both of two of his three favorite teams play one another (the other being his former Portland Trail Blazers). In fact, Anderson recently told Bally Sports’ Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson he doesn’t watch the games when his former teams play.

That likely means Mr. Chibbs — as Anderson is sometimes called — will be sitting out the January 12 collision between the Nets and Celtics that could determine the top record in the East if not the league.

But when it comes to which of the squads has a better title case, Anderson did not hesitate. “I’m going with the Boston Celtics,” he related.

“I just don’t think right now that (Brooklyn) can win without getting two or three more pieces,” Anderson continued. “They need rebounding — they need a big!”

“I don’t see it but with Kyrie (Irving) and Kevin Durant, anything is possible. It can happen. But this year, the Celtics are motivated after how they lost last year in the Championship — they are motivated.”

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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Do the Boston Celtics have enough to win the 2023 NBA title?

Can Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown fuel the team to new heights, having fallen just shy of winning it all the season prior?

Do the Boston Celtics have enough to win the NBA title this year? Can Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown power the team to new heights, having fallen just shy of winning it all last season? If the Celtics aren’t quite there yet, what else needs to happen?

Such are the questions being asked by the hosts of the Peacock “Brother from a Different Mother” show, Michael Holley and Vincent Goodwill.

With recent stumbles after truly incandescent play to start this Celtics campaign, which version of the team will be left standing by the end of the 2022-23 NBA regular season?

Take a look at the clip embedded below to hear what the pair had to say about Boston’s postseason prospects on a recent episode focused on the Celtics’ contention hopes as we inch toward the season’s midpoint.

Listen to the “Celtics Lab” podcast on:

Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3zBKQY6

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3GfUPFi

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3F9DvjQ

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