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The second-seeded Boston Celtics are on the verge of getting swept in the Eastern Conference Finals by the eighth-ranked Miami Heat. Boston were beaten twice on their home floor and ran out of the building in Game 3 on Miami’s home court.
Despite the lopsided 3-0 edge in the series, ESPN is still giving the Celtics a 72% chance of advancing to the championship round.
Fans couldn’t stop themselves from trolling the post:
“These analytics are so fake wtf”
ESPN uses Basketball Power Index or BPI to calculate a team's strength to determine its future performance. Critics of the method call it inaccurate as it uses point differential in the regular season.
The Boston Celtics' point differential of 6.52 was the best in the NBA this season. The Miami Heat, meanwhile, was 25th with -0.32. Although Miami is beating Boston to a pulp in the conference finals, ESPN is still giving the Celtics a mind-boggling percentage to win the series.
The Cs finished the regular season with a 57-25 record, the second-best in the Eastern Conference. Miami, on the other hand, had a 44-38 win-loss slate and had to go through the play-in tournament to enter the playoffs.
The Heat, though, are far from playing like an eighth-seeded team. They dispatched Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in five games. Their next victims were the fifth-ranked New York Knicks, who fell in six games.
The Boston Celtics are the reigning conference champs after they beat the Miami Heat last season in seven games. They arguably have the best duo in the NBA in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Despite both superstars in the lineup, it has been a Jimmy Butler show in the series. The Celtics don't look like they belong in the same stage as the Heat, particularly in Game 3.
Joe Mazzulla is blaming himself for the Boston Celtics' embarrassing Game 3 loss
The Boston Celtics seemed to have stopped competing against the Miami Heat in the first quarter of Game 3. Boston's best performance came in the first 12 minutes of the game where they were outscored 30-22.
From there, the beatdown was so humiliating that Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla gave up as early as the start of the final period. Here's what he had to say after Boston's ugly loss:
"I just didn't have them ready to play. ... I didn't put them in the right mentality to be ready.
The first-year head coach received a ton of criticism for the Boston Celtics' playoff struggles. They had a tough time against the Atlanta Hawks and were nearly eliminated by the Philadelphia 76ers.
Against the Miami Heat, he seems to have been outcoached by Erik Spoelstra, who is considered by many to be the best in the NBA.
The Celtics are looking to avoid a sweep in Game 4 on Tuesday.
