It’s “finals” time for the Boston Celtics.
No, not those Finals — not yet anyway.
The upcoming seven-game homestand for the Celtics might as well be their final exam for the regular season. It’s hard to believe we’ve already reached the home stretch of the 2024-25 campaign, but we’re here.
Over the next 12 days or so, the Cs will face their last real tests of the year — before the playoffs, that is.
Like all exams, there will be different sections. Of course, there will be the easier multiple-choice portion.
This will consist of games against lower-tier opponents like the Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Utah Jazz. These are all games that Boston SHOULD win, but you can’t be too sure with the inconsistencies that they’ve shown at home this season.
After a league-best home record of 37-4 last year, the Cs are currently 18-10 at TD Garden. While that may not seem too outrageous, it’s felt much worse as of late. Over their last 14 on the parquet, the Celtics have won as many as they’ve lost.
What’s been even more frustrating is that they’ve fallen flat against teams that they were heavily favored against. Losses to the Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, and Atlanta Hawks all left fans disappointed as they left North Station.
This recent standard just isn’t good enough for a team of this caliber. Sure, they’ve been exceptional on the road at 24-7, but there’s a reason why home court advantage is given to higher seeds in the playoffs.
It’s supposed to mean something.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t really been the case for Boston over the past few postseasons. Since Brad Stevens moved into the front office in the summer of 2021, they’ve won 20 of 34 possible playoff games at TD Garden.
They did, however, manage to build off of their incredible regular season last spring, when they won nine of 11 at TD Garden en route to Banner 18.
It would nice to see them re-establish that same level of dominance at home over the next few weeks.
For what it’s worth, the Celtics have shown up for higher level marquee home games this season. They’ve gone a combined 8-1 against other Eastern Conference playoff teams (the top-6, now that we’ve got the Play-In Tournament).
They’ll have a chance to protect the parquet in matchups against other contenders like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Oklahoma City Thunder headlining the homestand.
We’ve now reached the essay section of the final exam. In order for Boston to succeed, they’ll have to come prepared. All four of these squads have been playing unbelievable ball as of late — even the Lakers, unfortunately. Over their last 10 games, each of these teams has won at least eight games.
Boston is catching them all at their best, that’s for sure.
A win in Friday’s game against the Cavs would clinch the regular-season series for Boston. So far, the Cs have won two out of three against the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed and have played them as well as anyone.
It ultimately doesn’t mean anything, but clinching the season series would give the Celtics a nice edge over Cleveland heading into a potential playoff series — maybe not enough for a tiebreaker at the top of the East, but at least a mental one.
Denver is the only team of the bunch that hasn’t beaten the reigning champs this season. Granted, they were without three-time MVP Nikola Jokic for the matchup in the Mile-High City.
The Celtics haven’t beaten the Nuggets in a game where Jokic has played since late 2022. With there being a fair possibility that Denver comes out of the West, it would be nice to see Boston win one against the Joker.
Speaking of winning one, it felt like the Cs would be doing just that in OKC back in January against the Thunder. Joe Mazzulla’s team put together what may still be their most impressive half of the season only to go ice cold in the second half. The Thunder took full advantage of a season-worst 24 minutes from Boston and pulled away.
The rematch on March 12 is undoubtedly going to have a ton of hype heading into it, and deservedly so. These two teams are both the favorites to win their respective conferences and will be hoping to see each other in June.
By the way, if you want to talk about hype, look no further than Luka Doncic’s first visit to North Station as a member of the Lakers (and also his first since being dominated in the Finals last June). Anytime we get to see Celtics-Lakers, it’s going to be a big deal, even if the two teams aren’t contenders. With both of them being in the mix this year, the energy in the building should be incredible.
I don’t know what my expectations should be for this. With Boston’s roster being what it is, I naively think they should be able to win every game they play. Is that realistic during this homestand?
Probably not, but whatever, 7-0 or bust.
We ride.
