Boston Celtics: Never Count Them Out | Last Man Standing

Jason Tatum’s ruptured Achilles tendon during the series against the New York Knicks caused the Boston Celtics’ priorities to change quickly and dramatically. The roster that won the title in 2024 could no longer be kept together as a non-competitive team. In the summer the management worked to lighten the wage bill and take shelter from the second apron. In a few days, Holiday, Porzingis and Horford, 3 of the 7 players with the most minutes on the team, left.

The season then began with a roster built around Brown, White and Pritchard. What to expect? After the first three games, three defeats against the Pistons, Sixers and Knicks, it seemed clear that the seasonal objective was to try to tank to make the most of Tatum’s absence, and then start again next season at full strength and perhaps with a nice catch in a draft full of talent. Then, however, Mazzulla’s team started to get going, finding themselves more and more comfortable as a surprise in the East and climbing up the rankings, which today sees them in third place (32-18), but with the same record as second-placed New York.

The Celtics have the second-best offensive rating in the NBA and the 11th-best defensive rating; the third net rating with +7.3. If you look at the points difference then, with +7 they are the best in the East, and second overall, behind only OKC. Mazzulla managed to keep the architecture of his system intact: the defense entirely concentrated on protecting the paint and lots of three-point shots in attack (second in the season with 42 attempts per game) while maintaining a low pace. Even though the rotation and average age have changed a lot, with 95.3 the Celtics are also the team with the lowest PACE in the entire NBA this season.

The controlled pace is fundamental in Mazzulla’s strategy, because it allows Boston to lose very few balls (first in the NBA with only 12 turnovers per game) despite not having a heliocentric superstar as is now the case of the contenders. Never losing the ball is the way to compensate for the lack of shots at the rim. In fact, Boston is not a classic team that focuses entirely on three-pointers and rim shots: it has by far the lowest percentage of field goal attempts, replaced with medium-range ones, a good 34% of its total shots.

In attack and defense Boston is an orderly team, which knows the plan to execute and rarely makes mistakes. In this the symbol is Derrick White: not the star of the team, but a perfect player for this system. On defense he is one of the best guards in the NBA, capable of both being aggressive and contesting the opponent’s shots, while on offense he is an attentive manager of possessions, which makes him the de facto point guard of the team, despite not having good shooting percentages (39% from the field and 32% from three). The same can also be said of the Celtics’ true point guard, Pritchard, who is having the best career average for points, rebounds and assists, but who above all leads the NBA in the ratio of assists to turnovers with 4.9.

The best sixth man of last season does not have an elegant style, but he is practical and aggressive and has managed to keep intact the energy that was previously required of him coming off the bench within a longer playing time, becoming in all respects a legitimate starter.

With Tatum’s absence the star role has permanently passed to Jaylen Brown and the response couldn’t have been better. Brown is having the best season of his career. He was named East Player of the Month in January, averaging 29.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists. It wasn’t so obvious that such a season would come with an increase in offensive responsibilities and leadership. Brown, on the other hand, managed to maintain the defensive commitment that has always distinguished him (for example, he led the Celtics in rebounds taken in 7 of the last 8 games) without decreasing in efficiency once his offensive volume increased.

Brown is also the only player on the roster capable of getting to the rim and putting pressure on opposing defenses, however it is in the midrange that he feels most comfortable: more than half of his shots come from there, where he shoots at an excellent 47%. Even other NBA stars have begun to change their opinion of him. LeBron James recently recalled how: «many said the Celtics would be a draft lottery pick. Jaylen Brown basically said, “To hell with your predictions, I’m going to give it my best shot.” We must pay tribute to Jaylen Brown.”

If Brown is the first name to mention, Boston’s entire rotation is performing at its best. And let’s talk about unlikely names: center Neemias Queta, wing Jordan Walsh, guard Baylor Scheierman, wing Josh Minott, wing Hugo Gonzalez, center Luka Garza. Players theoretically from a rebuilding team or from garbage time and who are instead playing minutes that count and are doing it well.

The biggest surprise is probably rookie Hugo González, chosen by the Celtics at number 28 in the latest draft and who is having a big impact on Joe Mazzulla’s rotation, especially on defense. The former Real Madrid player amazed with how ready he proved to be for the NBA. Even Luka Doncic talked about it: «I think he’s doing very well, he’s a guy that the NBA really likes: he defends well and is very active».

When this is the case, evidently, there is merit in the handle: Mazzulla’s method works perfectly in what is needed today in the regular season, that is, building a system that goes beyond the talent of the individuals. The main example is probably Anfernee Simons. Arriving from Portland with an expiring contract and as an asset to be exchanged by the deadline, Simons is a guard with great technical cleanliness, but with a shot selection that seems straight out of 2008. Over the weeks he has instead become a very useful player coming off the bench, encouraged by Mazzulla to come out of the score during the matchday, as seen in the last game against the Bucks.

Despite having a positive impact, Simons was traded just yesterday. The 35-year-old Nikola Vucevic has arrived in his place, allowing the Celtics to strengthen the long department and have an offensively self-sufficient center (season averaging 17 points while shooting 50.5% from the field and 37.6% from three). Furthermore, with Vucevic comes a player with experience, which is somewhat lacking in this version of the Celtics, and which also improves the salary situation. By taking his contract for 6 million less than that of Simons, the Celtics gain greater flexibility by moving under the first apron and reducing the feared luxury tax from 39.5 million dollars to 17.7.

Obviously all this on paper, then the pitch will tell us whether Vucevic will be able to deserve the minutes in a team where a very rigid meritocracy exists. The defensive attitude is the historical Achilles heel of Vucevic’s game and for how Mazzulla basketball lives this is simply unacceptable. The much more limited offensively Queta so far has deserved the role of starting center also and above all because he has proven to be extremely coachable. Since day one, Queta has committed himself to fulfilling the defensive requests of his coach and despite not having the offensive talent of Robert Williams or the versatility of Al Horford, he has shown that he cannot be left alone when he shoots to the basket and above all that he is able to stay on the court (both because he is physically healthy and because he is good at not committing too many fouls) and therefore to all intents and purposes be an integral part of the rotations. All with a minimum wage contract.

The real question hovering over Boston’s season, however, is when and if Tatum will return. From videos on social media you can see him training and the question about his return is increasingly frequent. Tatum himself told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne last week that he hasn’t made a decision yet and that he “wants to get it right the first time, so he has a lot to think about.” Nobody rules out that he could return as early as this season, given how Boston is going.

If they continue like this, even without Tatum, it’s not in the realm of the unthinkable that they’re the ones who get to the bottom of it. In the East, in fact, everything seems very vague and it is difficult to say that there is a team that is clearly stronger than the current Boston. But even if this were not the case, if they were to stop in the first round of the playoffs, the way they are approaching the season can only reinvigorate the bond between the team and its fans. “I think we play better when our backs are against the wall,” Jaylen Brown said: “I’m looking for anything that can fuel that energy.” Boston is on a path that has changed its perspective on the season. No longer a sabbatical year waiting to become a contender again, but a year as a loose cannon. None of the teams aiming for the Finals in the East think that facing these Boston Celtics will be a formality. White told how last July, on his birthday, he received a call from Mazzulla, who after the usual congratulations got to the point with a single sentence before hanging up the phone: “Everyone thinks we’ll suck, I like it a lot.”