"They're just not gifted enough offensively to even put away a banged up fairly average Miami team" - Colin Cowherd questions Boston Celtics' pedigree ahead of NBA finals
The Boston Celtics have advanced to the 2022 NBA Finals! After two tough series against the Milwaukee Bucks and the Miami Heat, both of which went to seven games, Boston has reached the final stage of the playoffs.
The road to the finals wasn't easy, but the Celtics earned it by playing hard and having an amazing defense. Despite Boston beating the reigning NBA champions and the number one seed in the East, they are still not favorites to win it all.
The Golden State Warriors, who beat the Dallas Mavericks in five games, will meet the Celtics in the 2022 NBA Finals. Steph Curry is ready for another ring and his team looks incredible.
The Warriors are favorites to win the 2022 NBA Finals
The Boston Celtics needed seven games to eliminate the Bucks, even though they were without their second-best player, Khris Middleton.
In the conference finals, Miami had a lot of injured players, including Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry, and Tyler Herro. Despite this, the Celtics needed seven hard-fought games to knock the Heat out.
This is why many fans and analysts don't believe that the Celtics have what it takes to win it all. Colin Cowherd, an NBA analyst, wasn't impressed with the performance Boston put on against the Heat, stating:
"I felt Boston was the better team five minutes into this game, maybe three minutes into this game, but they're just not gifted enough offensively to even put away a banged up fairly average Miami team."
Cowherd explained how the Heat missed key players and that the Celtics shouldn't have struggled so much in the series. The analyst also believes that the Heat fell apart physically, stating:
"Miami, though, was a pretty weak number one seed and they fell apart physically in this series, and the fact it was so hard for the Celtics to put them away just speaks to their inexperience winning big series."
This might be the best possible NBA Finals series
Even if the Heat advanced to the NBA Finals, their injuries would prevent them from playing well. After all, Butler had to play every second of Game 7 to make the game competitive.
Cowherd believes that the Celtics-Warriors matchup is a much better series for the NBA Finals, and it's hard to disagree with his statement.
"I do think it's the most competitive matchup possible. ... A coastal matchup, it'll get good numbers, two big brands between Curry and Tatum, you're talking about great players. I think this is the series the NBA deep down wanted."
Game 1 of the Celtics-Warriors series starts on Tuesday, May 31 and will be played in San Francisco.