One NBA team has separated itself from the pack.
The Boston Celtics (49-13) haven’t merely been great. They’ve been overwhelming. Their point differential (+11.21) is the fifth-largest in NBA history and the best since the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors. All of the other teams ahead of them won the NBA Finals. They’re also the first team to record three 50-point victories in a season.
Yes, the Celtics saw their 11-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday at the Cleveland Cavaliers, blowing a 22-point lead. And they could lose again on Thursday night when they visit the defending champion Denver Nuggets (42-20).
But who will stop Boston from reaching the NBA Finals?
Barring injury, the Celtics should cruise to the No.1 overall seed in the East, and they look like the safest bet to reach the NBA Finals. The Milwaukee Bucks have been chronic underachievers all season. The Philadelphia 76ers are without reigning MVP Joel Embiid, who had knee surgery last month, and who knows if/when he’ll be back. Last year’s defending Eastern Conference champion, the Miami Heat, might return to the play-in tournament.
“If you just look at the numbers, the Celtics are an absolute historic juggernaut right now,” ESPN’s Tim MacMahon recently said on the Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective podcast. “They are clearly the best team in the NBA during this regular season. Now, I would still pick the Denver Nuggets to win the championship. … We’ve seen it from them. We haven’t seen the Celtics get over the hump. But I believe me picking the Nuggets would be a minority opinion if we get that series (in the NBA Finals).”
We expected much from Boston. The Celtics had the league’s highest preseason win total at 54.5 because of the 1-2 punch of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. However, we didn’t expect this kind of dominance. They’re near a 65-win pace, which would be the most for the franchise since their last championship team (the 2008 squad of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce went 66-16). Also, what makes this surprising is that the Celtics made some significant changes in the offseason after being upset by the Heat in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals.
The Boston front office shipped out three key members of a team that had the third-best defensive rating in the league. Gone are Marcus Smart (the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year), Robert Williams, and Grant Williams. To replace them, the Celtics brought in guys like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis, and have somehow improved. Boston’s defensive rating is second-best in the NBA and slightly better than last season.
Credit Celtics president Brad Stevens for making bold moves. It would have been easy to stand pat with a team that went 57-25 last year and reached the 2022 NBA Finals. The one change Stevens didn’t make was one many Boston fans clamored for last summer.
Joe Mazzulla, a rookie, was out-coached by Erik Spoelstra in the conference finals. The final insult was Boston getting crushed at home by Miami in Game 7. It was so bad that some thought Mazzulla, a former interim coach, might be one-and-done. The 34-year-old was appointed to the job when Ime Udoka was suspended for what was described as an improper intimate and consensual relationship.
Coaches, like players, can improve. Mazzulla had a full offseason to prepare and is getting the most out of this squad. Tatum and Brown are fueling an attack that ranks first in offensive rating. Entering Wednesday’s game, of the top 12 players in plus-minus, five are Celtics: Derrick White (+544), Tatum (+522), Brown (+373), Holiday (+363), and Porziņģis (+362).
Will all this be enough for Boston to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the first time since 2008? Maybe. Denver won the previous regular-season meeting 102-100 in January in Boston. But right now, the Celtics might be too overwhelming for anybody to beat in the East.
