Coming into this season, just about everyone agreed that the Boston Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks were the two favorites in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
The Celtics had traded for star big man Kristaps Porzingis and two-way point guard Jrue Holiday, while Milwaukee had stunned the league by landing future Hall of Famer Damian Lillard.
Meanwhile, the Philadelphia 76ers were mired in misery thanks to the James Harden fiasco, but somehow, they have overcome it and raced out to an 8-2 record, which is tied with Boston for the best record in the East.
Still, former All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins said to Rachel Nichols that the Sixers will run out of firepower by playoff time and that the Celtics are the favorites in the East, per SHOWTIME Basketball.
The Sixers have climbed to the top of the Eastern Conference in the first 10 games.
Do they have enough gas in the tank to clinch the top seed?
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— SHOWTIME Basketball (@shobasketball) November 15, 2023
Right now, Boston ranks near the top of the league in both offensive and defensive rating, and they boast arguably the best starting five in the league.
Holiday is a defensive menace at point guard, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum make up one of the best star duos around, Porzingis is getting it done on both ends of the floor, and guard Derrick White is a classic multi-faceted role player who will make hustle plays for his team.
Ever since Brown joined the Celtics for the 2016-17 season, they have reached the Eastern Conference Finals five times and the NBA Finals once, but they haven’t won the world championship.
The Celtics are one of the few teams in sports that measures success in terms of world championships, and if they don’t get a ring soon, fans will grow very impatient and perhaps even frustrated.
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