The defending world champion Celtics have played only one quarter of their regular-season schedule. We still have four weeks left in 2024.
I have only one question: When do the playoffs start?
Sorry. I know the NBA regular season is a marathon, not a sprint. I know there are critical games left in the quest for the coveted NBA Cup; only people who understand WAR can decipher permutations for this phony chalice. I know we are supposed to take a deep breath, hope everyone stays healthy, and monitor the NBA readiness of Neemias Queta and Drew Peterson.
Not me. I watch the 2024-25 Celtics when I think they might be in for a close game or playing a team that could be a speed bump in the quest for Banner No. 19.
Also, to ponder their place among the greatest Celtics teams of all time.
This is what it’s come to. The Celtics are clearly the best team in the NBA, and don’t be dropping any Cleveland talk on my big head.
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Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — no longer ringless — are in their NBA primes, two of the top 15 players in the league. Derrick White and Jrue Holiday are starting guards worthy of slots once filled by Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman, Sam and K.C. Jones, Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge. Al Horford is the righteous adult in the room, old enough to have played against the Seattle SuperSonics. Kristaps Porzingis loves playing here like no one since Bill Walton. He’s also taller and healthier than Walton, and can stick the three and protect the rim.
Sixth man Payton Pritchard has emerged as a worthy successor to Frank Ramsey and John Havlicek. Boston’s undersized gym rat plays every minute like a high school freshman trying to impress his coach. Floor Burns “R” Us.
Brad Stevens is a worthy grandson of Red Auerbach. Boston’s young coach, Joe Mazzulla, now in his third season, has grown into his job nicely and seems a perfect fit to lead this talented bunch.
On a Monday when Tatum shot 33 percent and committed six turnovers, playing without Horford, Holiday, Porzingis, and Sam Hauser, the Celtics still routed the Heat at the Garden, 108-89. It was their eighth win in the last nine games. They are 17-4, 15-3 in the Eastern Conference, and play the Pistons at home Wednesday night. They are on pace to win 66 games, which would be the third-winningest regular season in franchise history.
“The NBA needs to drug test them dudes,” New York guard Josh Hart said after the Celtics hit 29 of 61 3-pointers and buried the Knicks, 132-109, on opening night. “I ain’t ever seen anything like that.”
There has never been anything like it. The Celtics are making 19 3-point shots per game, which would be an NBA record.
The Celtics could be undefeated. Seriously. They had double-digit leads in three of their four defeats, and led in the final minute of the other, a 135-132 road loss to the Pacers.
So, where will this team rank on the all-time Celtic medal platform? Hard to say. (They are officially bumped from the conversation if they fail to repeat in June.)
The Bill Russell Celtics — 11 championships in 13 seasons — annually featured as many as seven Hall of Famers. De facto commissioner Bob Ryan anointed 1964-65 the best of the Russell champs. They went 62-18, then 8-4 in the playoffs, beating the Lakers in five in the Finals and scoring 20 straight points vs. LA in the clincher.
“We simply took off into unknown peaks,” wrote Russell. “We were on fire, intimidating, making shots, running the break, and the Lakers just couldn’t score . . . We had taken sports out of the realm of the game.”
The 1972-73 Celtics (Dave Cowens was league MVP) put up the best regular-season record in team history, 68-14, but are not in this conversation because they lost the conference finals to the Knicks after Havlicek sustained a shoulder injury.
The 1985-86 Celtics won 67 regular-season games and crushed everyone in their path (15-3 in the playoffs) en route to Larry Bird’s third banner. They went 50-1 at home, including Hartford and playoffs. Kevin McHale later admitted that boredom sometimes got the better of the team.
“After the All-Star break, I didn’t think it mattered who we played,” McHale told me in 2021. “I just didn’t see any chance for another team. The stuff we did was unimaginable.”
The 2007-08 Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce-Ray Allen Celtics started the season 20-2 and 41-9, finished 66-16, and destroyed the Kobe Bryant Lakers, 131-92, at the Garden in the Game 6 Finals clincher.
Last season’s champs went 16-3 in the playoffs after what was, statistically, the greatest offensive season in league history. Led by the two Jays, the Celtics set a league record for offensive rating (122.2 points per game), scored the most points in franchise history, and tied an NBA record by winning 10 games by 30 or more points. Commish Ryan ranks them the second-best Celtics team ever, trailing only the 1985-86ers.
This season’s team is better. Even if they won’t win the hideous NBA Cup.
See you in April.
