The Boston Celtics started this year feeling great, coming straight off a championship, not losing. Drafting players, waiving players, trying to find another way to take the crown home. Coming off the championship win, everybody in Boston, including me, thought there was a chance for a repeat.
Start of the 2024-25 season
Boston started off great, going 16 – 4 in their first twenty games this season. Before that, they drafted the fifth-year senior at Creighton University, Baylor Scheierman (30th overall) who is still on the team. Also, they drafted Gonzaga University forward Anton Watson who was later waived on March 2, 2024. Lonnie Walker IV wasn’t in their interests anymore after waiving him just a month and a couple of days after signing him. Walker IV signed a one-year contract on August 28th, 2024 and was later waived on October 19th, 2024. They tried making some changes, but they did not work, and they only kept one of them throughout the year.
Middle of the 2024-25 season
The problem the Celtics started facing in the middle of the season was their shooting percentages. Not even the whole team though, just their best scorers/players in general were noticing their shooting percentages constantly taking dips. According to baystatebanner.com, Boston’s All-Star forward Jayson Tatum went from shooting 47.1% overall and 37.6% from the three-point line in the 23-24 season, compared to his 45.5 overall and 35.8% from three by the middle of the 24-25 season. Also, Boston’s other All-Star guard/forward Jaylen Brown went from shooting 49.9% overall and 35.4% from the three-point line in the 23-24 season, compared to his 46.1% overall and 32.2% from three by the middle of the 24-25 season.
Fans started questioning what was going on with the team this year and were concerned, as these two are known as the key players to this franchise. Boston fans were still certain and had a strong opinion that they were going back-to-back and winning the championship.
End of the 2024-25 season
The Celtics started playing like themselves again and by the end of the season they were the 2nd best team in the Eastern Conference standing at 61-21, behind the best team in the Eastern Conference the Cleveland Cavaliers who finished the season 64-18. They also finished the last 30 games of the season with a 22-8 record. Boston was 3rd overall in the whole NBA (1st being the Oklahoma City Thunder). The fans were feeling great as the team was looking unbeatable coming into the playoffs.
Post 2024-25 season
Boston had to play a young and competitive Orlando Magic in the first round. According to statmuse.com, they started off great as the first game they won by 17 points (103-86). Then, 3 days later, they won once again this time being a closer game only pulling it off by 9 points (109-100). The Magic started to learn how to stop them as they won game 3 by 2 points (95-93). But once the Celtics beat them in game 4 (107-98) and went up 3-1 it was over for the Magic as Boston takes game 5 by a ridiculous 31 points (120-89). Boston was feeling better than ever, only losing one game, feeling unstoppable. The only worry they had was Jayson Tatum’s wrist. As his injury was caused in the Magic series, when Tatum was going up for a dunk and was fouled hard causing an awkward and hard landing on his right wrist. The fall on the outstretched wrist caused a bone bruise. He had missed game 2 of the series due to it, which would be missing his first ever playoff game. But playing through an injury is nothing Tatum hasn’t done before, especially in the playoffs.
The next round was the city Boston’s rival New York. The New York Knicks were right behind Boston coming in 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference and 2nd in the Atlantic Division finishing the season off with a 51-31 record. The Celtics started off game 1 great, being up by 20 points in the second half they were feeling hot. Well, this is where the tables started to turn and the Knicks started to come back giving the Celtics no chances. The Celtics started to get nervous as players just started shooting threes; they broke an NBA all-time record for missed threes in a single playoff game at 45. The Knicks brought it into overtime and ended up taking the win 108-105 going up 1-0.
Two days later, Game 2 is on, and the Celtics lost once again, going down 0-2 in the series. Boston came into game 3 better than ever, winning the game by 22 points. With the Celtics getting that win, it brought back hope for Boston fans. But suddenly, all of that hope was instantly lost during game 4 of this series, it was the fourth quarter and the Knicks were already up a good amount and there was a loose ball and Tatum suddenly fell out of no where and suffered a leg injury which caused him to miss the rest of the game and the Knicks ended up winning by 8 points. Tatum had 42 points prior to his injury. The Celtics end up winning the next game but lost the next one, losing the series 2-4. Later on, it was released that Tatum had a ruptured right Achilles tendon, and who knows how long he will be out for, how many games of next season he will miss.
Boston fans are disappointed and scared for this team’s future, worrying about players being out, losing players. Boston is in shambles right now and will be until they get their revenge. Be ready for the upcoming years as Boston will be back for their revenge.
