For almost a decade, the Boston Celtics have consistently held a prominent position near the top of the Eastern Conference. However, despite five journeys to the Eastern Conference Finals in the last seven years and a subsequent trip to the NBA Finals, the elusive NBA championship has remained just out of reach for the Celtics.
This pursuit of excellence mirrors a level of success not witnessed in Boston basketball since 2008—a pinnacle the Celtics were determined to reclaim.
"I sat there probably the whole second half of [Game 7], starting to think about [making changes],” Grousbeck told The Greg Hill Show back on opening night.
“Then I took two days to let everything settle down and then went and met with Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla, and I just said we are not bringing back the same team. It's been two seasons in a row of really good play but inconsistencies they showed in the Finals two years ago and then the Conference Finals last year. It just felt inconsistent, and I said I just want to change the mix."
True to their commitment, the Celtics underwent a transformative offseason, parting ways with players such as Marcus Smart, Robert Williams, Grant Williams, and Malcolm Brogdon. In their place, the team brought in Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, signaling a bold shift and a determined effort to forge a new path toward championship success.
The offseason makeover undoubtedly gave Boston one of the league’s most elite rosters. Pairing Holiday and Porzingis alongside Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Derrick White gave Boston the best top-six in the league.
Not to mention, the team fortified itself with a wealth of basketball knowledge with the new coaching hires and a much more comfortable Joe Mazzulla.
As we pass the “unofficial start of the season," the Celtics have all the makings of that championship team Stevens and Grousbeck envisioned.
The C's sit atop the Eastern Conference with a league-best 23-6 record and sit top-five in both offensive and defensive rating.
Sure, championships aren’t won in December – well, that’s if you don’t count the In-Season Tournament – however, the numbers don’t lie when it comes to evaluating the 2023-24 Celtics.
Boston has played the hardest strength of schedule in the league and is notably 15-5 against teams with a .500 record or better. The next closest team with that many wins against teams .500 or better in the Eastern Conference is the Milwaukee Bucks – who have 10 such wins.
Furthermore, they are 15-2 in games decided by 10 points or fewer and 3-2 in games decided by three points or less. Additionally, four of their six losses this season have been by two possessions or fewer.
As far as the idea of “playing down to their competition,” the C’s are 8-1 against teams with a sub-.500 record.
Moreover, after Monday’s Christmas Day win over the Lakers, the Celtics are 15-1 when they have their preferred starting lineup of White, Holiday, Brown, Tatum, and Porzingis.
“We’ve got a really good team,” Jayson Tatum said after the win Monday night. “We’ve got a lot of great individual players and we’ve been playing, for the most part, really good basketball. We expected that. We expected to be good and we worked hard this training camp and the beginning of the season. We obviously know what our ultimate goal is. We’re just trying to get better every day.”
The numbers are impressive, but what the Celtics have achieved over their last two home and road stands truly reflects their growth.
After their elimination from the In-Season Tournament following a defeat to the Pacers in the quarterfinals, the Celtics returned home for a five-game homestand against three potential playoff teams in the Eastern Conference – the Knicks, Cavaliers, and Magic. Notably, these were the same teams that the Celtics suffered defeats to in the season series a year ago, concluding with a combined record of 3-9.
The Celtics, however, turned the tables this time, sweeping the five-game homestand, strengthening their perfect 14-0 home record, and remaining the NBA's sole undefeated team on home turf.
The fast start was reminiscent – in fact, almost identical – of the previous season when the Celtics, with a 20-5 record, embarked on a West Coast road trip. Last year's journey began in Brooklyn, where the Celtics secured a 103-92 victory against the Nets. They continued their momentum with consecutive wins against the Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns.
Then, they arrived in Golden State – where they fell to the Warriors 122-116, went on to lose four of their next five, and never really recovered. This year was different.
After dropping what was a winnable game to the Warriors in overtime to kick off the road trip, the Celtics responded over their next three games, outscoring their opponents a combined 415-342 (+73). In the final two games of the trip, against the Clippers and Lakers, the Celtics trailed for a combined 2:26.
Notably, they were without Tatum and Porzingis for a game apiece over that stretch of three games.
“A four-game road trip, playing on the West Coast presents different challenges. We came out 3-1, and even in our loss, I thought we were playing the right brand of basketball on both ends of the floor,” Mazzulla said following the win over the Lakers.
“It’s not always going to be perfect, but we came in with the theme of reinventing our offense as far as our off-ball activity, and the ability to execute off-ball versus switching, and I thought we did that, and I thought we maintained our defensive identity.”
Mazzulla is right. It’s not always going to be perfect, and it hasn’t always been perfect, but that’s the nature of the game. However, there is no question that the Celtics have demonstrated significant progress, proving they are better prepared to take that next step.
For the Celtics to respond the way they did against a Kings team that sits fourth in the West, a surging Clippers team, and LeBron James and the Lakers, who just won the In-Season Tournament, is a testament to their growth.
The road to the championship is long and arduous – and understandably, Celtics fans will need to see it to believe it. Yet, at present, the Celtics are armed with the most well-rounded roster in the NBA and appear to be learning from their mistakes in past seasons.
It’s all about what they can do come May into early June, but the 2023-24 Celtics are playing like a team destined for greatness.
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