Getty The Boston Celtics just won their 60th game of the season.
The Boston Celtics made 60 look easy.
After the Celtics cruised to their 60th win of the season on Wednesday, April 3, with a 135-100 victory over the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder, legendary broadcaster Dick Vitale took to social media and predicted that the Celtics would bring home what would be their NBA-best 18th championship.
“Wow just watched the @Celtics win 60th & their multi talents & chemistry tells my VBDI (Vitale Bald Dome Index) they will hang another banner after the @NBA playoffs,” Vitale posted on X. “I love @jaytatum0 since I called his games @DukeMBB & he gets better & better daily. Getting @kporzee was a fantastic move. Yes Red Auerbach will light up a cigar in Hoops Heaven.”
The win secured home-court advantage throughout the postseason for a Boston team that clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference in March. The Celtics are the overwhelming favorite to win the East and return to the NBA Finals, a feat they accomplished in 2022. They are also the favorite to win their first championship since 2008. After the victory over the Thunder.
Wow just watched the @Celtics win 60th & their multi talents & chemisty tells my VBDI they will hang another banner after the @NBA playoffs . I love @jaytatum0 since I called his games @DukeMBB & he gets better & better daily . Getting @kporzee was a fantastic move . Yes Red…
Dick Vitale Is Still Getting His Point Across
Though Vitale, who will turn 85 in June, is doing far less talking these days, he’s still getting his point across on social media, posting several times a day on X.
Vitale had to step away from the microphone in 2023 to treat vocal cord cancer. He was unable to speak during his recovery, which wasn’t easy for the man known for his “that’s awesome, baby” catchphrase.
In December, Vitale announced he was cancer-free and said he was eyeing a return to announcing for the 2024-25 college basketball season, according to the Daily Mail.
Briefly a former college basketball coach in the 1970s, Vitale found success as a broadcaster, eventually winning a lifetime achievement award from the Emmys and getting inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
If Vitale Is Right, the Celtics Will Snap a Tie With the Lakers
In 2022, the Celtics held a 2-1 series lead against the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown struggled much of the postseason that year, and Golden State rattled off three straight wins to close out the series.
The following season, the Celtics had a golden opportunity to return to the championship round when they hosted the eighth-seeded Miami Heat in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics fell apart and the Heat embarrassed them in front of their home crowd, winning 103-84.
The Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers are tied with the most championships in franchise history with 17. With the additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday to the starting lineup this year, Boston is in great shape to make Vitale’s prediction come true.
After the victory over the Thunder, Brown said he appreciates being on a team that has racked up 60 wins, especially after coming up short the last two seasons. He also knows the postseason is a different animal.
Jaylen Brown: “It’s an honor, it’s a blessing to be on a 60-win team”
“It’s an honor,” he told reporters. “and it’s a blessing to be on a 60-win team. It’s a lot of hard work that went into that, especially after coming up short last season. We responded, coming back and not skipping any steps. I think we’re on track. Sixty wins, but when the playoffs start, it’s back to square one.”