A Season Of Faith’s Perfection 2: The 2024 NBA Champion Boston Celtics
A look back at the accomplishments of not only one the best teams in the 78 season history of the Boston Celtics, but arguably one of the all-time best and most dominant teams in the history of the National Basketball Association
As I write this piece, it’s been over two weeks since the Boston Celtics won the 2024 NBA Championship and ten days after I attended the championship parade that ended in my neighborhood after the duck boats followed a two mile route through the city. An estimated 1.5 million people were at this championship celebration, this is especially impressive because only about 675,000 people live in Boston. The question is, how is it possible that a team that finished the 2023–24 NBA season 80–21, a full 12.5 games ahead of the second closest record, the 63–29 Oklahoma City Thunder, weren’t considered the favored team by NBA beat writers, experts, analysts, commentators, or the personalities who cover the league?
Before the season even began, the Milwaukee Bucks’ trade for Dame Lillard made ESPN contributors convinced they were serious contenders, even though they sacrificed defense and depth in Jrue Holiday and Grayson Allen and Khris Middleton was in decline. After the Boston Celtics traded for Kristaps Porzingis, hardly anyone batted an eye. When they extended Jaylen Brown, paying him what was then the richest contract in NBA history, the immediate critique was he wouldn’t be worth it. When the Boston Celtics acquired Jrue Holiday just before training camp began to pair with Derrick White in the backcourt, not enough people within NBA media circles acknowledged what a coup it was outside of Boston and New England. While it seemed obvious to Celtics fans, for some odd reason no one else seemed to be seeing the vision.
Although Stephen A. Smith of ESPN was quick to claim that the acquisition of Kristaps Porzingis made the Boston Celtics the odds on favorite to win the championship before the 2023 NBA Draft even happened back when the Celtics still had Robert Williams III and Malcolm Brogdon on the roster, Nick Wright thought it was a move that didn’t make the Boston Celtics much better. Stephen A. Smith was still on board with the Celtics being the favorites when Jrue Holiday was traded to Boston. Kendrick Perkins picked the Milwaukee Bucks to not only win the East, but the NBA Championship before the season began.
After the Boston Celtics lost Game 7 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals at home to the Miami Heat on May 29th, 2023, I immediately said out loud “They’ll win it next year”. This wasn’t me being delusional or fanatical, it was simply me looking at the available data and making an educated guess based on what had already happened before. I knew that Coach Joe Mazzulla, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Al Horford were going to come back with supreme focus and intensity. I knew that Marcus Smart, Malcolm Brogdon, Grant Williams, and Robert Williams III weren’t going to be able to get the Celtics to climb the mountain so they needed to upgrade their roster and get the necessary personnel to defeat their main competitors, the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, and the Miami Heat.
Mind you, I said this to the producers while filming the upcoming Boston Celtics docuseries for MAX. I told them that they were going to experience a “Fever Pitch” type situation where they were going to need to add new footage at the end as the Celtics won the chip — I was right. The Celtics would also need to dispatch Western Conference foes like the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the defending NBA Champion Denver Nuggets. The Boston Celtics were picked as preseason favorites to win the 2024 NBA title by Las Vegas, but neither the NBA media nor the fandom seemed to agree. It was almost as if they were openly dismissive of it.
Once the 2023–24 NBA season was finally underway, the Celtics opened it with a 5 game win streak. They beat the Knicks 108–104 opening night, but the real eye opener was when they defeated the Indiana Pacers 155–104 in TD Garden behind shooting 20 for 35 from the three point line (57.1%) and having 8 Celtics score in double figures on November 1st, 2023. A 50 point win is a rare event, there’d only been 10 over the previous five NBA seasons, these Boston Celtics would set an NBA record by winning 3 games by this margin. After starting 5–0, the Boston Celtics would lose back to back close games to the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves. The critics claimed they shot too many threes and relied too much on perimeter scoring.
They responded by going on a 6 game win streak where the average margin of victory was 11.3 points. They were 12–3 after 15 games, 16–5 a quarter of the way through the season and 21–6 a third of the way through the season. Even then, that wasn’t enough for NBA analysts. They lost multiple close games, including three overtime games against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Charlotte Hornets, and Golden State Warriors. These early season losses were used to perpetuate the narrative that the Celtics struggled in clutch minutes and played down to their competition. Another narrative that was often repeated at different points in the season after losses was that the Boston Celtics lacked championship focus. Now that we have the luxury of looking back at this full 101 game season, every time someone said that it just sounds ridiculous.
However, early in the season as the Boston Celtics were separating themselves from the rest of the pack, it was almost as if the media covering the NBA were doing anything possible to downplay how well the Celtics were playing. There was more discussion of the Lakers and Warriors’ struggles than the Celtics’ fast start. There was an understandable level of excitement generated by the improvement of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder, but I’d watch “NBA Today” as they spent more time on disappointing and underperforming squads than discussing the Boston Celtics. The only way to assure they’d talk about the Celtics was immediately after a loss. X/Twitter would be a barren wasteland after the Celtics won a national game, but it’d be lit up like the 626 Night Market in Arcadia whenever they lost.
Boston followed up that disappointing overtime loss in Chase Center to a 13–14 Golden State Warriors team by winning six games in a row by an average of 19 points to improve to 26–6. All of these wins were overshadowed by an overtime home win against the 2–29 Detroit Pistons followed by a two point win on back to back nights against the 12–19 Toronto Raptors.
When the Celtics lost 127–123 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on January 2nd, 2024, they were critiqued for getting outscored 40–25 in the 3rd quarter and falling short on an off night from Jaylen Brown as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went off for 36 and Josh Giddey added 23. It was considered a statement win for the young 23–9 Thunder and proof they were a legitimate contender, but damning evidence that the Boston Celtics despite having the best record in the NBA at 26–7 might not be a championship caliber team after all.
What people tend to forget was the Boston Celtics also had the toughest NBA schedule up through the halfway point of the season, they were 32–9 after beating the 7–33 San Antonio Spurs led by rookie Victor Wembanyama 117–98 in TD Garden. The biggest test of the young season would be on January 19th, 2024 with a matchup against the 28–14 defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets. The Boston Celtics were 20–0 at home coming into this matchup so something had to give.
A win in this game would prove the naysayers and doubters wrong, but a loss would only confirm the suspicions that the Boston Celtics weren’t good enough to finally get over the hump and win that elusive 18th NBA title. Do I need to remind you all of what happened next? They lost 102–100 as the Celtics only scored 39 points in the second half. Jaylen Brown shot 6 for 19, including only hitting 1 of his 9 three point attempts to finish with 13 points.
The Celtics bench only contributed 13 points on the night which wasn’t enough to stop Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray who combined for 69 points. The Jays shooting 2 for 17 for three in a national game certainly didn’t help matters any. This was the night Kendrick Perkins made his infamous remark about the Celtics’ coach that if you put Joe Mazulla’s brain into a bird, the bird would fly backwards. He kept praising Mike Malone’s game planning on a night the Celtics were cold from deep. Real time social media was full of people clowning the Boston Celtics in a game where they played terribly against the defending NBA champions but only lost by two points.
On January 27th, the Celtics would lose 115–96 to the 30–14 Los Angeles Clippers at home where they shot 10 for 40 from deep. Jayson Tatum only managed 21 points shooting 8 for 18 from the field but Al Horford shot 0 for 5, Derrick White went 0 for 8, Jrue Holiday shot 2 for 11, and Jaylen Brown could only hit 3 of his 13 field goal attempts. The Celtics shot 36% from the field as a team in a rare big loss.
The prognosticators of doom were smelling blood. The Celtics can’t win shooting this many threes and now they were losing home games to the high seeded Western Conference opponents after breaking a streak of 27 straight wins at TD Garden dating back to the previous season. There was blood in the water. Word around the campfire was the once mighty Boston Celtics were vulnerable.
On February 1st, the Los Angeles Lakers would roll into town seeking to avenge their Christmas loss on national television. Fans let out a collective groan when it was reported that neither LeBron James nor Anthony Davis would play in front of a national audience. The Lakers shocked the Celtics by shooting 19 for 36 from deep, led by Austin Reaves making 7 of his 10 attempts.
Poor showings from Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday allowed for the Lakers to win 114–105. Jayson Tatum was an inefficient 8 for 21 from the field and Kristaps Porzingis shot 1 for 7 from deep. One of the most enduring narratives about the Celtics was they played down to their opponents, the NBA media and fandom had a field day after they lost. ESPN, TNT, ABC, Fox, and every podcast you can imagine flamed the Celtics after this loss. Although they were 37–12, you’d never know it by the way they were being talked about across the board.
The Celtics responded the only way they knew how, by winning. Boston won six more games in a row before the All-Star break, it started with a 131–91 win against the Memphis Grizzlies on February 4th and ended with with a 136–86 win against the Brooklyn Nets on February 14th on the second night of an away and home back to back series. The Boston Celtics were 43–12 at the break, the Minnesota Timberwolves were 39–16, the OKC Thunder were 37–17, and the Cleveland Cavaliers were 36–17.
Jayson Tatum was selected an All Star starter for the East by fan vote, and Jaylen Brown was selected for the East by coaches and media. Even though there was a campaign for Derrick White to make the squad too, he fell short. Jaylen opted to participate in the Slam Dunk Contest knowing that losing could open him up to even more scrutiny. He was well aware of all the “Jaylen has no left hand” memes all over the internet and the talk about him among NBA fans, so nothing was going to discourage him. He was a Boston Celtic, so folks will hate on him no matter what he does.
In my previous piece “Stay On That Side: Why I No Longer Care If You’re A Boston Celtics Fan Anymore”, I outlined the less than favorable to openly negative reactions from NBA media and fans alike when Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown dominated the 2023 All-Star Game. The reactions, commentary, and memes that followed when he lost to defending Slam Dunk champion Mac McClung weren’t a surprise in the least.
Anyone who was following the way the Celtics were covered realized that even if Jaylen won the contest, everyone would’ve immediately discounted it because it was against a G League player. The 2024 All-Star Game returned to a East vs. West format sans an Elam Ending for the first time since 2017 when the lone Celtics All-Star representative was Isaiah Thomas. Since Joe Mazzulla coached the previous year, that role would fall to Doc Rivers who took over for the recently fired Adrian Griffin. I wonder how changing the coach that late in the season will work out for the Milwaukee Bucks?
The Eastern Conference blew out the Western Conference 211–186. Jaylen Brown had 36 points and 8 rebounds in only 22 minutes, it was clear Jayson Tatum who dropped 20 as a starter wanted his boy to have a shot at MVP the year after he won it. The fans noticed and bellyached about it in real time. The MVP Award went to Dame Lillard who dropped 39 points on 11 for 23 shooting from deep in only 27 minutes. Folks complained about a lack of defense in an exhibition game that was an elite showcase of shot making and athleticism that ended without injury. It was clear to me then that NBA fans are just committed to being miserable no matter the outcome.
The Boston Celtics continued winning, running up their win streak to 11 straight games to make their record an impressive 48–12. They had played 60 games up until then and won 80% of them, the eleventh win was a nationally televised 140–88 evisceration of the Golden State Warriors. For those of you bad at math reading this, that’s a 52 point difference between the victor and the losing team. The average margin of victory during this latest win streak was 22 points, including two wins by more than 50 points and one by 40. You’d think this would be the first topic of discussion on every NBA show but it wasn’t. What made everyone decide to make the Boston Celtics the lead story on every program was when they lost back to back games against the Cleveland Cavaliers and Denver Nuggets on March 5th and March 7th, 2024.
The Celtics lost by 1 in a game where they blew a 88–71 lead at the end of the 3rd quarter and Dean Wade hit 6 of 9 threes off the bench in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. They followed that up with a 115–109 loss in Denver’s Ball Arena. Derrick White only scored 7 points, the bench only contributed 10 points, and for the second straight game versus the Nuggets, the Celtics had a terrible night shooting from deep. They went 11 for 38 (29%), giving the talking heads, podcasters, and hot take experts enough fuel for a trip to Mars.
This was proof the Boston Celtics won’t be able to get it done in April, May & June — even though in the playoffs there are no back to back games with travel, no road trips, and no stretches where you play 6 games in 10 days. For the record, when the Celtics had a tough stretch of their schedule between March 9th and March 23rd when they had to play 9 games in two weeks, they won all 9 by an average margin of victory of 17.2 points per game. Take a wild guess what happened next? You guessed it! The Boston Celtics didn’t become the main topic of discussion again of the NBA media until they lost back to back games against the Atlanta Hawks on March 25th and 28th, 2024.
They lost 120–118 and 123–122 in overtime to drop their record on the season from 57–14 to 57–16. On “First Take”, “NBA Today”, and “Inside The NBA” they were getting dragged for filth. Mind you, the Denver Nuggets were 51–22, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder were both 50–22, and the Celtics’ closest competitors in the Eastern Conference were the 46–27 Milwaukee Bucks and the 44–28 New York Knicks. The Boston Celtics were so dominant this NBA season that they clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs 6 days later on April 3rd, 2024 when they beat the 52–24 Oklahoma City Thunder by 35 points, 135–100.
The Boston Celtics had not only won their 60th game with two weeks left to go in the regular season, but they’d won an NBA record 16th game by 25 or more. That’s equal to the number of games they’d lost up until then. If that isn’t dominant then I don’t know what to tell you. The Celtics had the luxury of resting their players early and bringing up several of their two way players from the Maine Celtics who were having an epic run through the 2024 G League Playoffs. Over their final 6 games of the season, the bench and their two way players played significant minutes. Xavier Tillman hit a game winner to defeat the Sacramento Kings on April 5th then Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, and Xavier Tillman were crucial in an 124–107 win on April 7th. However, all anyone seems to remember were the Boston Celtics’ final two back to back losses of the season.
On April 9th and April 11th, 2024 the resting Boston Celtics dropped games to the 48–31 Milwaukee Bucks and 48–32 New York Knicks. The Knicks were expending a ton of energy in hopes of securing the 2nd seed in the East over the Bucks, and the Bucks were just trying to stop the bleeding.
The Celtics played the bench and the 2 way Maine Celtics for the final games of the season. The results were a 131–98 victory against the Charlotte Hornets and a 132–122 win against the Washington Wizards. Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta, Luke Kornet, and Svi Mykhailiuk all came up big to complete the season at 64–18. As a result, the Maine Celtics’ stars were too tired to win the final two games of the G League Championship series to secure a chip. No matter, they’d get to be on the bench to see the Boston Celtics win an NBA championship instead!
Have we seen teams have incredible regular season records before, just to see them fall short in the postseason? Absolutely. Can I recall a team that was flat out dominant during the regular season in recent memory that the overwhelming majority of NBA media, television, print, and podcast alike plus the fandom at large didn’t believe in? No, not really. Let’s run down exactly how dominant these 2023–24 Boston Celtics were:
They won the Eastern Conference by 14 games, which was the biggest conference lead since 1976. The Boston Celtics were 37–4 at home, best home record in 8 NBA seasons but you’d think they lost more based on the NBA media’s reaction after each loss. They went 27–14 on the road, including a 12–2 record on back to back games. This is even more impressive when you consider the Boston Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis for extended periods between November 26th and December 4th, 2023, and March 9th and March 17th, 2024.
Don’t forget that Porzingis often sat out one game of a back to back alternating with Al Horford to rest them both for the playoffs, a tactic that kept Al fresh for the postseason. This was made easier by the fact they clinched a playoff spot a full 17 days before another team finally did. In addition, they locked down home court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs before 12 teams even clinched a playoff spot — need I remind you that there are 16 teams in the playoffs, not including the Play In Tournament. I will now share with you some more People’s Eyebrow raising statistics and factoids about the Boston Celtics’ 2023–24 regular season.
The 2023–24 Boston Celtics had 3 50 point wins, 4 40 point wins, 10 30 point wins, 17 25 point wins, 19 20 point wins, and 38 total wins over 15 points versus one 20 point loss. They tallied 10 wire to wire victories versus only one wire to wire loss. During the regular season, the Boston Celtics had 17 30 point leads versus only 16 10 point deficits. To further rub it in, the 2023–24 Boston Celtics never lost more than two games in a row all season long— albeit when they did the NBA media at large pretty much declared the Boston Celtics were frauds then were silent as they countered with yet another long win streak.
Their 64–18 record was their best since the 2007–08 66–16 NBA World Champion Boston Celtics, it also served as the fifth best record in Celtics history. Four of the top five best all-time regular season records ended up winning the NBA Championship, the 1985–86 Celtics, 2007–08 Celtics, the 1959–60 Celtics, and these 2023–24 Celtics. The 68–14 1972–73 Boston Celtics fell short due to a shoulder injury to Jon Havlicek during the Eastern Conference Finals against the eventual champs, the New York Knicks. Incidentally, this was the last time the Knicks won a championship — I wasn’t even born yet. I turn 49 in August.
The Celtics’ 11.34 regular season point scoring margin is fifth best in NBA history. Their home point scoring margin was 15.22, good for third best in NBA history. The Boston Celtics averaged 1.22 points per possession, making the 2023–24 squad the best offense in NBA history. They also hit 1,351 three pointers, which is the second most in NBA history. Inexplicably, their opponents only shot 1,182 free throws all season long which is the fewest in NBA history.
One of the big knocks on the Boston Celtics offense is they shoot too many threes and not enough free throws so this statistic really stands out from the others. That critique falls on deaf ears when you factor in that when you look at the top 20 NBA players with the best total point differential on the 2023–24 NBA season, you’ll find Jaylen Brown (17th), Kristaps Porzingis (16th), Al Horford (15th), Jrue Holiday (12th), Payton Pritchard (10th), Sam Hauser (7th), Jayson Tatum (4th), and Derrick White (2nd) behind Nikola Jokic who finished 1st with a +682 total point differential, the equivalent to 8.6 extra points per game while he’s on the court. With 8 Celtics in the top 20 for that one statistic alone, it is definitive proof of their dominance.
This is especially true when you consider how many of the Boston Celtics are elite two way players. The Boston Celtics backcourt were both NBA All-Defensive Second Teamers and Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis were the most imposing starting lineup both offensively and defensively all season long. That defensive intensity continued when Al Horford started 33 regular season games for Boston.
In terms of the playoffs? The 2023–24 Boston Celtics are only the second team in NBA history to only lose 3 games since the NBA made it so you need to win 16 games back in 2002. They had the seventh longest playoff win streak in NBA history win 10 in a row, with a 10.72 point scoring margin for sixth best in NBA history. They finished the season 80–21, a .792 winning percentage which is ninth best in NBA history after a dominant 16–3 playoff run — including winning their first 7 road games in a row — which people tried to say wasn’t dominant even though the Celtics were getting rid of their adversaries in quick fashion so they could rest and were without Kristaps Porzingis for 10 straight postseason games over 38 days and he only played 60 total minutes over three games.
While KP only scored 37 points in those three short outings, he finished +33 and helped the Celtics dispatch the Mavericks in 5 games. The epic finale happening in TD Garden, where the Boston Celtics won their 18th championship on the 16th anniversary on the day they won their 17th championship on that very same floor. June 17th is called 617 Day in Boston. 617 is Boston’s area code, and in Boston’s inner city we embrace everything Boston culture. Red Sox gear. B hats. Celtics Adidas apparel. Vintage Patriots jerseys. The Boston Celtics honoring the memories of Bill Russell, Joh Havlicek, and Sam Jones on 6.17.24. There was extra incentive to win on that date to honor both the late #5’s, Bill Walton and Boston native, former Brewster Academy Bobcat and Kentucky Wildcat Terrence Clarke.
In 101 total games, the Boston Celtics held a 20 point lead in 50 of them. They were favored to win in 96 of those 101 games. They went 26–0 when allowing less than 100 points, good for fourth best all-time in NBA history. Please note that the Boston Celtics held the Dallas Mavericks below 100 points in all four of their NBA Finals wins. They finished 6–0 in clutch playoff games with a NET rating of 46.9 in 24 total minutes.
Another sobering stat is the fact the Boston Celtics were +26 in the last 5 minutes of playoff games when the scoring margin was 5 points or fewer. This resulted in some soul crushing close losses for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers, and Dallas Mavericks. Watching the Celtics get it out the mud and shatter the myth they struggled in clutch minutes was so satisfying as Celtics haters stayed in denial even as all the false narratives fell apart in real time.
The 80–21 Boston Celtics were a full 12.5 games better than the 63–29 Oklahoma City Thunder and 64–30 Denver Nuggets. They were also 13.5 games ahead of the 65–33 Minnesota Timberwolves and a whopping 18.5 games ahead of the 63–41 Western Conference Champion Dallas Mavericks, the team most NBA reporters, analysts, beat writers, reporters, and sports personalities picked to beat the Boston Celtics in the 2024 NBA Finals. The 2023–24 Boston Celtics finished their 18th NBA Championship campaign with a 46–6 home record, a 34–15 road record, 53–13 versus Eastern Conference opponents and 27–8 against Western Conference opponents. Only 13 other teams in NBA history managed to win 80 total games in an NBA season.
Another fact that somehow seemed to work against the Celtics is since 2017, Boston has the most playoff wins in the NBA. The Golden State Warriors are second and the hapless Los Angeles Lakers are eleventh. The Los Angeles Lakers have only finished higher than the 7th seed in the Western Conference once in the past 12 seasons, but somehow their fandom are consistently amongst the Boston Celtics’ biggest detractors. They have their In Season Tournament banner, but we got banner number 18. They throw shade, we dig graves.
When it was all said and done. The Boston Celtics were the 2024 NBA Champions. They made a lot of people look foolish in the process. So many prominent sportswriters had to eat crow, flat out apologize, or try to justify why they picked against Boston in the NBA Finals. It usually boiled down to the individual harboring a bias against the Boston Celtics for whatever reason that clouded their judgement. Just the idea that anyone thought that Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic could guard either Jrue Holiday and Derrick White or Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum made me guffaw audibly.
Sure, the Western Conference playoffs were a gauntlet where the supposed 1 seed got smoked by the 5 seed and the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who then fell apart like a bootleg Karl Kani shirt in the rain in the Western Conference Finals. How did it never occur to anyone watching that the Boston Celtics were a full tier better than whoever was going to come out of the Western Conference?
Jaylen Brown has redeemed himself and made everyone who didn’t vote him All-NBA or All-Defensive look like idiots by winning both the Eastern Conference and NBA Finals MVP Awards. Jayson Tatum has redeemed himself and made anyone who doubted him, his ability to be clutch or come up big in the most important games look willfully ignorant. The Boston Celtics have embarrassed a lot of people and reminded them that team basketball is the cornerstore Boston Celtics basketball culture is built on. They then committed a whole lot of money to bring the band back together and run it back. Now everyone else is playing catch up…
Boston is back on the top of the NBA mountain. If you don’t wanna love ’em, you can hate ’em instead. Just as long as they make you all look like dumbasses while you do it. I’d love for these Boston Celtics to just lean into the villain role since it looks like they won’t be beloved. If they keep winning, maybe the best we can expect is for everyone’s respect — even if it’s coming through clenched teeth while cursing their existence. In Boston, all we care about is winning. If it comes at the expense of your misery? All the better.
