Let's cut to the chase: We all know the Brooklyn Nets should handle the Boston Celtics in their first-round NBA playoff series.
The superstar trio of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden leads a loaded roster bolstered by underrated role players like Joe Harris, Jeff Green and Landry Shamet. With Durant, Irving and Harden all healthy, the No. 2 seed Nets are the odds-on NBA championship favorites.
The Celtics? They'll be without All-Star wing Jaylen Brown and lost five of six to end a frustrating regular season before beating the Washington Wizards to sneak into the playoffs as the Eastern Conference No. 7 seed.
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So, it shouldn't surprise you that pundits are picking the Nets over the Celtics in Round 1. What may surprise you, however, is how unanimous experts are in their predictions.
Here's a roundup of Celtics vs. Nets first-round series predictions from NBA writers and analysts:
Boston Celtics
Chris Forsberg, NBC Sports Boston: Nets in 5
NBC Sports Boston's Strat-O-Matic Simulation: Nets in 5
John Schuhmann, NBA.com: Nets in 4
ESPN expert predictions: 18 picking Nets, 0 picking Celtics
Jared Weiss, Jay King and Alex Schiffer, The Athletic: Nets in 4; Nets in 5; Nets in 5
Keith Smith, SB Nation: Nets in 5
You get the idea.
It's also worth noting that Celtics-Nets was the only series in which ESPN's 18-person panel all picked the same team. Only three experts on the panel had the series going six games, while the rest had the Nets winning in four or five games.
So, you could argue the C's are the biggest underdogs of the first round. That label isn't necessarily unwarranted: Brooklyn swept its season series vs. Boston while winning by an average of 15 points and despite not having all three of Durant, Irving and Harden for any of those games.
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But that also means Brad Stevens' club has literally nothing to lose, and that his players have some bulletin board material entering Game 1 on Saturday night.
"We know the odds are against us. We know what we're up against," Celtics guard Marcus Smart told reporters Friday. "This isn't our first time being up against a Goliath ... and being underdogs. So, we've just got to come out there and play."