June 23rd, 2016 and June 22nd, 2017 represent 2 of the biggest days of this era of Celtics basketball. Those are the days they drafted Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, both 3rd overall. From those moments on they have been knocking on the door for banner 18, and now they have broken through.
The 2016-17 season was a major success for Boston. 53 wins and a trip to the conference finals. Isaiah Thomas was the best player on that team and he finished 5th in MVP voting. Al Horford was also a key part of that team, after signing a max deal in Boston the previous summer. However, they got crushed by the Cavaliers in 5 games and made seismic changes that summer.
That summer started when the team landed the 1st pick in the draft and then traded down with the Philadelphia 76ers to the 3rd pick. With that selection, they drafted Tatum. The 2017-18 team only returned 4 players from the 2016-17 team. Horford, Brown, Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier. Avery Bradley was traded to the Pistons for Marcus Morris to create cap space to sign Gordon Hayward and Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder were traded to the Cavaliers for Kyrie Irving. Boston had added a pair of stars to go with this young core of Brown, Tatum, Rozier and Smart. Five minutes into the season, Gordon Hayward broke his leg and then Kyrie was lost for the season in March. It was up to the young Celtics to get them back to the Finals and they came really close. After eking out a 7 game win over the Bucks, Boston took the 76ers out in 5 games. Then the rematch with Cleveland and LeBron James. After the Celtics took a 2-0 series lead, LeBron took over as the Cavs won 4 out of 5 and knocked out Boston. The Celtics had a quiet offseason in 2018, the only notable move they made was to draft Robert Williams II.
The 2018-19 Celtics were expected to be a real threat to get to the Finals and perhaps win the championship. It did not go that way, Boston had an up and down (mostly down) season headlined by Kyrie making comments throughout the year about how he felt he owed LeBron an apology for how he was when he was a younger player and being seen talking to Kevin Durant seemingly about joining up together that summer. 49 wins, a 2nd round exit and heaps of drama all season lead to another big roster remake. Out the door went Kyrie, Horford, Rozier and Morris and in came Kemba Walker on a new max 4-year contract.
The 2019-20 Celtics were going to go as far as Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took them. Walker was thought of as the best player entering the season but in order for Boston to do anything significant, they needed the Jays to take the lead. Jayson Tatum stepped up to the plate. He averaged 23.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in his first All-Star and All-NBA season. After the season restarted in the bubble, the 3rd seeded Celtics looked poised for another deep playoff run. That was hindered by an ankle injury to Gordon Hayward in game 1 of the playoffs who had been a key piece to Boston as they started their title pursuit. After sweeping Al Horford’s Philadelphia 76ers in round 1, the 2nd time Tatum and Brown had taken out Joel Embiid and the Sixers out of the playoffs since 2018, it was on to the defending champion Toronto Raptors. After taking the first 2 games, Boston looked prime for a 3-0 lead before Boston lost OG Anunoby in the far corner and he hit a buzzer beating 3. That series ended up going 7 games, where a key Marcus Smart block against Norman Powell allowed Boston to advance to their 3rd Eastern Conference Finals in 4 years. In that series, the Celtics had their chances against a good Miami Heat team but they simply could not get over that hump, they had chances to win every game but just couldn’t finish enough games and lost to the Heat in 6.
The 2020-21 season marked a key point for Boston. They finished 36-36 and got smoked in 5 games by the Nets in the 1st round. It was a disastrous season for the Celtics, Jaylen Brown got hurt and missed the playoffs but it probably would not have mattered. That roster was not good enough behind Tatum and Brown. Walker had knee issues all season, Tristan Thompson was the starting center in the playoffs and Romeo Langford started 2 playoff games. It was a crossroads for Boston and they acted swiftly. Danny Ainge was out as President of Basketball Operations and Brad Stevens made the jump from coach to lead executive. He needed to replace himself as the coach and remake a roster that was a mess behind Tatum and Brown. He got to work right away sending Kemba Walker and the 16th pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder for… Al Horford. Then he hired Ime Udoka as the new coach of the team and they were set to go for 2021-22.
Only the start of the 2021-22 season was bad, Boston was yet again mediocre. After an RJ Barrett buzzer beater on January 6th, Boston sat at 18-21, 11th in the Eastern Conference and it was a low point for the Celtics. They would eventually get their record to 25-25 with 32 games left and something at that point changed. They rattled off 9 wins in a row and made a huge trade at the deadline sending Romeo Langford, Josh Richardson, a 2022 first round pick and a 2028 pick swap to the Spurs for Derrick White. It was seen as a slight overpay at the time and for a team that was a few games over .500, it was risky. However, Brad Stevens and the Celtics front office saw something in that team and they would be proven right.
The Celtics would go on to win 26 of their last 32 games, turning their defense into one of the best in NBA history, led by Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, and perhaps the greatest in-season turnaround we have ever seen. They were unwatchable and they turned into one of the best teams in the league and as they entered the playoffs as a real threat to win the championship. In the first round they had a rematch with the Brooklyn Nets. After a Jayson Tatum buzzer beating layup to win game one, the Celtics would go on to sweep the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving Nets in what was their last playoff series as a duo. In round 2 they took on the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. After splitting the first 4 games, Boston was headed home for game 5 and in the 4th quarter they had a lead. It was at that point Milwaukee buried a pair of 3s, got an offensive rebound on a missed free throw and Jrue Holiday stole the ball twice to seal a Bucks win. Then the series shifted back to Milwaukee where Jayson Tatum scored 46 points and forced a game 7 where the Celtics blew the Bucks out behind 22 three pointers. In the Eastern Conference Finals, they saw the Miami Heat again. Again, the teams split the first 4 games but this time Boston won game 5. Headed home for game 6, the Celtics were primed to advance to the Finals. Only 47 Jimmy Butler points prevented that and the series shifted back to Miami. In game 7 the Celtics led the entire game and looked like they were going to ride to the Finals easily before an 11-0 Heat run gave Miami a shot to win it. Butler had the ball down 2 when he pulled up for 3 but it rimmed out and Boston survived and headed to their first Finals since 2010 where the Golden State Warriors were waiting. After the Celtics took a 2-1 series lead they led game 4 in the 4th quarter when one of the greatest players of his generation stamped himself as a top 10 player ever. 43 game 4 points from Stephen Curry tied the series at 2 and the Celtics ran out of gas in games 5 and 6. The Warriors won the 2022 Finals in 6 games and it felt like Boston let one slip away.
The 2022-23 season for the Celtics was one filled with ups and downs. Right before training camp the team suspended, and eventually fired, Ime Udoka and replaced him with Joe Mazzulla, who had never been a first row assistant, only ever being in the 2nd row, much less a head coach. After a 21-5 start to the season (.808 winning percentage), Boston finished the season 36-20 (.643 winning percentage). While both are really good, that is a significant drop off in winning percentage and that carried over to the playoffs. In round 1, Boston took on the Atlanta Hawks where they raced out to a 3-1 lead and in 5 at home the Celtics had a 13 point lead with 8:33 to go. They ended up blowing said lead and sending the series back to Atlanta for game 6, where they would win. In game 1 of the 2nd round they lost game 1 against the Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers team in what was an inexcusable game to lose. After falling behind 3-2 they would win game 6 in Philly and 51 points from Jayson Tatum (the most in NBA history) in game 7 knocked the Sixers out but still, that series had no business going 7 games. Then the East Finals against, you guessed it, Miami started and it was a disaster for the Celtics. A close late game 1 loss after playing a game 7 happens but you have to win game 2, especially at home. When Boston had a 12 point lead with 10:35 to go, they just needed to close out the game. Only they choked the game away and headed to Miami down 2-0. In game 3 they let go of the rope and were down 3-0 to the 44-38 8th seeded Miami Heat, a team that lost a play-in game to the Hawks. It was inexcusable but then they won game 4, then they won game 5 and the series shifted back to Miami. When they took a 10 point lead with 4:56 to go, it looked like they would head back to Boston for game 7. Only Miami put together another furious comeback and this time they took the lead 103-102 with 3 seconds left. A miracle Derrick White buzzer beating tip in forced a game 7 and it looked like Boston was going to become the first team in NBA history to pull off a 3-0 comeback. Then Jayson Tatum sprained his ankle 30 seconds into game 7 to go along with 8 Jaylen Brown turnovers, Boston lost game 7 on their home court by 19 points. In the 2022 Finals the Celtics had been beaten by a team that they might have been better than but had an all-time great player and had been there done that. The 44 win Heat didn’t have those things. There was no argument entering that series that Miami was better, they did not have Stephen Curry on their team and though they had been to the Finals they didn’t have a championship yet. The Celtics had blown a chance to win a championship and Brad Stevens and Governor Wyc Grousbeck knew that changes needed to be made.
When Kristaps Porzingis became available the Celtics knew he would give them an element to their team they had never had. This was a 7 foot 3 unicorn that could stretch the floor farther than Horford could, was as good of a rim protected as Williams was and could exploit mismatches in the post unlike any other Boston big man could. He was the ideal fit with Tatum and Brown. After a 3-team trade with the Clippers fell through Boston had to change gears quickly sending Marcus Smart to the Memphis Grizzlies as a part of a new 3-team trade. Smart was sent to Memphis, Prozingis and 2 first round picks to Boston and Tyus Jones, Danilo Gallinari, Mike Muscala and the 35th pick in the 2023 draft to the Wizards. Trading Smart was hard, he was the longest tenured Celtic, was the teams best passer and was the heart and soul of the team. He was everything Celtics fans wanted a Celtic to be and it was painful to trade him but Porzingis was too good and needed to be added to the team. Right before training camp when the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday became available and again Stevens struck, sending Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon and 2 first round picks (one they got from Memphis for Smart and the other a 2029 unprotected pick) for Holiday. Boston had retooled around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown but yet again it was going to come down to where those 2 guys could take Boston.
The Celtics came out and were dominant from the tip of the ball in October to the raising of the trophy in June. 64 regular season wins, a 20 point lead in 50 of 101 games, 15 more wins than anyone did in the regular season and playoffs, they are the 14th team ever to win at least 80 games, their point differential in the regular season and playoffs was +10.7 which is 5th best all-time, they had more 30 point wins than 10 point losses and no team has won more games by 50 points, 40 points, 30 points or 25 points than the 2023-24 Boston Celtics. This was one of the most dominant teams ever and they were questioned every step of the way. When they were smoking teams in the regular season people wondered if they could do it in the playoffs. When they smoked everyone in the East, people said they had yet to be battle tested and all the injuries in the East were the main reason they had won. 9 out of 17 people on ESPN.com picked Dallas to win the Finals. It never made sense and people were so wrong. It was led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Brown was incredible making up for the bad game 7 performance last year winning both the Larry Bird Trophy (ECF MVP) and the Bill Russell Trophy (NBA Finals MVP). Jayson Tatum became the 6th player in NBA history to lead his team in points, rebounds and assists in the playoffs and win the championship. They took out the hated Heat in round 1, beat the Cavs in round 2, swept the Pacers in round 3 and won the championship against, who else, Kyrie Irving and the Mavericks in game 4. They went 16-3 in the playoffs, 2nd best since the playoffs expanded to four 7 games series in 2003 (only the 2017 Warriors were better). If it looks like an all-time team, acts like an all-time team and the numbers say it’s an all-time team then it’s probably an all-time team. The 2023-24 Boston Celtics should be remembered as one of the greatest teams in NBA history.
For years people questioned if Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could get the job done. “Break up the Jays” was something a lot of people (shoutout Kendrick Perkins) said. Yet, they stayed the course because this duo was always too good to break up and they proved that by winning banner 18. Congratulations to the Boston Celtics, their fans and especially Al Horford because no one deserves this like Al Horford deserves this.
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