A March home game ahead of a three-game road trip. A chance to extend a winning streak following a dominant 9-1 month of February. The result? A complete blowout win.
That was March of 2016. A 36-point victory for the soon-to-be 73-9 Golden State Warriors victory.
On Sunday afternoon, the Boston Celtics were presented with the same scenario. And it was against the Stephen Curry-led Warriors.
Boston blew them out by 52 points behind a barrage of three-pointers.
“That’s what we used to do to teams,” Curry said.
Curry was talking about Boston’s deep-range attack, as they rained down 10 triples on the very man who made the shot what it is today. The very team who terrorized the league with threes for over 10 years.
Obviously, Golden State is in a much different spot than they were eight seasons ago, and so are the Celtics. It’s not about the history between the two teams. It’s the fact that Boston may be taking their place.
This year’s Celtics team isn’t the same as that Golden State squad. They’re about seven wins behind that pace, and they aren’t fresh off a title run. But they may be inching toward the same level of superiority.
The city of Boston expects greatness. In some cities, winning is the mark of a great game. A playoff appearance is a successful season. Victories are celebrated. In Boston, winning is the bare minimum.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been so successful during their stint with the Celtics that anything short of a championship is scoffed at. Even when Boston made the Finals in 2022 and lost to Golden State, it was a failure — a failure that’s still referenced two years later.
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The high standard Boston sets for its sports teams is a positive. Fans care.
“I think the connectivity to the fans and to the Garden, even when they’re booing us, to me, that’s actually letting us know that we need to be better,” Joe Mazzulla said at practice after Boston’s ugly loss to the LeBron James-less, Anthony Davis-less Los Angeles Lakers. “That’s almost a good thing. And so we have to look at it that way. And they’ve been great for us this year. “
But sometimes, the harsh lens of Boston fandom get in the way of enjoying the greatness in front of the green glasses. This Celtics team isn’t good. They aren’t a title contender. They are one of the best regular-season teams in the past decade.
The Celtics are on pace to be the fifth-best team since the 2013-14 season.
Number one is the 73-9 Warriors in 2015-16. After that, three teams are tied with 67-15 seasons: the 2014-15 Warriors, the 2016-17 Warriors, and the 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs.
For those more concerned about team history rather than comparing Boston to the rest of the league, this group is on pace to be the fourth-best Celtics team ever assembled. And they’re dangerously close to matching the regular-season mark set in 2007-08.
Only five teams since 2013-14 have beaten their opponents by an average of 10 or more points per game: those four squads and the 2019-20 Milwaukee Bucks. Only one has won by an average of 11 or more: the 2016-17 Warriors, who won 67 games by an average of 11.6 points.
Boston has won 48 games so far by an average of 11.5 points.
In a league with arguably more talent than ever, the Celtics have assembled a roster capable of lapping the field. And their preeminence extends far beyond the hardwood.
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When the Warriors won 73 games, they were riding the high of their first championship in 40 years. When the Spurs reached 67, they had the experience of five titles implanted in their culture.
Tatum and Brown haven’t won a Larry O’Brien yet. Jrue Holiday is the only player on the team with a ring. Yet everyone on the Celtics has developed the mentality of a champion. But it goes beyond that. They’ve adopted the same mantras as the decade’s best.
“That work-life balance is huge, just like it is for any profession,” said coach. “Especially here when there is a lot of pressure and a lot of judgment, it’s important to get away. We recognize that and encourage that.”
“Really, really laid back,” said a player. “I feel like this is a cool place in terms of keeping basketball basketball. Not like making it your identity so that people are allowed to feel all the emotions, but at the same time, nobody takes it home, and nobody’s dwelling on it as well. And then when you come in the next day, you can see people just feel fresh-faced, and everybody’s good, versus like dwelling on past performances and whatnot. So, that’s what I meant by business-like.”
“You think you’re on the Earth and everything you want to happen to you is going to happen to you positively?” said coach. “The measure of who we are is how we react to something that doesn’t go our way.”
“I just hope it happens 10, 12 more times so we can get rid of the entitlement that we’re always supposed to be winning,” said coach. “I hope we have to blow leads. I hope all that happens. I really do. That’s what I think. I think, at times, we’re just supposed to be winning all the time, and it’s just not the case. We have to stay the course. Sometimes, you can be losing because you’re playing good basketball. It’s just the result isn’t being achieved.”
The first quote is from Steve Kerr ahead of the 2017-18 season after the Warriors had won two of the last three NBA Championships.
The second quote is Xavier Tillman discussing what the Celtics’ culture is like, as he joined the team via trade at the deadline.
The third quote is Gregg Popovich detailing that the pride he had for the 2014 Spurs title team was equal to the team that fell short in the 2013 Finals, as both squads put in the effort to get to that point.
The final quote is from Mazzulla after the Celtics’ gritty win over the New Orleans Pelicans at the end of January.
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Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Ultimately, this Celtics team will be defined by what happens in June. If they win a championship, they could go down as one of the best Boston squads ever. If not, they’ll be a massive disappointment. That’s simply the dichotomy of Celtics fandom.
Boston’s stranglehold on the Eastern Conference could have allowed them to slow down. The 2016-17 Warriors hit a rut post-All-Star break. The 2014-15 Warriors hit a snafu around then, too. The 2015-16 Spurs suffered most of their losses in March and April.
There’s still time for the Celtics to run into the latter issue, but they’ve come out of the break on a mission. Boston went from winning close games because of a single strong quarter surrounded by duds to methodically dissecting opponents amidst a double-digit winning streak.
Victories have materialized in many forms. A testament to the grip Boston has on the rest of the NBA.
Bostonians need to see a banner hanging in the rafters come October for this year to mean anything in the long run, but Celtics fans appreciate the moment. Because this team is incredible.
