It doesn’t mean they can’t raise a banner again, but differences are beginning to form between this year and last.
The Celtics just did something they didn’t do all of last season.
After their late comeback attempt on Christmas against the 76ers fell flat with a defensive lapse against Tyrese Maxey, Boston lost their third of four games. If not for a volcanic Jayson Tatum finish in Chicago, we could be talking about the team’s first four-game losing streak since 2021.
Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday’s absence down the stretch didn’t help yesterday, but those bumps and bruises are becoming part of the 2025 team’s story as the calendar flips. Porzingis missed the first 17 games, laying the groundwork for defensive inconsistency that plagued Boston through its first 30, and Wednesday marked his third lower body tweak in 11 games back from offseason leg surgery.
Multiple ailments have held Holiday out of four contests and limited his effectiveness. Sam Hauser entered the season with a back injury that’s persisted throughout the schedule.
“There was no moment (I hurt it),” Hauser said in October. “Just kind of on-and-off. Could be just many years of playing basketball.”
That’s not what you want to hear from a player whose 11 threes and defense heavily aided the 4-1 Finals win over Dallas. Hauser logged 79 regular season games last season, when the Celtics finished with the fewest minutes lost to the training room of any in the East.
One major blow to Kevin Garnett’s knee thwarted the 2009 Celtics’ repeat attempt. This team, so far, has been afflicted by paper cuts quickly adding up. They’ve done their best to manage them. Al Horford and Porzingis rest their typical back-to-backs. Tatum skipped games in consecutive weeks while dealing with knee tendinitis and Derrick White returned from a foot sprain after missing one earlier this season. He’s required treatment since.
They’re not using any of it as an excuse, but Porzingis, Holiday and others have shot far below their standards, likely due to them lacking rhythm. The Celtics fell to 15th in three-point percentage following losses to Philadelphia and Orlando, who limited their attempts and efficiency. Last year, at the league’s highest volume, they tied the Thunder for first-place at 38.8%. They’re down to 36.5%, and while their defensive effectiveness is in line statistically with last year’s, they’re not as prolific at slowing the three. They’ve wavered between prioritizing the interior and perimeter defensively while trying to force more turnovers. Against Philadelphia, it took 45 minutes for the Celtics to record their first steal as Maxey continuously torched them. Quicker guards have hurt Boston.
“There are moments where we have to play harder,” Joe Mazzulla said on Wednesday.
“We’re playing inconsistent basketball. We gotta be better at both ends of the floor. We gotta be more consistent at both ends of the floor.”
The Grizzlies shaded away from Holiday and dared him to beat them. The Bulls matched Boston’s three-point attempts. Caleb Martin and Philadelphia took advantage of the Celtics’ defensive hedging. Opponents have found ways to at least bother a seemingly invincible foe, and when Boston’s down one player, they’ve struggled to find consistent wing depth to step into additional minutes despite Drew Peterson’s surprise impact late last month.
Oshae Brissett isn’t around, and while The Boston Globe reported that the Celtics will assess non-guaranteed contract releases and trades ahead of next month’s Jan. 9 deadline to address those deals, significant help isn’t arriving to a team restricted by the second apron and luxury tax — especially one slated to undergo an ownership change in the coming months. When that happens, the team literally won’t be the same.
The stretch ahead between December and January could drastically shift how we view them. Two games against an Indiana team rapidly finding itself, that pushed the Celtics as hard as anyone last year, await this weekend before Toronto visits Boston after taking them to overtime earlier last month.
To begin 2025, the Celtics visit Minnesota and Houston back-to-back, Oklahoma City and Denver in one of the most difficult road trips imaginable. If malaise and a championship hangover have caused their troubles — that time away on the road could solve them.
“It’s definitely different (this year),” Horford said. “To Joe’s point, there have been some inconsistencies … we don’t like losing, we don’t like losing at home especially. We just have to be better … for us, we’re figuring out being in this position. One of the things that doesn’t get talked about, last year we were pretty healthy throughout. I think this year has been a lot of in-and-outs … there are different dynamics.”
The wake-up call already came on Christmas, their fifth home loss this season after suffering only four in 2024. The Magic had mustered a miraculous effort on Monday following Moe Wagner’s emotional ACL tear while Boston found out minutes before tip-off that Tatum couldn’t play. That situation made sense as a one-off loss after losing there last fall.
The lackluster effort to open a national showcase two days later made less sense and should start a conversation about where the team is going. Losses to the Lakers without Anthony Davis and LeBron James happened to the championship Celtics, who would’ve gathered themselves faster.
Don’t underrate bad signs and certainly don’t treat this season as if it’s the same year. Even if much of the roster remains, they haven’t produced or been available at the same rate. If not for Tatum, White and Payton Pritchard’s scorching starts, it would’ve been more apparent how different this group looks so far. They’ve doubled-down on threes and seen diminishing returns. Some surprising efforts, starting with their NBA Cup letdown against the Hawks, reflected a group that felt a return to the Finals would be inevitable.
Yet, unlike last year, they’ve spent six days in first place. They’ve looking up at Cleveland, now four games above them, since Oct. 30.
The 2023 Celtics, albeit in far different, tumultuous circumstances, took a return to the championship round for granted until red flags present all season factored into falling behind 0-3 in the Eastern Conference Finals. We’re not there with this group, but this month provided a needed reminder that it’s a new year and the same focus, intensity and attention to detail as before is the only way to repeat.
That urgency, the lightning in a bottle that sparked their run following an offseason shake-up, is challenging to replicate. It’s why nobody has repeated since 2018; Mazzulla obsessed over figuring out why over the summer. They’ve admitted they didn’t know how hard it would be until the early setbacks. Brad Stevens forecasted them when asked about running it back in camp, expecting that they’d overcome them.
“I generally wouldn’t mind a tweak or two,” he said. “Those things can galvanize you and give you a jolt, can give you the juice that you need. I think these guys are galvanized by each other. It’s not completely the same. We got a couple guys that aren’t here that were awesome for us … I do think that these guys, they have a unique chemistry that I truly believe matters. They deserve the opportunity to attack this challenge together.”