Celtics favored to beat Pacers, six percent chance to make NBA Finals

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The Boston Celtics entered the 2018-19 season as the favorites to win the Eastern Conference. However, after a regular season that saw them fall short of expectations, their odds to win the Eastern Conference and the NBA Finals are in the middle of the pack.

According to Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, the Celtics have the ninth-best chance of winning the Finals with a mark of less than one percent. Their chances of making it to the Finals are six percent, which is good for sixth overall of the 16 playoff teams.

The Celtics' odds of making the Finals are just the fourth-highest in the East. Both the Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks have greater than a 40 percent chance of making the Finals, with the Philadelphia 76ers (seven percent) also ranking ahead of the Celtics.

Despite the lower odds of advancing to the Finals, Silver still likes the Celtics' chances of beating the Pacers. They have an 87 percent chance of defeating Indiana and advancing to the Conference Semifinals.

Before last year's playoff run, the Celtics had a nine percent chance of making the Finals and a two percent chance of winning the whole thing, per FiveThirtyEight. However, they were able to make the Conference Finals despite just being projected to have a 28 percent chance to get that far. It's possible that the Celtics could overcome the odds and exceed expectations once again.

It's unclear if the absence of Marcus Smart is having any impact on the Celtics' odds. Smart is expected to miss four-to-six weeks after suffering a torn oblique in the Celtics' Sunday night loss to the Magic. He could miss the first two rounds of the playoffs as a result of the injury.

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