This series is going to be a more competitive series, especially for Boston who had an easy ride in the first two series. Boston is the more rested team and they have home advantage in the series. The Pacers have beaten Boston twice in the regular season, and most of those games did not have Siakam as the trade didn’t happen yet. He brings experience and a championship pedigree to the Pacers that was on display in Game 7 against the Knicks. What will be different in this series is that the Pacers have played better defense in the playoffs than in the regular season and are very good at defending the 3 which is something the Celtics rely on in every game. If their shots aren’t sinking, the Celtics are usually in trouble. The Celtics don’t like to defend the interior as much and that is where the Pacers get a lot of their points. The Pacers are allowing less than 33% from opponents at the 3 point line in the playoffs which was very effective against the Knicks and the Bucks, both 3 point shooting teams. Both teams take a lot of shots and are the most accurate with their shots over most of the teams in the league, but Boston definitely has a big edge with their elite defense. However, the Pacers can beat them in areas that they are vulnerable in, like in offensive rebounding and shooting inside the paint. The key to the game is whether Boston allows the Pacers to get their points in transition when they are very good at defending that. This series definitely will be interesting because every season Boston is crowned the NBA champion before the season starts and usually lays an egg somewhere down the line in the playoffs. This is their sixth conference final in eight years, and Tatum and Brown have yet to win a championship over the seasons. There is a lot of pressure on Boston to win and perform, while the Pacers can play freely, because there weren’t any expectations that they would get this far. That is why this just might be too many points against a Pacers team that has depth and confidence and is finally playing some semblance of defense in the playoffs.

Best bet: take the points with Indiana Pacers.