NBA
How many times has the Boston Celtics reached the conference finals?
The Celtics had little trouble in swatting Cleveland aside to be the first team to progress to the conference finals.
The Indiana Pacers visit the Boston Celtics for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night and despite being ranked as outsiders to win the 2023-24 season championship, the sixth-seeded Indiana did lead the NBA in scoring terms during the regular season, when they averaged 123.3 points per game with top-seeded Boston averaging 120.6 points per contest in the regular campaign.
Indiana saw-off Milwaukee Bucks in the opening round before eliminating the New York Knicks at the semi-final stage with the Celtics for their part advancing to the Eastern Conference final with wins over Miami Heat in the first round and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference semifinals. Boston getting the job done on both counts after just five games.
Despite being firm favourites to advance to the NBA final, Boston will have to make do without center Kristaps Porzingis, who will reportedly also miss the second game of the series with an ongoing calf injury. The 28-year-old sustaining the problem during Game 4 of Boston’s series against Miami.
“You know that he wants to play,” Boston’s Jrue Holiday said. “You know that he wants to get out there and play with his teammates, but then seeing him out there and seeing him working has been good. And honestly just hope that he recovers fast so that we can get him back out there.”
Statistics also confirm an advantage for the side from Beantown with the Celtics winning three of five meetings against Indiana during the regular season.
Boston in the Eastern Conference finals
Both the Celtics and rivals LA Lakers lead the way when it comes to NBA Championships with both franchises winning 17 titles during their respective histories.
The Celtics themselves have reached the finals on 22 occasions and boast an impressive record with just five defeats.
Despite their final statistics, the Celtics numbers in the Eastern Conference finals are not so impressive with 38 final appearances and on only 22 occasions have Boston advanced with the Celtics enjoying two heydays in the 1960s and 80s.
Since the turn of the century, the Massachusetts team have played in nine Eastern finals but only advanced on three occasions (2008, 2010 and 2022) with the 2007-08 season being the only time the team in green lifted the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy.
Pre-game statistics that certainly won’t be lost on Indiana Pacers fans ahead of the series.