Could This Surprising Celtics NBA Finals Prediction Come True?

Despite their up-and-down play over the last month, the Boston Celtics are still the favorite to come out of the Eastern Conference and make it to this year’s NBA Finals.

But waiting from them there could be a surprise opponent.

While the Oklahoma City Thunder are the betting favorite to get their hands on the Larry O’Brien Trophy, Travis Thomas predicted on NESN’s “Hold My Banner” podcast that the Celtics will face a recent opponent that got the better of them.

“I’m going to gamble that the Rockets get it done and upset the Thunder (in the Western Conference finals),” Thomas said. “So, I’m saying Celtics-Rockets in the Finals.”

Not much was expected of the Rockets when the season began, but Thomas’ prediction isn’t as far-fetched as it seems. Former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has Houston playing extremely well as the Rockets own the third-best record in the league at 32-14.

The Rockets took it to another level since the start of the new year, winning 11 of 14 games, including beating the Cleveland Cavaliers twice and the Celtics, which came Monday night at TD Garden.

The Celtics and Rockets split the two-game regular-season series and would create quite the Finals matchup with plenty of storylines thanks to Udoka’s presence on Houston’s sideline.

You can watch all episodes of “Hold My Banner” on YouTube and Spotify.