11 things I’m thankful for

Thanksgiving is a time to pause, look back, and ~~watch football~~ be grateful for everything that’s happened in the last year. It’s particularly easy to come up with a fat gratitude list for Boston Celtics fans who have had a heck of a basketball time of late. Here are some Celtics things I’m giving thanks for before the tryptophan hits.

1. The death of basketball

Is Mazzulla-ball ruining the NBA? Of course not, although it might feel that way to the beleaguered competition.

Joe heard initial criticisms that his teams were shooting too many threes, and instead of acquiescing to public pressure, he cranked that **** to 11. The Celtics, as you’ve heard by now, are shooting more than half their shots from beyond the arc. Oh no, my eyes!

Amazingly, Boston only has the third-best offense in the league right now, mere fractions of a point behind the Knicks and the Cavaliers. Those teams rank 16th and 15th, respectively, in three-point frequency. It’s almost like there are multiple paths to creating good offense, and that basketball is as alive and well as it’s ever been!

Mazzulla has created a system that maximizes his personnel. Nobody and no process is ever perfect, but we just watched the Celtics raze the league to the ground last season, and occasional sleepwalking aside, they look poised to do so again this year.

2. Derrick White

We should all be eternally grateful for Derrick White. It’s hard to reconcile the guy benched in the 2022 NBA Finals for being an offensive liability with the dude who looks like a long-lost Splash Brother (more than nine triples per game this season!). He’s now in his third straight year of setting a career-high for three-point percentage (41.5%), and it’s inarguable that he’s been at least Boston’s third-best player this year — and analytically-minded folks might have him even higher than that.

He even has a new Sam Adams beer, which gave us this Oscar-worthy performance. Might be a nice pairing with some turkey.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

3. The early return of Kristaps Porzingis

Porzingis had a strong debut Monday night, notching 16 points and notably improving the Celtics’ defense. The Celtics went 14-3 without him this season, and they cruised to an NBA championship mostly without him, too. But that’s not the point. Porzingis isn’t necessary, exactly, because the Celtics are so good that almost no one is necessary. But he’s insurance and overkill, a safety guarantee. He brings a swaggy element to this Celtics’ team increasing their diversity and effectiveness in equal measure.

I’m extra grateful because we weren’t supposed to see him until the next major holiday, give or take a few weeks. Seeing him appear weeks early as a Black Friday sale item instead of a present under the Christmas tree was an unexpected delight.

4. Steve Kerr and Team USA

While Celtics fans were annoyed with Jayson Tatum’s lack of playing time and Jaylen Brown’s snub, it kept them both motivated and (more importantly) healthy to continue dominating this season. Not much more needs to be said here. Thanks, Steve!

5. The Jays, abiding

I’m thankful Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have continued to buck forced national storylines that they can’t maximize each other, that they each need their own team to reach full potential. They’ve never wavered in word or deed, and to see them destroy the league last season (and again so far this year, give or take some shaky shooting to start) despite so many faulty narratives somewhat restores my faith in basketball humanity.

6. The new NBA Cup court

Maybe the NBA Cup courts aren’t to your taste, but have you looked around the league? If you assume the new court had to be something obnoxiously garish at baseline, the Celtics absolutely knocked it out of the park.

(I’m not thankful whatsoever for this year’s City Edition jerseys though.)

7. Payton Pritchard’s explosion

I predicted before the season that Payton Pritchard would make a Sixth Man of the Year run, and so far, that’s panned out nicely. Vegas currently has him as the consensus favorite to win the award.

Between his end-of-quarter heroics and his absurd three-point gunnery, Pritchard is a hooper’s hooper. The basketball gods didn’t give him an alpha scorer’s body, but he’s fashioned himself into one anyway. Nothing makes me quite as gleeful as Payton sprinting around hunting triples like his next meal depends on it.

Whether he wins the award or not, Fast PP has made himself into a force to be reckoned with.

8. The old guys

Al Horford and Jrue Holiday continue to be the Celtics’ Flex-Seals. Whenever holes appear in the good ship Celtic, Mazzulla slaps an old guy on it, and the problem is solved!

Horford’s ability to continually tap the fountain of youth whenever the Celtics need him is nothing short of miraculous. He’s been nearly automatic from three, a huge development with Porzingis missing so much time to start the season, and while he picks his spots a little more defensively, he always rises to the occasion. Al Reliable, indeed.

Holiday has a bit of a slow start shooting-wise this season, and the defense might’ve slipped a tiny notch. But he remains both wildly overqualified to be a role player and humble enough to cede occasional closing minutes to Payton Pritchard, if need be. That’s a rare combination.

Any fanbase would be lucky to have one of these guys to root for. For Celtics fans to have both seems downright unfair, so let’s toast the old heads in the room. *Clink*

9. Brad Stevens

Let’s not forget the architect of this masterpiece. Even as he’s faded somewhat from the public eye, his work speaks for itself, and we would be remiss in not acknowledging his efforts (and the departed Danny Ainge) in perhaps the greatest team-building exercise the league has seen in decades.

10. Banner 18 and continuity

Look, it’s a new season. I don’t want to spend much time talking about how friggin’ great it is that the Celtics are reigning NBA champs (although it is pretty great!). But it’s super cool (and super rare) for a champion to bring back the exact same core for a chance to run it back. Banners are forever, but back-to-back rings create mythologies. You know they want it.

I’m not sure what the future holds after this year, when luxury taxes, aprons, and typical NBA weirdness might result in a Celtics team with at least a partially new look. But I’m grateful we’ve had this fun, fantastic Boston squad to cheer on for so long, and still a little bit longer.

11) You all

Not to get too Hallmark-movie on you, but the readers make CelticsBlog tick. It goes without saying that without you, this site wouldn’t exist. Thank you for being here with us.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and let us know what else you’re grateful for in the comments!

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