NEW YORK (WFAN) — Bill Simmons isn’t forecasting a Celtics win over the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals, but he made his case Tuesday for why he believes Boston has a puncher’s chance in the series.

Appearing on Mike Francesa’s WFAN show, Simmons noted that the Celtics, his hometown team, have been good at home and their bench players get more involved when playing at TD Garden. Boston has homecourt advantage in the best-of-seven series.

“There’s some decent matchup things in their favor in this series,” said Simmons, founder of TheRinger.com. “Avery Bradley really guards Kyrie Irving as well as anybody guards him, for whatever reason. He’s really good at kind of keeping him in check. They can spread the team out. They can spread, with all the shooters they have.

“The issue is LeBron (James). He’s the third-best player of all-time.”



“The Sports Guy” even suggested a defensive strategy the Celtics could use.

“Here’s what I think they should do, though, and I’ve seen teams do this, and if you remember, the San Antonio Spurs did this in 2005 against (Steve) Nash and the Suns: They just gave Nash his points,” Simmons said. “They said: ‘We’re staying home on all your shooters. We’re going to let you go one-on-one. We’re going to give you the paint. If you want to score 40 a game, knock yourself out. We’re not letting these other guys beat us.’ I kind of think that’s what the Celtics should do with LeBron.”

Game 1 of the series is Wednesday night.

To listen to the interview, in which Simmons also discusses more on the NBA as well as David Ortiz, click on the audio player above.