The Boston Celtics’ and Indiana Pacers’ paths to the Eastern Conference Finals differed vastly. The top-seeded Celtics closed out both of their series in five games en route to posting an 8-2 record. Meanwhile, the Pacers needed six games to eliminate the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. In the conference semifinals, they overcame a 3-2 deficit against a New York Knicks squad that was missing several players from its rotation. Coming into the series opener, these two teams were the two highest-scoring teams in the association during the regular season, and that trend continued in Game 1.
Fast-forward to the fourth quarter, the Pacers led by a 117-114 margin in the waning moments and appeared to be on their way to upsetting the league’s top team. But thanks to a few late-game blunders, the Celtics were gifted the opportunity to send the game into an extra period, which is exactly what happened, courtesy of this jumper from Jaylen Brown.
Boston – who entered the series opener as a double-digit favorite – managed to escape with a 133-128 victory to take a 1-0 series lead. On one hand, Boston emerged victorious in a game they should have lost. On the other hand, Indiana is left to ponder what might have been if they had been able to execute down the stretch.
With that in mind, did the Celtics get the wake-up call they needed and respond accordingly going forward, or will the Pacers prove to be more than a speed bump against the team that has been the prohibitive favorite to represent the East in this year’s Finals?
Now we have set the table for this matchup, it’s time to examine the betting trends for both teams.
