Well, what an incredible regular season for the Boston Celtics, they amassed an NBA best 64 wins and completely dominated the Eastern Conference. The Celtics finished the season with 15 more wins than any other team in the East, and showed exactly why they are once again odds-on favourites to win it all this season.
Boston’s offense reached new heights this season, ending with the highest recorded offensive rating of all-time (123.2). They also finished with the third best net rating in NBA history, as well as having five of the top six players for net rating. Many of the Celtics players had their best ever seasons in the NBA this year, Payton Pritchard in fact finished with the best offensive rating and second-best net rating in the league, proving Brad Stevens was right to offer him a 3-year contract extension before the season started.
To begin the year the most glaring issue with the Celtics was the depth of their bench unit, players who last year rarely played where thrust into major bench minutes this season. Initially they struggled, but Pritchard, Hauser, Luke Kornet eventually found their fit amongst Boston’s top six players. Sam Hauser was the most obvious of the three to make the jump to regular minutes, he was already an elite 3-point sniper heading into the season, but the real improvement in his game came on the defensive side of the ball. He was no longer a target for switches and did an excellent job to stay in front of quicker more agile guards. The fact that Hauser led the NBA in net rating showed exactly how impactful his play was for the Celtics this season. As for Payton Pritchard he made the Celtics’ early season investment in him look like an underpay. He struggled with efficiency initially, but he finished up averaging 9.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, on 44/41/88 shooting splits. Pritchard also ended the year with the sixth best assists-turnover ratio in the NBA. I admit I personally have never been that high on Luke Kornet as a basketball player, however this was definitely his best season yet. Kornet led the league in shooting% and averaged 5.3 points as well as 4.1 rebounds.
It was also a huge year for the two Jays as they both arguably played the best basketball of their careers. Jaylen Brown struggled to begin the season as he found it hard to score consistently without the ball in his hands as often. Nevertheless, he figured it out and formed a connection with Kristaps Porzingis that allowed them to play some of the best pick-and-roll offense in the NBA. Brown talked before the season about his ambitions to play all-defence level defence this season and he certainly lived up to the hype, as he had the best defensive year of his career. Brown finished up averaging 23 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. Jayson Tatum’s numbers were down from last season after he averaged 30 PPG (the most in NBA history) but he has never impacted winning more than he did this year. He has learnt from many of his problems last year, he learnt to accept the double team and showed significant improvements in his passing with better players surrounding him. Tatum ended the year averaging 27 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists and show inevitably be an all-NBA 1st team player once again this season.
We have also witnessed the best season of Derrick White’s career. White has been a revelation since he was traded to the Celtics at the deadline in 2022, but this year he took his performance to another level. He formed the best defensive backcourt in the league with the recently acquired Jrue Holiday. White ended up averaging 15.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.2 assists. He also led all guards in blocks (averaging 1.2 PG) and actually finished with more total blocks than multiple star shot blockers like Bam Adebayo and Jarret Allen. Statistically Jrue Holiday took a step backwards this season as he dropped down to averaging just 12.5 PPG. However, he did provide exactly what Brad Stevens and Joe Mazzulla wanted from him, defence. On the defensive side of the ball Mazzulla had turned Holiday into a matchup nightmare, he has shown his constant ability to guard all five positions and has perfectly filled the void left behind after Marcus Smart’s departure.
Despite the incredible play from the entire Celtics roster, the addition of Kristaps Porzinigis seemed to be the real needle mover for Boston. Undeniably the Celtics have struggled against the zone over the last couple of seasons and that is exactly why Porzingis has been so impactful. His ability to score in the post with incredible efficiency and stretch the floor has massively expanded Boston’s offensive capabilities. Porzingis averaged 20.1 points and 7.2 rebounds across the 23/24 season as well as finishing top 10 in blocks per game.
Ultimately it has been an amazing regular season for the Boston Celtics organisation, but their success will be determined by their performance this postseason, as their main goal of an 18th title is still a work in progress. Boston will face their rivals the Miami Heat in round one of the NBA playoffs, starting Sunday night in the TD Garden.
By Will C
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