On Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers were finally able to get by the resilient Orlando Magic, with Donovan Mitchell and company coming out on top in Game 7 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse to advance to the second round of the NBA playoffs.
After what turned out to be an epic and hard-fought seven-game series with the Magic, the Cavaliers will have an incredibly tough task ahead as they’ll have to contend with superstar forward Jayson Tatum and the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the second round.
The Celtics made easy work of the Miami Heat in the first round, advancing to the second round, where they were expected to be the favorites regardless of who they faced.
According to Action Network, BetMGM has the Celtics as huge favorites to come out on top against Mitchell and the Cavaliers in the second round.
The Celtics are -1400 to beat the Cavs in the second round @BetMGM 👀 pic.twitter.com/fBPe0G4Yyd
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) May 5, 2024
As of right now, the Celtics seem to be far and away the best team in the Eastern Conference, as they may not face a real challenge until they advance to the NBA Finals to face the best of the best the Western Conference has to offer.
That said, Boston being favored against Cleveland comes as no surprise, as this series could easily be a sweep or won in five games if the Cavaliers can get hot at some point.
It’ll be interesting to see how things pan out in this series and whether Cleveland can make it competitive, especially after being taken the distance by a better-than-expected Magic team led by Paolo Banchero.
NEXT:
Analyst Says 1 Young NBA Player Is Already Better Than Jayson Tatum
