Celtics Championship Odds Take a Hit with Kyrie Surgery
By Ryan Murphy in NBA Basketball
Published:
- Kyrie Irving’s first season in Boston has come to a premature end with his second knee procedure
- Can the Celtics get past the first round without their leading scorer?
- Who will step up in Irving’s absence?
So much for the luck of the Irish. The Celtics are reeling today after learning Kyrie Irving will miss the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs as he recovers from surgery to remove a pair of screws from his left knee.
#NEBHInjuryReport Kyrie Irving will undergo a procedure this Saturday to remove two screws implanted in his patella from an injury suffered during the 2015 NBA Finals.
He is expected to make a full recovery in 4-5 months. https://t.co/WKQfPlUZ0u
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 5, 2018
This is the second surgery in two weeks for Irving, who underwent a minimally invasive procedure on March 24th to address irritation in the same knee. That particular operation was only supposed to sideline him for 3-6 weeks, but doctors discovered a bacterial infection during a follow-up visit and advised Irving to undergo a second – and hopefully final – surgery to correct the matter.
Irving averaged 24.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 3.8 rebounds in 32.2 minutes per game during his first year in Boston and was the driving force behind the Celtics’ 16-game winning streak at the beginning of the season. The 6’3” dynamo was the team’s unquestioned leader and Boston will sorely miss his ability to create shots for himself and others.
Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford will all have to step up in Irving’s absence and share the burden of leading the Celtics into the postseason. All three players are excellent secondary options, but lack the playmaking and creative flair that made Irving such a challenging player to contain.
Expect Boston’s title odds to drop like a stone over the next day once sportsbooks have had a chance to fully digest the news.
Expect Boston’s title odds to drop like a stone over the next day once sportsbooks have had a chance to fully digest the news and quantify the impact Irving’s absence will have on the Celtics. In the meantime, we’ve created some fresh odds of our own to reflect Boston’s bleak new reality.
Celtics Playoff Odds
| Prop | Odds |
|---|---|
| Celtics 2018 title odds with Kyrie Irving | 20/1 |
| Celtics 2018 title odds without Kyrie Irving | 100/1 |
| Prop | Odds |
|---|---|
| Over/Under 2018 playoff wins for Boston | 2.5 |
| Over/Under number of games in Boston’s 2018 first round playoff series | 6.5 |
Odds to Lead Boston in Playoff Scoring
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Jaylen Brown | 3/2 |
| Jayson Tatum | 4/1 |
| Al Horford | 5/1 |
| Marcus Morris | 9/1 |
| Terry Rozier | 10/1 |
| FIELD | 20/1 |
Former Sports Writer
Ryan worked as an Editor and resident Lead NBA and MLB Writer for SB from 2017-19. He has authored his own weekly columns for Fox Sports and AskMen, and has created successful campaigns for the WWE, the NHL, and the NFL. Ryan's critically acclaimed stories have been published in 20 books.
