Are the Celtics meeting the standard they set for themselves?

The 2024-2025 Boston Celtics are 20-5 and are on tempo for 66 wins. Whereas this 12 months’s staff has been objectively dominant, there have been whispers that they haven’t lived as much as the 2023-2024 Boston Celtics customary. So, I dove into the numbers to see if these whispers have any benefit.

Final season, the Celtics submitted probably the most dominant seasons in NBA historical past. They went 64-18 within the common season and 16-3 within the playoffs on the way in which to the title. They had been so dominant that it’s simple to overlook that the staff misplaced 21 video games.

Whereas the Celtics dismantled the Dallas Mavericks within the Finals, in addition they suffered the worst defeat in NBA Finals historical past, taking place 122-84 in Recreation 4 of the Finals. I remind you of that insignificant but jarring loss as a reminder that as we transfer by the 2024-2025 season, the Celtics is not going to be excellent.

We’ll begin by zooming out. The 2025 Boston Celtics are 20-5. An similar report to final 12 months’s staff by 25 video games. Each are outrageously spectacular data. This 12 months, the Celtics’ internet score stands at 10.0, in comparison with 9.0 on the similar 25-game mark final season. Once more, each are excellent numbers, with the slight edge going to the 2025 squad.

A vital issue about this 12 months’s Celtics staff, which makes them extremely spectacular, is that they’ve dealt considerably extra accidents. This season, the highest six gamers within the rotation—Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Vacation, Kristaps Porzingis, and Al Horford—have solely performed one sport collectively. Final season, the highest six performed 14 out of the primary 25 video games. Different notable absences from final season in comparison with this season:

Not solely has Kristaps missed the vast majority of the season, Jaylen Brown has additionally missed 20% of the season, together with a sprinkle of different absences. The Celtics have executed a superb job sustaining an elite degree of play regardless of having awful harm luck to begin the 12 months.

Defensively is the place I feel most observers would say the Celtics have slipped. Statistically, the Celtics have a barely worse defensive score by 25 video games. Final season, they had been sitting at a 109.0 defensive score, which was second within the league. This season, the Celtics have a defensive score of 110.3, which is ninth within the league. Whereas the Celtics have primarily maintained their defensive id, defenses across the NBA are having extra success than final 12 months. This has led to the Celtics’ total defensive rating drop however not their defensive score.

I concede the protection has not been nearly as good as final 12 months. Many of the slippage could be attributed to Porzingis’ absence. He’s a game-changer on the defensive finish. I usually overlook how dominant he could be defensively as a result of he mesmerizes me on the offensive finish of the ground. It’s good to have that Lavtian King again within the lineup.

Wanting on the losses, the 2025 Celtics are but to undergo a defeat by double digits. They’ve but to lose two video games in a row and drop a sport to a correct backside feeder. Their worst loss on paper was the additional time defeat to the Indiana Pacers. That’s a bizarre case, although. The Pacers didn’t play like a staff now sitting at 10-15. They got here to avenge their Japanese Convention Finals sweep. The loss to the Atlanta Hawks stands out because the worst this season, nevertheless it seems the Hawks are a reliable staff.

In comparison with final season, by 25 video games, the Celtics had misplaced back-to-back video games to the Timberwolves and 76ers, they usually had misplaced an additional time sport towards the Charlotte Hornets (after narrowly escaping defeat the earlier evening to the Memphis Grizzlies, who had been lacking Ja Morant), and bought smoked by the Orlando Magic 113-96. If we lengthen to 26 video games, the 2024 Celtics are about to blow an 18-point fourth-quarter lead in a PTSD-inducing sport to the Golden State Warriors — not fairly the proper staff that we keep in mind,

Some of the vital variations for me watching the Celtics this 12 months is how I really feel in clutch video games. A clutch sport is any sport inside 5 factors within the closing 5 minutes. Final season, the Celtics had been 21-12 in crunch time. Good for a 63.6% successful proportion, the fourth-best within the league. Up to now, this 12 months’s Celtics are 10-5 in crunch time. Good for a 66.7% successful proportion, which is second-best within the league. The way in which the Celtics are working in crunch time is surgical. Sure, that was statistically true final season as properly. Nonetheless, the way in which the Celtics are looking matchups and entering into their bread-and-butter actions have them transferring just like the veteran championship staff that they’re. The Celtics’ precision in clutch time now fills me with confidence I did not have earlier than.

It’s simple to make a case that this 12 months’s model of the Celtics have been extra spectacular. Defending a title is tough. This group performed up till June. Jrue and Derrick performed within the Olympics, whereas Jayson Tatum endured weird teaching choices from Steve Kerr. Some regression or championship malaise ought to be baked into the expectations for the 2025 common season Celtics. Final 12 months’s group rightly got here in with an enormous chip on their shoulder after their tortuous defeat to the Miami Warmth within the convention finals. It’s laborious to fabricate that degree of motivation. The Celtics don’t have something to show this 12 months. Once you issue within the problem of defending a tile, mixed with the accidents they’ve confronted, I’ve to offer the sting to the 2025 Boston Celtics.