The Boston Celtics had a nice bounce back victory over the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night to keep a significant streak alive: the no-losing streak streak. The Celtics are yet to lose back-to-back games in the 2024-2025 NBA season. Sure, the Celtics are great at winning basketball games, but they’re even better at not losing basketball games, a genius strategy a team like the Lakers should consider implementing.
The birth of the Bounce Back Celtics harkens back to the 2022 playoff run. The Celtics didn’t lose back-to-back games until they lost three straight to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. Pain, yes, I’m sorry. And the same was true in the 2023 playoffs until the Miami Heat utilized the last of their devil magic to hex Caleb Martin with the skills of Ray Allen for an entire playoff series, which, while it led to three straight Celtics losses in humiliating fashion, that devil magic Finals berth is the origin of the crumbling Miami Heat franchise we see in 2024. While that experience inflicted severe PTSD on Celtics fans, all’s well that ends well.
That brings us to the 2023-2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics. The Celtics went 64-18 in the regular season and 16-3 in the playoffs. I’m sure you remember that, but it’s always nice to be reminded. The ‘23-24 Celtics brought the Bounce Back Celtics into the regular season. The Celtics had four separate two-game losing streaks. But zero three-game losing streaks. This goes back to their strategy of not losing basketball games.
A 64-win team often has a signature winning streak of 15 or more wins. Like the 66-win Heatles, who put together a record 27-game winning streak. Or the 2000 Lakers, who had a 19-game winning streak. But the 23-24 Celtics’ longest winning streak was only 11 straight victories. This is ironically quite similar to the 2008 Celtics, whose longest winning streak was 10 games.
Today’s version of the Celtics build their win totals from smaller four-seven-game winning streaks. I think this has become the calling card of this Celtics nucleus. They’re incredibly resilient and don’t let losses or bad habits pile up. They believe in Mazzulla Ball. The Celtics believe that if they execute their offensive and defensive principles, the losses will be unable to pile up. The Celtics’ refusal to let losses string together reflects the analytical nature of the team. Just win four out of every five games and that puts you at 65 wins. Simple.
I mentioned the Celtics had four separate two-game losing streaks last season. One of those streaks came towards the end of the season when the Celtics had the overall one seed well and truly wrapped up. So, it was really three. Can they improve on that this season? I care deeply about no-losing streak streak, and I will be tracking it throughout the season, as it speaks to the resolve of this team. If you can’t beat these Celtics twice in a row, you likely can’t win a playoff series against them. I’d love for them to be able to make it through the entire season without a single two-game losing streak; it’s unlikely; even the 72-10 Chicago Bulls had a single blemish on their record. But hey, why not us?
It’s a wonder why teams like the Lakers, Sixers, and Heat don’t employ this strategy of not losing games. It probably has something to do with them not having Jayson Tatum on their team. Alas, I expect the Celtics to continue implementing their strategy of not losing games on their way to another championship.
