NBA Playoffs 2024 basketball preview – Boston Celtics vs Indiana Pacers May 22: Explosive start

The Boston Celtics (64-18, No. 1 Eastern) will host the Indiana Pacers (47-35, No. 6 Eastern) at TD Garden, Boston’s home stadium at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 22.

This is Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Playoffs Eastern Finals series. Boston is the team with home-field advantage due to its higher seeding rating. The two teams have met 5 times in the Regular Season with 3 wins belonging to the Celtics, 2 wins belonging to the Indiana Pacers.

Match Information: The 2024 NBA Playoffs Eastern Finals series is taking on the shadow of a fight between diminutive David and giant Goliath, a young and strong Indiana Pacers who will face a strong and experienced Boston Celtics.

Boston has a lot of advantages including fitness, experience, 5 days of full rest, a successful Regular Season and better roster quality. This has been the Celtics’ 6th regional finals series since 2017, including the last 3 consecutive years (2021, 2022 and 2023).

As for the Indiana Pacers, they are a young, bloody and enthusiastic team with the last three seasons not even reaching the postseason stage (missing the Playoffs from 2020 to 2023). But the Pacers cannot be underestimated this season when from 6th place in the table, they have in turn defeated 2 opponents that are not easy to play to reach the Eastern final.
Index leaders of the two teams in the 2024 NBA Playoffs
Last 5 games record of Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics
Stats of the two teams in the last 10 head-to-head matches

Notable stars: Jayson Tatum is averaging 24.3 points along with 10.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game for the Boston Celtics. Right behind him is Jaylen Brown with 23.1 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.

On the Indiana Pacers side, Pascal Siakam was the team’s top scorer with 21.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Tyrese Haliburton contributed 18.8 points and 8.1 assists and a 37.5% 3PT long throw percentage.

NBA Playoffs 2024 Game Preview – Boston Celtics vs Indiana Pacers Game 1 5/22/2024

In the first game of the series, both sides with strength in attack will play open. The Indiana Pacers will have a mental advantage after their Game 7 win in the previous series, while they are slightly better in terms of people as the Boston Celtics are without Kristaps Porzingis through injury.

However, the Pacers will face a tough challenge that is to play away. In the series against Boston, they were unable to win away from home except for the last match, so this will be a point worth noting.

The Indiana Pacers will have to play away, which is not their strong point this season nor the 2024 NBA Playoffs
As for the Boston Celtics, the No. 1 seed team in the East had 5 days of full rest and played Game 1 at home. This puts Jayson Tatum and his teammates in a better position to open the series with a win.

The Celtics are also the team that has won 3 of their 5 meetings with the Indiana Pacers in the Regular Season this season, so they will somewhat know in advance what needs to be done to win a favorable result.

With that in mind, the Boston Celtics are projected to pick up a lopsided win to open the Eastern Finals series.

Expert Verdict: Boston Celtics -9.5 and U/221.5

The Boston Celtics with plenty of advantages will be able to win at home in Game 1
>> See more latest NBA basketball preview

Injury situation:

– Indiana Pacers are without Bennedict Mathurin (out for the rest of the season).

– Boston Celtics vắng Kristaps Porzingis.