Expectations
FOR all the 2023-2024 season, the Boston Celtics have been lording it over the NBA with the league’s best win-loss record.
Considered the “best team in the NBA,” their recent 11-game winning streak, the longest by any team this season, supported that narrative that the Celtics were simply blowing out opponents every game.
That streak started with a 40-point win over the Memphis Grizzlies and ended with a 52-point demolition of their erstwhile nemesis Golden State Warriors. That was the third-biggest winning margin in franchise history.
The Celtics seemed unbeatable going into Cleveland and looked to register win No. 12 going into the fourth. With a 93-71 advantage with nine minutes left, this game should have been a sealed deal for the Celtics. Instead, the Cavs outscored the Celtics, 34-11, in the final nine minutes. Furthermore, the Cavs were playing without stars Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley making Boston’s collapse uglier.
For a team expected to take the 2024 NBA title, that should have been an easy win, but their embarrassing collapse exposed chinks in the Celtics’ armor. Boasting top defensive and offensive statistics, teams are hard-pressed to win against the Celtics since they can shoot points in bunches while shutting down teams with their defense.
However, Boston got complacent and allowed a team missing their superstar (Donovan Mitchell) to come all the way back. The Celtics defense became sloppy, and their delay in rotations allowed bench player Dean Wade to hit five three pointers in the end canto.
The Celtics followed up that game with another loss to defending champions Denver Nuggets who are now 2-0 in their season series following the latter’s 115-109 win.
The game showed stark contrasts between the two leading teams in the league. Denver found a way to grind out a win despite their poor shooting from the arc with their physical defense. Outside of Jaylen Brown, the Celtics had a hard-time creating offense when their three-point shooting wasn’t falling. On the other side, two-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic controlled the tempo and gave his teammates good looks by drawing the defense.
With many superstars, the Celtics have a difficult time winning close games during clutch time since there are too many mouths to feed. They also failed to adjust in the dying seconds. For instance, coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t call a timeout with the game on the line in Cleveland.
Ultimately, these losses show us that closing games is still a major concern for the Celtics and come playoff time, close games will become the norm, and they simply cannot rely on their talent to eke out wins.
In the fourth quarters of both games, superstar Jayson Tatum also failed to carry his team. In Cleveland, he was 0-9 in the fourth quarter after a hot start. In Denver, he scored just seven points in the second half while shooting 2-7 from the field and 0-2 from three.
The Celtics badly need Tatum to be a superstar in the fourth quarters.
Still, this is not a case for panic since the Celtics still hold a 7.5 game lead over Eastern Conference No. 2 Cleveland and 4.5 game lead over the Oklahoma Thunder in the West. Boston needs to emerge with the best record in the NBA to hold the home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
With their loaded first unit, the Celtics are expected to hang banner No. 18 in the rafters and anything else would be considered a failure. The Celtics need to start embracing that pressure.