It is not just Las Vegas that loves the Boston Celtics as a pick to win it all in 2023; evidently, the RAPTOR player rating behind Five ThirtyEight’s 2022-23 NBA predictions page is on board as well with the Celtics strong favorites to win the 2023 NBA Championship at nearly twice the odds of their nearest rival.
That rival would be the Denver Nuggets, who are pegged to have a 13% chance to win it all compared to the Celtics’ 21% odds to win the Finals this season. No other team even hits double-digit percentages in terms of title odds, with the Memphis Grizzlies coming in third at just 8%.
If you choose to use their Elo player rating to drive the modeling instead, the results become a bit closer to what one might expect based on last season’s results
Celtics Lab 147: Breaking down Boston’s season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers with Ky Carlin https://t.co/4SCSzaY0nm
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 13, 2022
With that metric, the Celtics stay on top with a 17% chance of winning the title, tied with the Golden State Warriors, who also are given a 17% shot of winning the 2023 NBA Finals with the Miami Heat coming in third with 9% odds.
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