Boston has basically been walking over the rest of the NBA for the last 15 months. Is there a hidden problem somewhere in there?
I’m home for the holidays. And because of the NBA Cup, the Celtics are on their second multi-day hiatus in the last two weeks, giving me ample time to ruminate about the many important Celtics storylines I haven’t had the time to consider. Except I’m coming up empty, and I think it’s because we’re just too good.
“I feel like you shouldn’t write this,” replied my sister when she looked over at the title of the Google doc. “You’re going to jinx it, and we’re going to start losing.”
Good. Maybe then I’ll actually have something to write about. Just kidding, but my complete lack of ideas has me thinking about the vibes of this season, and how they differ from the anxious campaign of last year. I’m just not worried about the team anymore, not remotely concerned when we drop the standard what-the-hell-was-that game to the Trae Young-less Atlanta Hawks. I’m not worried if this team has what it takes to win, because we know they do.
Before the season, I was vocal in my concerns about motivation for this season. The Celtics were at their best with their backs plastered directly up against the wall, which they were annoyingly good at doing for three consecutive years. Remember 76ers Game 6 in 2023? Bucks Game 6 in 2022? Heat Game 6 in 2023— wow, there are a lot of Game 6s… It felt like the team’s maximum output never came when they wanted it and only when they absolutely, positively needed it.
That was, until last year, when the Celtics slow walked their way through the Eastern Conference and then sent Luka Doncic back to Dallas just in time for the 38th Annual Great Texas Mosquito Festival. It was still stressful, but it all just… worked.
And this year, it’s all just working again.
In short, Boston has given me absolutely no reason to worry beyond the obligatory Kristaps Porzingis injuries and some less-than-stellar Sam Hauser shooting numbers. But are we serious with that? Porzingis is good for three random foot sprains a year and Hauser’s shooting has been made up five-fold by the emergence of Budget Stephen Curry/Sixth Man of the Year frontrunner Payton Pritchard. I literally published something titled “NBA doesn’t stand a chance against the Celtics”, and that’s because they don’t.
Am I missing something? Is there some great concern out there that I’m just missing? Or could it be that the lack of concern that itself should be my concern? Is it time to invert my lack of fear and become afraid of it?
There’s like three whole cliches about this: The calm before the storm. The deep breath before the plunge. The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. All of them might be true in this situation. But those are also massively pessimistic views on life. Should I really be afraid of the dark just because it’s dark?
The actual worry, as I earmarked before the season, is apathy. But I’m not sure there’s anything that can be done about that. You can’t manufacture need, no matter how good the locker room speech is. And the Celtics will not be able to achieve the same level of desperation as last year — they just won’t.
But apathy isn’t going to sink them in the end. A playoff berth is all-but guaranteed, as is a top three-ish seed. If the Celtics lose in the playoffs — which they might, but I don’t currently think they will — it would take an irresponsible dose of Freudian psychoanalysis to chalk it up to “apathy.” There will be math, injuries, and outlier statistics to blame before vibes are ever mentioned.
So, what to do? March forward, discovering new and interesting ways to destroy the dregs of the Eastern Conference. And it’s time to ask more positive and interesting questions if we’re just going to destroy people all the time. I’m ready to admit I was wrong for questioning Payton Pritchard’s awesomeness, so how good can he get? Can Hauser get above 40-percent from deep? Can Jrue Holiday return to his offensive form?
I don’t know, but I’m ready to find out. Maybe fear itself is the only thing we have to fear, but who has time for that right now. Grab some chips and watch the C’s ball out. It’s way more fun that way.