Tori Sheffer

Celtics Check-In

By Tori Sheffer

e Boston Celtics have begun this 2024-2025 NBA season strong, riding the hype from fans and analysts gave the World Champions in 2023, starting this season with a 4-1 record. While it is no secret that the artillery that is Boston’s starting five will stay together for seasons to come, and with both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown leading the team in PPG, APG, and RPG, it’s nice to see the front office get their money’s worth out of the J’s. As mentioned, Tatum is leading the team in Points-Per-Game with 28.5 and Assists-Per-Game with 5.5, and Jaylen Brown is currently sitting with the team-high in Rebounds-Per-Game with 7.8. As a whole, the team ranks first offensively and fourteenth defensively, all while posting a 3-point completion rate of 42.8%. As this season began ramping up, it was mentioned that the New York Knicks were the likely favorites in the season-opening match-up between these two East Coast rivals. The Celtics not only took their home opener from the Knicks, but in the fourth quarter with a little under nine minutes in the game, Al Horford sunk the team’s twenty-ninth three-pointer, tying the NBA record for the most three-point field goals in a single contest. The season’s MVP this far, however, is none other than number 9, Derrick White. The 30-year-old guard has been absolutely on fire these first five games, and the numbers can speak for themselves. Just this past Wednesday against the Pacers, White was the reason the Celtics could push the game to overtime, and he closed out the loss with 23 points (8-9 FG, 5-5 3Pt, 2-2 FT), three rebounds, one assist, one block, and one steal. He’s been converting 47.4 % of his 7.6 three-point attempts per contest while also recording at least one block or steal during the beginning of his 2024-2025 season.

It’s no surprise that the Celtics are the best team in the NBA right now, but with great power, there usually comes the price of all movements being made by the team getting evaluated under a microscope and close watchful eye, and the C’s are finally starting to raise some questions. While they are ranked first offensively right now, a question has arisen from some with five games already behind us this season: Are the Celtics’ offensive plans simply 3-pointers or bust? In these first four games, the C’s are averaging 21.5 made 3’s on 50 attempts while strongly defending their offensive ally while on the other side of the ball. There are only two other teams in the NBA right now who have allowed fewer made 3’s allowing Boston to overcome what has been the least point-scoring offense in the league. Three-pointers, dunks, and free throws seem to be the name of the game in terms of success with this Boston offense. Since head coach Joe Mazzulla took the reigns, the preference and mentality around three-pointers have entirely shifted for this team, and if you ask Boston sports fans, they’ll tell you this shift was for the better. In the 2022-2023 season, they were second in the league in 3-point attempts and remained around the same percentage during the 2023-2024 season as well, and this year have already increased that percentage by even more, looking at an average of a little over half in 3-point attempts. While they are not alone in this offensive strategy, they seem to be one of the teams benefiting from this plan the most as they’re still looking at a fantastic record despite last night’s loss and Monday’s rocky first half when they just went 3-of-18 from beyond the arc.

There are mathematical reasons why shooting the 3 is more beneficial for a team’s score, and Mazzulla has also gone on the record to emphasize the importance of spacing the 3 out to maximize their perimeter opportunities in these last few years as well. While the Celtics are using this to their advantage and getting scrutiny for it, this should be a reminder that the 3-point shot was the catalyst for the always-popular Golden State Warriors during their dominant run from 2014-2022, ranking in the top five in attempts during their four title-winning seasons. During their dynasty, the iconic duo of the Warriors were Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, making it make sense for Steve Kerr to play to his stars and their strengths, and that same argument could be made for Joe Mazzulla, the J’s, and the Celtics as well. 

The 3-point approach worked mightily for them in the 119-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks during game four of the 2024-2025 season, which is now being deemed the Payton Pritchard game. Now leading the NBA in points, Pritchard made history earlier this week when he entered the game and scored 28 points, tying Eddie House for most 3-point field goals off the bench. Celtics fans saw Pritchard make 8 of 12 from beyond the arc. Pritchard was the hero of the game, but we also saw Jaylen Brown emerge after a rocky first half to eventually lead the team in scoring with a season-high 30 points during the game, making 10 of 19. This game did mark the third consecutive contest in which the Celtics were without forward Sam Hauser, but luckily the myriad of injuries the Bucks are enduring right now outweighed the shadow that Hauser’s absence cast. The team had a slow start in Monday night’s game, they averaged only 39 points in the first quarter, which was their lowest-scoring first quarter all season thus far. As mentioned previously, Jaylen Brown’s first half was not his best, he was 2-for-8 from the field and had three turnovers until his resurgence in the third when he started finding ease in getting to the basket and scoring around the rim. Last night’s overtime loss against the Indiana Pacers was nearly another game for the “W” column after the team charged back from a 19-point fourth-quarter deficit forcing the game into overtime. Despite the Celtics not looking their best on Wednesday night, they didn’t go down without a fight, truly solidifying their champion-like behavior during these first five games. 

I’m excited to see where the Celtics’ season will go from here as they look to recover from the season’s first loss tomorrow night in Charlotte against their Eastern Conference rival Hornets at 6:00 pm down in North Carolina. Charlotte went 21-61 overall and 14-38 in Eastern Conference play during the 2023-2024 season, while the Celtics went 64-18 overall last year overall and 41-11 in Eastern Conference play. According to a few different statcast predictions, there is a 71% chance that the C’s will win tomorrow’s contest in North Carolina, and hopefully will get another win!