The Celtics Were the Good-Bad Team and Many Other Thoughts

It's been a full fortnight since the Boston Celtics have played a basketball game. I had wanted to comment on it in its direct aftermath, but was honestly too busy with work, and without the opportunity to reflect upon it with immediacy, decided to wait a while. One of my old writing mentors used to say all the time, "you can try to be first, or you can try to be best." I doubt I have the best perspective, but you know, I'll give it a shot.

I think, ultimately, the Celtics were the good-bad team. It's an old Bill Simmons-ism, which basically posits that the good-bad team is good enough to beat all the bad teams, but struggles against superior competition. Throughout the season, it was easy to be blinded to this fact, because we're Celtics fans, and the universe is only in balance when we're good. So it just felt right and normal that the C's were once again ripping off a 50-win season. And there with teams like the Toronto Raptors, Atlanta Hawks, and Los Angeles Lakers that had much worse records against above-.500 competition. Plus, Jayson Tatum came back!

The Celtics also only lost eight times in the regular season after January ended, compiling a record of 22-8 from Feb. 1st to the end of the regular season. Only the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs lost fewer times over that timespan. Seems dominant, right? Except, a lot of the teams they played during that timespan weren't exactly trying to win, or were severely compromised from an injury perspective and simply weren't going to regardless of opponent. One game that keeps sticking in my memory is the game in Memphis on March 20th.

The best player in that game, for stretches longer than should have been possible, was Uxbridge, Mass. native Tyler Burton. Getting some burn in the NBA as a 25-year-old rookie, and determined to make the most of it, Burton poured in 23 points on 7-for-13 shooting, including 5-for-9 from three. He was also 4-for-4 at the free-throw stripe, and pulled down five rebounds. Drew Carter had to research who he was on the fly during the broadcast to get viewers up to speed. Burton put in 14 of those points in the first half, as Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum combined to shoot 5-for-26 for the half, and the C's went into halftime with a one-point lead against a team trying to lose.

The C's would lose that slim lead with 6:58 left in the third quarter, and not regain it for more than a full quarter, when a Luka Garza dunk put them back in front, 102-101, with 6:03 left in the fourth. The Grizzlies would put in one more bucket – by 28-year-old journeyman DeJon Jarreau, who in his third NBA season was playing in just his 14th career game – before the C's took the lead again, for good, with 5:06 left. It was a feel-bad win, and when the C's lost to an Anthony Edwards-less Timberwolves team at home two nights later (I was in attendance for that one...at least I got a Paul Pierce bobblehead), I think some fans were rightly concerned. But then the C's had probably their best win of the season in their next game, against a full-strength Oklahoma City squad, and it was all forgotten.

And yet, even with them not being that great overall, a lot still had to happen for the C's to lose to an inferior Philadelphia 76ers team. For one, they had to shoot poorly, something they have done in each of the past three playoff series' they have lost (Miami '23, New York '25, Philly '26), as Ryan Bernardoni expertly detailed in this piece.

Second, they had to be stubborn. Mazzulla never adjusted with Sam Hauser. He was simply going to prioritize Hauser's shooting over the defense of Baylor Scheierman, Hugo González, and/or Jordan Walsh. That becomes clear when you read Ryan's article, which you should definitely do. Yes, Hauser didn't start Game 7 – the only time he didn't start all series. But he also played his most minutes of the series – 29:49 – in Game 7. Mazzulla was simply going to live and die with Hauser's shooting. The Sixers attacked him relentlessly. In the end, the C's were able to hide him in the corner on a gassed Paul George (1-for-5 in the second half of Game 7, 0-for-2 in the fourth quarter), but that left Derrick White and Neemias Queta having to deal with Tyrese Maxey, which was folly, as Maxey had been getting the best of them all series. The enduring image of the series is going to be that final Maxey lay-up, where no one was in front of him because he had blown by the entire Celtics team:

The person guarding Maxey before that drive was Derrick White. Look at where White is in that screenshot. Bless him, I love Derrick White, but he had nothing left. He should have been the one hiding on Paul George. Scheierman, González, or Walsh should have been on the floor guarding Maxey. But Mazzulla was going to go down with his two best shooters – Hauser and Payton Pritchard. He simply refused to adjust.

That all might have been fine if Jaylen Brown also hadn't been so stubborn. JB can complain about the refs all he wants, but if you put JB on a different team, we would be screaming about his push-offs all the time. JB pushes off. He has always pushed off. The difference this season is that the refs started calling it more. But rather than adjust, JB just assumed he would get the benefit of the doubt in the end, just like he did on this fateful and famous play:

He didn't. He kept being whistled for those fouls, and in the end, he was out of rhythm, and missed shots he would normally hit, even on plays when he wasn't whistled for his push off. Like this one:

I have spent a decade watching Jaylen Brown hit this exact shot. If you gave JB truth serum, I'd be willing to bet that he would tell you he missed this shot because he thought he was about to be whistled for a push off. But he wasn't, and he didn't, and Maxey would come back down the floor and hit the lay-up I screen shotted above, and the game and season were over.

There were two more things that had to happen for the C's to lose this series beyond the poor shooting and stubbornness. One, they didn't have enough familiarity heading into the playoffs. The worst thing that happened to this team was Vučević's injury during Tatum's first game back. It was always going to be difficult to work Tatum back into the rotation, but then went Vooch – the other "new" guy – immediately left, it gave them no time to collectively gel.

They didn't play together as a whole, healthy unit until Vučević returned on April 5th. The eight-man unit that the C's wanted to roll with in the playoffs – the Jay's, White, Queta, Hauser, Pritchard, Scheierman, and Vooch – only played meaningful minutes together in two games. One was that first game back, April 5th vs. Toronto, and the other was April 7th vs. Charlotte. The C's won both games, but Vooch didn't really play well in either. He was 2-for-5 and a -14 vs. Toronto, and 1-for-10 and a +1 vs. Charlotte. And neither team had the kind of imposing low-post player that Andre Drummond is, to say nothing of Joel Embiid. It simply was not enough time to develop any kind of chemistry, and it's why Mazzulla should not have played Vooch at all in the playoffs. Alas, Mazzulla didn't come to this realization until Game 7. In that game, the team finally played like it had all season, with chemistry and flow, but it was too little, too late. Had they adjusted before Game 5 and had three cracks at playing that way, they probably win one of those games. But they didn't.

Finally, their opponent had to know exactly who it was, and catch a little lightning in a bottle. Paul George and Joel Embiid were well rested, and Tyrese Maxey left it all on the floor to win that series. Maxey and George were incredible, as were Drummond and Kelly Oubre Jr. And Embiid was as good as he possibly can be these days. They all deserve a ton of credit, even if the Knicks blew their doors off in the next round.

Ultimately, it really was a fun Celtics season. Go back to the beginning of the season, and I never expected this team to make it out of the first round. I expected them to lose as a 6 seed. This team defied expectations, and it was really fun to watch them right up until they finished the season like they started it, by losing three straight games. The other 83 games in between were a ton of fun, and my only long-term concern is the miles put on JB and D White in the process of winning some of them.

We have a month and a half or so to talk about how the team moves forward before the machinations of the summer begin. I have definite thoughts on the matter, but for now, let's ruminate a little on what has been an entertaining playoffs.

The One Thing I Am Bitter About

Major League Baseball was the first league to put any teeth behind a punishment program for performance-enhancing drugs. One of their best ideas on the subject is that if you're popped for PEDs during the season, you're ineligible to play in that postseason. The NBA should have the same policy. Paul George essentially got a two-month vacation to rest up for the playoffs, and that layoff had him feeling fresh as a daisy for their first-round matchup with the Celtics. That's total bullshit. He shouldn't have been allowed to play, and the league should be embarrassed that it worked out so well for him and Philadelphia. It hardly seems like either was punished at all, especially since it helped Philly get closer to ducking the luxury tax (that money should also still count toward their luxury tax calculation, even if George didn't receive the money). Analysts were joking it would become a trend, and for guys who have already made hundreds of millions of dollars like George, I suspect it might become one. George immediately distanced himself from criticism by claiming the PEDs were related to mental health, and now emerges with his reputation better than it's been in years.

To be clear, the Celtics should still have beaten the Sixers, George or no George, but the league needs to close this loophole before more players make their policies look like a farce.

Do Either the Pistons or Cavaliers Actually Want to Win Their Series?

Watching these first five games (I was working and didn't get to watch last night), I couldn't tell you which team really wants to win it. Both teams seem intent on giving the series away. Neither seems capable of doing what the Celtics always do, which is give a full, focused effort for 48 minutes for more than one game at a time. If the C's had slipped back to fourth, they would have beaten both of these teams handily. Alas.

The Nuggets Are Over, and The Timberwolves May Be As Well

The Denver Nuggets' championship window has closed. I have always felt this way, but now I am even more beholden to the opinion that the only reason the Nuggets even have one championship is because Jayson Tatum turned his ankle seconds into Game 7 of the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals vs. Miami. Since the Nuggets won that 2023 title, they have won two playoff rounds in three seasons – one against a hobbled Lakers team, and one against a hobbled, choking Clippers team. Nikola Jokić is far closer in spirit to the stat-compiling Russell Westbrook than his many defenders would care to admit. And with Aaron Gordon seemingly never healthy, and the team on the verge of losing Peyton Watson to free agency, and having paid a lot of money to an eighth/ninth man in Christian Braun, this team is in a lot of trouble. Michael Pina detailed it really well here.

I fear the same may be true of the Timberwolves. I really love watching this Wolves team play, but they made an existential mistake in choosing to pay Julius Randle instead of Nickeil Alexander-Walker. I thought it was a mistake for the Wolves to let NAW walk, which is something I pointed out last fall, before he went on to become the NBA's Most Improved Player. Now, the Wolves are saddled with Randle, who just no-showed vs. the Spurs, and are facing a season without starter Donte DiVencenzo, and no real way to improve. Especially if they're unable to retain Ayo Dosunmu. A great ownership group may have the patience to understand that Anthony Edwards will only be 25 next season, and entering the three-to-four-year window when he should realistically be expected to win his first NBA championship, and to stay the course. But one of the Wolves' owners is Alex Rodriguez, and he is a fucking idiot. So I worry that the Wolves may get broken up for pennies on the dollar. If they do, and Edwards asks out, or the Wolves decide to trade him to save money, I just want to note that this trade works financially:

Just sayin'.

These Iterations of the Raptors and Sixers Can Never Really Be Title Threats

I realize it's rich of me to talk shit about a team that just beat my favorite team in the playoffs, but neither the Sixers nor the Raptors have much runway to improve because they both have high-dollar contracts that are not moveable. For the Sixers, that's Joel Embiid and Paul George. For the Raptors, that's Brandon Ingram, Immanuel Quickley, and Jakob Poeltl. I can't see any of these five players having any trade value, and I also can't see them contributing to a championship team at this juncture.

Quickley was injured and didn't play in the first-round series against the Cavs, and that shouldn't have been a huge surprise. He only played in 33 games last season, and just doesn't have the body type that I would refer to as "durable." And Ingram and Poeltl got played out of the series. Ingram made it official at the end with a classic DNP-Shame (see also, Donovan Mitchell in the 2024 second round vs. the C's). But neither ended up in Toronto's top five in minutes played for the series, and it wasn't particularly close. I think there's a pretty decent chance that Poeltl comes off the bench next season, because Colin Murray-Boyles is really, really good, and deserves to start. Ingram will keep starting because he's the team's second-highest paid player though, and that's going to leave Toronto in a really tough spot.

The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder Are Terrifying

This Western Conference Finals matchup has the chance to be absolutely legendary, and the best in a long time. Looking back, the 2022 and 2023 Celtics vs. Heat matchups were really great, but none of those four specific squads had the upside that either these Spurs or Thunder have. 2018 Rockets-Warriors is a good comp, so is 2016 Warriors-Thunder. The 2013 and 2014 Heat-Pacers matchups are a good comp, but I don't really think those Pacers teams had the upside to win the Finals. Both 2012 series – Heat-Celtics and Thunder-Spurs – I think qualify. I'd expect to see a lot of highlights of the latter in the next week.

I could keep going back, but after scrolling through the past 20 seasons on Basketball-Reference, I think the point is established. Who knows what actually will happen – for all we know, the Thunder are a real dynastic team and will sweep the young Spurs walking away – but this has the chance to be one of the best Conference Finals in a generation. Sign me up. And after rooting hard for the Wolves against the Spurs (I love Anthony Edwards, sue me), it'll be good to root for them again. I was starting to dislike Stephon Castle, and I don't want to dislike Stephon Castle, because Stephon Castle is evolutionary Marcus Smart, and I love Marcus Smart!

I Told You the Knicks Would Be This Good

It took the better part of 86 games for them to lock in, as it wasn't until the second half of Game 4 in Atlanta when they finally did, but this Knicks team is scary good. I predicted the Knicks would be the one seed, and that they'd make the NBA Finals, and beat the Houston Rockets once there. The Rockets obviously didn't live up to my expectations, but the Knicks are well on their way.

Now that Mike Brown has unlocked Karl-Anthony Towns in a way no one ever has before, the Knicks look unstoppable. Towns is averaging 6.6 assists per game this playoffs. And while he's always been a good passer for a big man, he's never averaged more than 4.8 assists per game in the regular season, and that was in 2022-2023. In the past three regular seasons, he's averaged 3.0, 3.1, and 3.0 assists per game. In the playoffs, for his career, he's averaged 2.8 assists per game, and in the individual seasons before this one, he averaged 2.2, 2.2, 2.0, 2.6, and 1.3. The 1.3 was on the Knicks team last season that ran every single possession through one player – Jalen Brunson. It's hard to overstate how divergent this path is for Towns, but by giving Towns dual responsibility for running the offense (Brunson is also averaging six assists per game in these playoffs), the Knicks have made themselves harder to predict, and harder to beat, right when they needed to most.

I'm sorry to say to all my Boston fan friends, but I am rooting for these Knicks. They are a ton of fun to watch – watching them is far more enjoyable than watching the Cavs and Pistons fumble the ball around. I love KAT in general, but I especially love watching this version of KAT. It is impossible to dislike Miles McBride. Josh Hart's effort and hustle is the epitome of what you want every professional athlete to have. It's hilarious watching OG Anunoby suddenly hit 60% of his threes when he's not doing so against your team. Ditto for the Mikal Bridges revival. I'll never love Jalen Brunson given that he needs his daddy to protect him and he snaps his head back and/or flops about 20 times per game, but I do respect him overall. Landry Shamet looks and behaves like a weasel, but it's rare to like every player on any team. Besides, my favorite Knick of all-time, Mitchell Robinson, is still on this squad. For now. He's a free agent soon, but we'll save the free-agent talk for next time.

Here's hoping for a Spurs-Knicks NBA Finals. And never forget what I always tell my children – I know everything. ;-)