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After an arduous 82-game regular season, the 2022 NBA Playoffs are officially upon us and we have an exciting matchup in the Eastern Conference. The No. 7 seed Brooklyn Nets will play the No. 2 seed Boston Celtics beginning on Sunday, April 17.
The Nets defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-108 in the play-in game on Tuesday night to claim the No. 7 seed. As for the Celtics, they finished the season with a record of 51-31 and won the Atlantic Division. Below we’ll look at the odds for the series courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook and give our predictions on what will take place.
Celtics vs. Nets predictions
Odds to win series: Celtics -130, Nets +110
Regular season record: Celtics (51-31), Nets (44-38)
Head-to-head record: Celtics won the season series 3-1
The Celtics proved this season that they could make a deep run with how they play offense and back it up on defense. Boston will not have Robert Williams III for this first-round series, but they still have a solid front court to hold things down with Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart.
The last time these two teams played each other on Mar. 6, the Nets had both Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who scored 37 and 19 points respectively. But it wasn’t enough as Tatum went off for 54 points, while Brown scored 21 points. It’s going to be a fun series, but it would be a surprise to see the Celtics not win the series.
Pick: Celtics in 6 games
With the firepower that the Nets have with Irving and Durant, they could easily steal two games in this series. However, I believe the better defensive team prevails in this series and that is the Celtics. Smart will try to make life tough on Irving, while Brown will be able to go up against Bruce Brown or Seth Curry. Offense wins games which both teams have, but at the same time defense wins series. The C’s get it done and move on to the next round.
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