The Boston Celtics were finally able to realize their potential in the 2023-24 NBA campaign, putting together a dominant season en route to their 18th championship in franchise history.
The Celtics were never truly threatened during their playoff run, as they didn’t lose more than one game in any series. They ran through the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks to ultimately win it all.
Some have argued that the Celtics’ path to the 2024 NBA title was too easy. The Cavs, the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, were the highest-seeded team the Celtics had to face during their playoff run, and some of Boston’s opponents were missing key players when it came time to battle.
But multiple NBA executives seemingly disagree with the notion that the team’s path was too easy, including one who thinks “people taking shots at who Boston played are crazy — or worse.”
“That’s such crap,” the executive told Heavy Sports. “Sure, the basketball fan in me would have liked see them in a best-of-seven against Denver, but Minnesota beat the [Denver] Nuggets with size, and Boston has size.
“But I just think people taking shots at who Boston played are crazy — or worse. You want a way to measure how good they were? How about 82 games against everybody when they had far and away the best record.”
A different executive chimed in.
“It’s funny that people give teams the Celtics played against a pass because of injuries, but no one talks about Boston last year,” the executive said. “You can even leave aside [Jayson] Tatum getting hurt at the start of Game 7 (in the conference finals against Miami). I don’t think they would have been in that tough position if not for Malcolm Brogdon‘s injury (elbow).
“They were really good this year, but I thought they had a chance of winning the year before if Malcolm isn’t hurt. Malcolm was a shell of himself, and that was too bad. He had a great year for them. He tried to play, but it was a pretty serious injury.”
A third executive also had good things to say about the Celtics, praising them for kicking their old habits en route to their championship.
“They weren’t the same team that used to blow games at the end,” he said. “They won tight games in the playoffs. They showed that. They proved it to people — and they proved it to themselves. And that second part is a lot more important than the first.
“When you’ve pissed games away in crunch time, it can stick in your head. It can be a subconscious thing. But once you overcome that a few times, you know it’s in you, and you don’t tighten up like you did before.”
The Celtics were ultimately the best team in the NBA in the regular season and showed no signs of regression in the playoffs, even if they didn’t face the most daunting path.
Celtics star Jaylen Brown took home MVP honors in both the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals, but it was a team effort that helped Boston achieve the ultimate goal. Players like Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis and others all left their fingerprints on the championship run.
Boston is in position to remain a factor in the championship conversation moving forward, with the team set to look very similar in the 2024-25 season. With franchise cornerstones Brown (27) and Tatum (26) still relatively young, the team could be a headache for the NBA for years to come.
Brown, Tatum and company likely aren’t worried about how the outside world perceives their 2024 championship, but if they want to make a statement, they could make a run at the 2025 NBA title — and perhaps face some tougher competition along the way.
