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Kendrick Perkins disagrees with Thunder being made NBA title favorites over Celtics

Morning Sports Update

Even a longtime Celtics rival agreed that Boston remains the team to beat.

Derrick White Celtics odds

Derrick White during the Celtics' March 18 win over the Nets. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

By Hayden Bird

March 20, 2025 | 10:04 AM

3 minutes to read

Kendrick Perkins still thinks the Celtics are title favorites: For the entirety of the NBA season until this week, the Celtics were the favorite to win the championship and defend the crown won in 2024.

Then on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s betting service, oddsmakers began favoring the Thunder by a slim margin. Oklahoma City now gets +175 odds, while Boston fell to second at +200. The Thunder currently hold the best record in the NBA at 57-12, while the Celtics are third best (trailing also the Cavaliers) at 50-19.

During a recent “NBA Today” segment on ESPN, former Celtics center Kendrick Perkins adamantly disagreed with the sports betting analysts’ assessment.

“Absolutely not,” Perkins replied when asked if he saw the Thunder as the new favorites. Still, he acknowledged that Oklahoma City are very close to the Celtics’ level.

“Look, if they were to matchup in the finals, I think that series would go seven games. I really do,” said Perkins. “I think [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander] is just that damn special. But again, when you look at the starting five of the Boston Celtics, [there’s] no drop-off, offensively, defensively.”

“I think experience kicks in,” Perkins said of the pressure that accompanies trying to win in the playoffs.

“Your first time in the NBA Finals, you could be overwhelmed by all of the attention, the excitement, the focus being on you,” he reasoned, “and then all of sudden you forget that you actually have to play basketball.”

As if to further illustrate the point, a longtime Celtics opponent (and critic) agreed with Perkins.

Former Miami Heat center Udonis Haslem (now a fellow analyst) sided with his colleague regarding the analysis.

“I’ll never be on your side all day, but I’m going to start the day off on your side right now,” joked Haslem. “At the end of the day, it’s a ‘show me’ league. This is a ‘show me’ league. What have you shown me?

“Yes, OKC showed us that they can win in the regular season, but can you win in the finals when the lights are the brightest,” Haslem continued. “We’ve seen Jayson Tatum do that. We’ve seen Jaylen Brown do that. We know the Boston Celtics step up in the biggest moments. So I’m sticking with Boston.

“Don’t get used to it,” Haslem added, humorously, with a nod toward Perkins.

Trivia: Udonis Haslem ranks second all-time in Heat history in both games played and minutes. Who ranks first in both of those categories?

(Answer at the bottom).

Hint: Drafted out of Marquette.

Scores and schedules:

Today, the NCAA Tournament gets underway, with the men’s edition starting at 12:15 p.m. as eighth-seeded Creighton will face ninth-seeded Louisville in the first matchup. The women’s tournament gets underway at 3 p.m. with Marquette facing Drake.

Tonight, the Bruins face the Golden Knights in Las Vegas at 10 p.m.

Tomorrow, the Celtics will play the Jazz in Utah at 9:30 p.m.

And this evening, the Red Sox face the Twins in a spring training game at 6:05 p.m.