East Given Stern Celtics Warning Before NBA Playoffs

Entering the season, the  Boston Celtics were expected to slip into something of an experimental phase. Not only had Jayson Tatum suffered a torn Achilles tendon the previous postseason, an injury that had the potential to keep him out for the season, but the financial largesse that helped fuel the Boston 2024 championship run was badly in need of  reset. Celtics president Brad Stevens jettisoned expensive parts and declined to re-sign others, getting the Celtics from one of the most monstrous payrolls in the league to below the luxury-tax line in just eight months.

Remember, at the outset of the season, the Celtics were given an over/under total of 41.5 wins. They were expected to be a .500 team.

There are a handful of reasons that was not the case in the end. The Celtics are 50-25, witting with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. Credit the blossoming of the team’s young players, credit Stevens, credit star Jaylen Brown, no doubt. But with the Celtics, as ever, it’s the defense that matters.

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Celtics Rank No. 4 in Defense This Season

That’s been the case since Joe Mazzulla took over as the Celtics head coach, going back to 2022-23. The Celtics were No. 2 in defensive efficiency in his first and second seasons,  logging a 110.6 rating in both years. They were No. 4 in that category last year, with a 110.1 defensive rating.

Given the massive overhaul the team underwent this season, with a new starter-backup center combo of Neemias Queta and Luka Garza, as well as a handful of different starting forwards before Tatum’s return, and a step backward for the Celtics defensively was expected.

But it never happened. Boston, instead, has logged a 111.5 defensive rating this season, which again is No. 4 in the league.

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Celtics Defense Getting Better

And it has only gotten better for the Celtics as the season went on. Going back to a stretch of seven games beginning in late January, when the Celtics allowed fewer than 100 points in five of those games, the Celtics have gone 22-8 and have cut their defensive rating to 107.9 in that span.

“They’ve gone to a different level defensively,” one East assistant coach said. “It helps to have (Derrick) White leading the way there, he brings a certain intensity and they all pick up on that. Especially the young guys, when they have Jordan Walsh or (Baylor) Scheierman or Hugo Gonzalez, they mirror White’s energy. The rotations have gotten stronger as the year has gone on, they’re more used to having (Neemias) Queta back there in the middle.

“The arrow is definitely pointing up for them as we get to the playoffs.”

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Warning for East Playoffs

An Eastern Conference scout told Heavy Sports that it’s the defense that makes the Celtics the favorites in the East.

“There are some good defensive teams in the East–the Knicks have been very good, the Hornets, even the Hawks, the Pistons all year,” the scout said. “It is impressive how much those teams have sort of pushed themselves forward with their defense. But no one does it as consistently as the Celtics. And they play a playoff-style, no-junk defense all the time.

“Of all the teams in the East, that Celtics defense scares me the most, and I think everyone in the playoffs has to be ready for that.”

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney