After starting the season with three straight losses, the Boston Celtics have become one of the most feared teams in the NBA.
Just two years off from a title win, the Cs came into the 2025-26 season looking quite different from their usual selves. In past years, the Boston front office blessed its organization with stacked rosters from top to bottom, with some of the best lineups that the league has ever seen. Looking back at their starting rotation from their 2024 title team — consisting of Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis — this lineup could be considered one of the greatest of all time. Celtics fans knew that a change was coming after Tatum went down with an Achilles tear in May 2025 against the Knicks and the second apron loomed above them.
When October hit and the roster was finalized, the media was quick to write off the Celtics as a middle-of-the-pack or even bottom-feeding team that was taking a year off. After all, they lost four of their best players to injury or departures and were now relying on unproven, young and inexperienced players to steer a ship with little direction. If that wasn’t enough, fans and critics alike weren’t shy about lambasting Brown for his inability to lead a team to any sort of success, considering many lists and rankings had Boston around the 15-20 mark for best teams entering the season.
Things didn’t look promising after a slow start that saw the usual sharpshooters like White and Payton Pritchard struggling to gain any rhythm from beyond the arc. In October and November, Boston sat around or just outside the play-in tournament, playing some of their sloppiest basketball in years. Underneath all the hardships was a sneaky good season from Brown, who had been keeping the team somewhat afloat after two months of the season. The 2024 finals MVP was having the most efficient season of his career, lighting up the mid-range with his unique style of offence that also saw him increase his assist and scoring numbers immensely. The signs were there, and the league was slowly being put on notice to Browns’ improved game and ability to captain a team to regular-season success.
However, it wasn’t just Brown who was making a case for their best season, as numerous bench and role players came out of nowhere to help this team create an identity. Jordan Walsh — a former second-round pick — has been seeing limited action since his selection in 2023, riding the Celtics’ bench amidst a stacked wing position. It wasn’t until Tatum’s injury that Walsh began to grow into one of the best 3&D wing players in the entire league. His alien-like length and clever instincts have boosted him into the starting lineup for most of the season as he’s turned into one of the league’s best all-around defenders. It’s his jump in three-point percentage that has really helped him carve out a role on this team, as the former Razorback is shooting 44 per cent from three-point land, a more than 20 per cent increase from last season.
Neemias Queta — another player who has seen limited action in recent years due to a stacked position — has filled the void at centre with his outstanding presence around the rim. The only Portuguese-born NBA player has been one of the most efficient in the league this year, playing his role perfectly as a lob threat for the Celtics’ ball handlers. In the absence of Porzingis and Al Horford, Queta has been a blessing for the organization, as their front court seemed to be at its weakest point in years heading into the season. The seven-footer contests and blocks shots at an elite level, improving on the defensive end at a noticeable margin. Both he and backup big man Luka Garza are becoming fan favourites in Boston, with hustle play after hustle play each game. It may not be the most experienced front court; however, Queta and Garza have proven to be reliable through the first half of the regular season.
Other players, such as Hugo González, Josh Minot and Anfernee Simons, complete this scrappy bunch of Celtics who are playing with a huge chip on their shoulder. Head Coach Joe Mazulla is proving why he’s one of the most valuable coaches, as he continues to put his trust in unproven players who turn out to be gems for his team.
Mazulla had his work cut out for him, implementing a new defensive scheme that focused more on ball pressure and playing as a unit. The former West Virginia player has had a historic start to his head coaching career, having already achieved multiple 60-win seasons, along with an NBA title, in just four seasons as head coach. The 2025-26 season has presented an unfamiliar environment for the former assistant coach, marking his first year without Tatum as the primary option and necessitating the integration of more young players into the rotation.
Since his promotion to head coach, Mazulla has encouraged his players to shoot a staggering number of threes. When you hit a lot of outside shots, it’s a recipe for success, which is something that the Celtics have proven over the years. White and Pritchard have both shot out of their slumps and are back to being the most lethal three-point shooting backcourt in the NBA. Across the board, Celtics players are lighting up the league with increased attempts and makes from beyond, including Brown (37 per cent), Simons (38 per cent), Hausser (37 per cent), Garza (47 per cent), Minot (43 per cent) and González (38 per cent). The eye test shows Boston’s offence is a well-oiled machine, which consists of elite ball movement and masterful individual self-creation.
On the other side of the ball, this Celtics team has proven to be one of the scrappiest that they’ve had in years. Boston culture is all about hustle, and when most of your players are fighting for a future roster spot, it has culminated in a team that prides itself on defence. The Cs hold their opponents to the second-lowest points scored per game, and it’s come out of seemingly nowhere with a roster that has little history of playing together.
That being said, Celtic players are insistent that anything below first place in the Eastern Conference won’t cut it. After a standout win over the Chicago Bulls, Pritchard was asked about what it meant to be second in the East, to which he responded, “I take a lot of pride in being first in the East.”
A fitting response considering Boston’s domination over the league in recent years.
Similarly, Simons was asked about his team’s placement in the standings after torching the Bulls with 27 points in the second half, in which he stated, “we just gotta keep going, I think we can’t be satisfied right now.”
Both Simons and Brown have played phenomenally this year, especially Brown, who just tied his career high in scoring with 50 points against a red-hot Clippers team in Los Angeles. The former University of Cal, Berkley star has shut down all the slander towards his name, becoming one of the league’s premier stars. Notions of his inability to dribble or not being able to play with his left hand were all flushed down the drain, amidst his incredible start to the 2025-26 campaign. He’s completely switched the narrative around his name, being an inconsistent second option to now leading a ragtag group of players to a near first-place position in the conference. Brown is consistently dropping 30-plus points per game, dominating teams from all three levels of the court.
The question now is what the Celtics are going to do with the grand return of Jayson Tatum. He’s riding one of the quickest roads to recovery the league has ever seen, aiming to get back on the floor in a matter of a couple of months. If the team can keep up its stellar play, it will be interesting to see if they want to push for a Tatum return and get him back for the playoffs or run out their current team without any disruptions.
Regardless of whether Tatum returns or not, the Celtics have demonstrated why a winning culture and good coaching can go a long way.