The Celtics cannot escape the curse? No championship has been achieved in the past six years, and 4 teams fell in the second round of the Lakers first round

On May 9, the NBA playoffs continued. In the current semi-finals of the Eastern Conference Group, the Celtics trailed the Knicks 0-2, and the promotion situation was very unfavorable. According to statistics, since the Warriors in 2018, there has been no championship team that has successfully defended.

Before the Celtics and Knicks series started, the Celtics, as the defending champion, was the more favored side. However, in the past two games, the Celtics have been reversed by the Knicks 20+ and were successfully defended by the Knicks' Bridges at the last moment, causing the Celtics to fall into an unfavorable situation of falling behind 0-2 at home. If you want to advance, the Celtics need to win 4 games in the next 5 games.

It is worth mentioning that since the Warriors in 2018, there have been no teams that have successfully defended in the NBA. The Warriors reached the Finals in 2019, and other defending champions did not even break through the second round. The specific situation is as follows:

The Raptors in 2019, lost 3-4 to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals the following year;

The 2020 Lakers championship, 2-4 to the Suns in the first round of the following year;

The 2021 Bucks championship, 3-4 to the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals the following year;

The 2022 Warriors championship, 2-4 to the Lakers in the Western Conference Semi-Finals the following year;

The 2023 Nuggets championship, 3-4 to the Timberwolves in the Western Conference Semi-Finals the following year.

For the Celtics themselves, this is the third time they have encountered a 0-2 home game in the past 10 years. In the first round of 2017, they completed a 4-2 reversal while falling behind 0-2 at home and eliminated the Bulls; in the 2017 Eastern Conference Final, they also quickly lag behind the Cavaliers 0-2 and were eventually eliminated 1-4. In the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics lost two home games first and fell behind 0-3 at one point. They stubbornly tied 3-3, but they finally lost the tiebreak battle.

Do you think the Celtics have encountered the curse of defending the championship?