There
has been a level of dominance the Boston Celtics have had this
season that not a lot of teams in the history of the league have
reached or come close to. The team’s mixture of star power, depth,
and chemistry within the tight-knit group of guys has been the
source of power for the historically dominant regular season
team.
In
their March 17 game vs Washington, Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday, and
Al Horford combined to destroy the Wizards, 130-104. Bench player
Sam Hauser, who started the game, led the team in scoring with 30
points built on 10 three-point shots.
Then
on their next game, in came Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and
Kristaps Porzingis, who then annihilated the Detroit Pistons 119-94
on the second night of a back-to-back. Another bench player, Payton
Pritchard starred with 23 points and 7 assists as the Celtics
earned yet another win.
This
speaks to their depth as a team as well as the adaptability of each
player to play with either of their core six guys with relative
ease and without skipping a beat. The Celtics are a machine that
keeps going with pieces and parts that are versatile enough to keep
their brand of basketball going no matter who you sub in or slot
onto the floor whenever someone is out.
With
their dominant regular season coming down to a close, one question
awaits the rest of the league as the playoffs
arrive.
Who is
stopping the Boston Celtics?
The
guys in green have been far away the best team in the league by a
wide margin, racing past ahead of all the other teams.
The
Celtics just speedrun through everything, especially in the East,
where they were far away the best team and are just cherry-picking
to wait and see whoever will finish second behind them. The only
disappointment thus far was not winning the In-Season Tournament
title, which probably wasn’t the championship they wanted to win
anyway.
They
have the league’s best record at 64-18 and they never lost more
than two straight throughout the year. They blew out three teams by
50 or more points and they have only lost four games at the Boston
Garden, and have only just lost to an Eastern Conference team at
home for over a year – since March of 2023. The only team to win
two and claim the season series over Boston are the defending
champions Denver Nuggets, which makes sense considering they’re the
team all teams in the NBA are chasing after.
The
Celtics will be the only team that will finish in double-digits in
plus/minus efficiency (+11.3) and they rank 1st in offensive rating
(120.4) and 5th in defensive rating (110.5) in the entire league.
This level of dominance in the regular season makes it one of the
most impressive ones in recent NBA history.
The
Boston Celtics might go all the way this year and take that coveted
18th championship title, but what makes them so good?
‘The Jays’ superstar duo:
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown
The
Celtics start and end with their star forward duo. They would not
be near where they are right now without these two. The way they
complement each other and play off of each other has been
spectacular, and their chemistry has been built since 2016-2017
when Boston drafted both guys back to back with the no.3 pick. With
the Celtics having two dynamic two-way guys in Tatum and Brown,
they have the foundation to allow them to surround the team with
guys that complement their skills, which president Brad Stevens and
coach Joe Mazzulla have done an incredible job of doing so over the
past couple years.
Roster
construction
After
trading away mainstays Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, and Grant
Williams this season, Brad Stevens built the roster with some
awesome replacements in Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue
Holiday.
Porzingis just fits the Celtics’ scheme so much
as he gives them a stretch big that can space the floor for their
5-out offense. On defense, his towering 7’3 frame can alter and
block shots. Porzingis is also the perfect Al Horford replacement
who has been key to the lineups the Celtics run in the previous
years. Although Horford is now 37 and is nearing the end of his
career, he’s still bringing that veteran leadership and the floor
spacing to give the Celtics more options on offense.
Holiday’s transition into the team has been
seamless, filling in the place of Smart. A 2022 champion with the
Milwaukee Bucks, Holiday brought the championship mindset along
with his trademark defensive versatility and a plug-and-play
offensive repertoire that has elevated the Celtics’ play all season
long.
Around
Tatum and Brown and their new acquisitions Porzingis and Holiday,
the ever-consistent Derrick White and the ageless Al Horford come
into place to complete their starting five and their fearsome
six-man lineup. Solid bench pieces led by Payton Pritchard and Sam
Hauser provide quality backup minutes to ensure Boston does not
lose a single step whenever their mainstays rest during the games.
Depending on the matchup, big men Xavier Tillman and Luke Kornet
will see some minutes and both have proven they can play the style
of basketball the Celtics need to win. Overall, this team is
arguably the best the Celtics have in years, and they have all the
makings to have a deep playoff run.
However, Boston knows the job is not done yet
and the real test is at hand. No matter how good they have been in
the first six months of the year, it all comes down to how they
will perform and execute in the season’s final three months when it
matters the most. And they certainly hope they can reach the
pinnacle again and this time, come out on top in June.
To
further strengthen that point, it isn’t a guarantee to win all the
time, especially in the playoffs. Although it is an indication of
good habits built throughout the season, the playoffs are a
different beast. According to NBA.com, only five teams in the last
20 years had the best record winning the title that season. The
last best-record champions were the 2016-17 Warriors as teams deal
with a variety of challenges throughout the
postseason.
As the
road to the 18th banner looms close, the Celtics have themselves as
their biggest obstacle – only they can stop themselves from
achieving their full potential.
