Boston Celtics End of Season Report

The Boston Celtics spent this past season running around in the dark. They had done this exercise before, stumbling in the past against bigger stars like LeBron James. The Celtics also got hit beside the head to a more experienced Miami Heat team in the bubble. Last season, they avoided chairs and tables on their way to the NBA Finals, only to crash into a Golden State-shaped wall. 

However, when the lights were turned on at the end of this season, there was no championship. There was no validation for a franchise that has been looking to add championship banner number first titles in the last 15 seasons. And there was no indication that former flaws were corrected. 

The Celtics hit plenty of speed bumps before eventually slipping on the rug the Miami Heat pulled out from under them. Considering there is plenty of blame when the lights go on, how can the Boston Celtics 2022-2023 be evaluated rationally? Two things can be true at the same time. Understanding what the Celtics achieved while also realizing what they respectfully fumbled will hopefully be the way to move on from this year.

Preseason Flux and Expectations

Before September 22nd, the energy for the Celtics redemptive season was incredibly high. In the Finals, the Celtics felt like the more inexperienced team, not just in youth or maturity but in execution. The Golden State Warriors were familiar with championship pressure. The Celtics core was not. The vision was that an offseason for Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to stew in their finals misery would spell “good luck” to the rest of the league.

Or so they thought.

pic.twitter.com/ySo5wGKrfX

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 23, 2022

On that day in September, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Celtics were suspending head Coach Ime Udoka for the season. When the Celtics confirmed the news, the confusion and disappointment were plentiful. Udoka was not just a pillar in the Celtics success in 2022; he was a load-barring wall. Many of the Celtics voiced their emotions on Udoka being dismissed. They relied on him as a leader. He keenly understood how and when to motivate a talented roster. Extracting that presence from the team was digested too quickly by the basketball community. 

Another hurdle for the Boston Celtics was the health of their Center, Robert Williams. Williams dealt with a knee injury that caused him to miss games heading into the playoffs last year. The recovery extended past the summer and into mini-camp. Williams’s impact defensively made the Celtics the best team on that side of the ball. How would that translate without him? 

Offensive Grade: A

The man who stepped in for Udoka was Joe Mazzulla. A relative unknown, Mazzulla kept his demeanor quiet and brief. He let his offensive scheme do the talking. The Celtics were an average offensive team in 2021-2022 when they began their turnaround. Their defense bred good offense.

This season was the complete opposite. According to data from NBA.com, through 27 games, the Celtics had a 21-6 record and led the league in offensive rating and three-point shooting percentage—a far cry from where they had been. 

As the season went along, the offensive stayed elite. The Celtics finished the year ranked second in offensive rating. Highlighting this rise in offensive firepower were the Celtics’ two All-Stars, Tatum and Brown, who averaged career-highs in points. 30.1 and 26.6 points per game, respectively. 

Their guard production was one of the weak spots for the Celtics last season. The Celtics front office, led by Brad Stevens, started adding depth at the trade deadline in 2022 by acquiring Derrick White. Stevens added another piece during the summer in the form of Malcolm Brogdon. Brogdon fit instantly with the Celtics as he ran the second unit en route to being named the Sixth Man of the Year. With a full year of familiarity with the Celtics roster, White showed his importance on both ends of the floor. 

Defensive Grade: B+

The Celtics underperformed defensively all season. They started out slow, and the early excuse was not having the “Time Lord” Williams patrolling the paint. But the slippage would show up in a handful of games every month. Metrics-wise, the Celtics were graded well.  In NBA.com’s measurement of defensive rating, the Celtics were ranked second. 

As the season went on, their defense would fluctuate on and off. This past season the Celtics had 32 games where they allowed over 115 points to their opponent. In the season prior, the Celtics only let that happen in 17 games. Ultimately watching them play defense turned into a frustrating affair.

The talent was there. The size was there. The execution…was not.

Individually the Celtics had some standouts. White showed his versatility as an on-guard defender and rim protector. Yes, that’s right, a rim protector. White led all guards with 76 blocks this year and earned himself a spot on the All-Defensive Second Team. When Williams played (he appeared in 35 games), teams were held to a futile 108.3 offensive rating, according to BasketballReference’s advanced on/off data. 

Boston Celtics Overall Grade: A-

The Celtics finished the season as the second seed in the Eastern Conference with a 57-25 record. The results exceeded expectations for a team that inserted a rookie head coach into the main seat just a couple of days before training camp. 

As the season wound down, the Boston Celtics started to exude the bizarre playstyle that had bogged them down in the past: stagnant crunch-time offense and turnovers. 

The first warning sign should have been the first round against the Atlanta Hawks. The Celtics took six games to dispatch the .500 Hawks. In the ensuing round versus the Philadelphia 76ers, the Celtics relaxed when Joel Embiid was ruled out in Game 1 and lost. That theme continued until they were eventually down 3-2 in the series. Playing with their backs against the wall was a recipe for disaster. The Celtics weren’t disciplined enough to claw back from a 3-0 series deficit against the Miami Heat. In Game 7, they had to be perfect, far from what they had been. 

A Rotten Formula?

It’s often forgotten that winning a title is hard. The formula isn’t easy to break. If anyone predicted the Miami Heat as the eighth seed to make it to the NBA Finals outside of the diehard “Heat Culture” propagandists, they deserve an award. That is to say that these things have a sense of randomness to them, not just for the Celtics but for every team. 

Much has yet to be reconciled. While the loss to the Heat feels like a face slap of failure, plenty of details are yet to be examined. Injuries are no excuse, but they did impact the Celtics, even as they tried to hide it. Brogdon suffered a wrist injury early in the Eastern Conference Finals that cratered his effectiveness.

After the season, Grant Williams reportedly had surgery on his hand that bothered him all year. Tatum rolled his ankle in Game 7, and Brown’s wrist swelled up. With this information, looking back at the inabilities of players like Brown, who had difficulty dribbling in traffic, makes more sense. 

The most ridiculed part of the team this season was coaching. Mazzulla dealt with a love-hate relationship in Boston. Expectations weren’t on his side, but he made an excellent first impression. That soured quickly. After the All-Star break, Mazzulla was picked apart for his late-game sets and outright bullied over his timeout usage. The Celtics reliance on threes was something that ruffled feathers. Their record when shooting over 39% from three was practically unbeatable (34-3). That ran its course in the playoffs, where teams game-planned against it. 

An Offseason of Anger

The Boston Celtics deserve to be angry. Anger can be an effective tool of motivation. Anger also makes a lot of people do irrational things. Balancing that line is the most demanding job Stevens will undertake. 

Brad Stevens asked about Jaylen Brown and his future with the Boston #Celtics

"I can say without a doubt we want Jaylen to be here … he's a big part of us moving forward in our eyes.

Full Press Conference: https://t.co/xy2kBxQxJE

⚡️by @FDSportsbook pic.twitter.com/3erDO53GLe

— Celtics on CLNS (@CelticsCLNS) June 1, 2023

A mix of long-term and short-term decisions sit at the feet of the Celtics front office. Extension talks with Brown will happen regardless of whether the Celtics want to trade him. Other players like Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard have been sitting idly by, deserving more minutes. It looks like their futures are outside of the Celtics, but replacing them is no small task. Some of the issues from last season have already been addressed. Less than a week after they were eliminated, the Celtics added veteran assistant coach Sam Cassell and former Milwaukee Bucks assistant Charles Lee to the staff. Those changes will have a structural impact. 

The Celtics have one of the best rosters in the league. Tearing that down after being a game away from returning to the NBA Finals seems counterproductive. Adding on the margins can’t be overlooked, but improving internally as players and leaders is the right therapy. Brown and Tatum, at ages 25 and 26, are still being conditioned in those realms.

Don’t give up on that process now. 

*******************************************************

Matt Strout is a contributor to Back Sports Page. Matt studied Journalism and Sociology at Temple University for four years and graduated in May of 2022. While there, Matt wrote for multiple student and professional publications covering sports and the City of Philadelphia. Matt is originally from Maine and now resides in California. He has written content primarily for the NBA and PGA Tour. You can catch Matt frequently as a guest on the “Cut The Nets” podcast featured on the Back Sports Page network. When Matt is not writing, he enjoys cooking and playing golf. Follow Matt’s social media on Twitter @TheRealStrout or Instagram @matt_strout96