Carlisle: Celtics ‘have been favorites all year’ originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle praised the team they will face in the Eastern Conference Finals ahead of Tuesday night’s series opener, acknowledging that the Boston Celtics will be tremendously difficult to defeat.
“Well, these guys have been the favorites all year to win it all,” Carlisle said of the Celtics. “They’ve run away with the Eastern Conference — they’ve been dominant.”
Finishing with the NBA’s best regular season record, 64-18, 14 games above the second-place New York Knicks – who were eliminated by the Pacers in seven games in the final round – the Celtics proved themselves worthy of the No. 1 seed.
Throughout the regular season, the Celtics ranked first in offensive rating, net rating, turnover percentage and 3-point percentage, with second in defensive rating and effective field goal percentage. They finished in the top seven in every other category except offensive rebound percentage, where they finished 17th.
Finishing the Miami Heat in just five games in the opening round of the playoffs, the Celtics continued to show they were the team to beat by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-1 in the conference semifinals.
“It’s a big task, that’s clear” Carlisle added about the need to get past Boston to advance. “We just have to make it as difficult as possible for them.”
The Celtics won three of five regular-season meetings with the Pacers. The second matchup ended in Indiana’s favor thanks to a triple-double from Tyrese Haliburton – with six other Pacer players recording double-digit points – Indiana eliminated Boston from the season’s tournament.
In their most recent matchup, which took place in late January, Brown and Tatum’s combined 55 points were enough to extinguish former Celtic Aaron Nesmith’s 26-point “revenge” game. as Boston recorded a five-point victory.
With the big man Kristaps Porzingis still sidelined due to a calf injurythe Celtics will look to take the series lead with home-field advantage in Games 1 and 2 before heading to Indiana for Game 3.
