The Boston Celtics have been upending expectations almost from the start of the 2019-20 NBA season, and are now expected to finish with the league’s fourth-best record according to at least one popular online sportsbook.
Internet-based bookmaker BetOnline projects the Celtics to finish with 55.5 wins at the end of the regular season, up seven wins from the preseason estimate of 48.5 wins.
This is of course due to the outstanding play and unexpected chemistry contrasted against what was known at the time — namely that the team was young, had lost two top-50 talents, and had struggled to play consistently against even lower-tier opponents.
Fast forward four months with the synergistic play between All-Star point guard Kemba Walker and three wings in Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward all playing All-Star-level basketball, and the heft in this season’s win column speaks for itself.
Those 55.5 wins should be good for a fourth-place finish in the NBA if BetOnline’s predictions pan out the way they think they will, with Boston trailing the Milwaukee Bucks (67.5 wins) and Toronto Raptors (56.5 wins) in the East, and Los Angeles Lakers (61.5 wins) in the West.
All in all, it’s refreshing to be outpacing expectations after a year of repeatedly failing to even sniff the lofty expectations at the start of the 2018-19 NBA season that went so disastrously for the Celtics.
With a fresh slate and a bevy of budding stars, the future for this storied franchise is as bright as it was before that detour took the team off its pursuit of Boston’s next banner, and it may not be the last time in before the end of the season the Celtics defy the odds yet again.
