The Energy Is Starting To Shift As The Celtics Continue To Claw Their Way Out Of The Depths Of Basketball Hell

Nathaniel S. Butler. Getty Images.

Whenever you're playing a team that lives at the bottom of the league, there's usually not much to learn from that experience. You're really just hoping for health and a stress free night of basketball. Those are the games on your schedule that if you have any respect for yourself as a team and an organization, you win. If you're slumping, they're the slump buster. If you're a wagon, those are easy free Ws to add to your total. If you're directionless, those games can help you get on track. 

So what did I learn by facing the 2-12 Brooklyn Nets? 

Really only that they will not be out-tanked. That shit is virtually impossible. Whether it's IND (1-13), WSH (1-12), NO (2-12) or BKN (2-12), nobody is catching those teams when it comes to the race for the bottom. I'd even throw teams like SAC (3-11) and MEM (4-11) in there as well. So if you're Team Tank when it comes to the Celtics, I think it's time to come to peace with that. NBA history tends not to reward the teams that operate this way, so really that's the only hope because from a record perspective, there's no catching the team I watched the Celts play last night, and this is even before they potentially sell off more pieces at the deadline. 

Whether it's last night or the game against the Nets on Friday, this isn't really about them. This is about the Celts starting to crawl out of their hole as water starts to find its level, and as it turns out, we might be looking at a team that is actually better than we thought.

Their 0-3 start was horrific. Every single flaw we knew about heading into the season showed up and was a major factor in all 3 of those losses. 

Since then? Let's just go over the facts.

Recrd: 8-4

Offense: 119.9

Defense: 111.5

Net Rating: +8.3

Point differential: +7.9

That's good for the 4th most wins, the 4th ranked offense, and 10th ranked defense, and the 5th ranked net rating in the league

The competition? A mixed bag mostly. Some good teams (CLE, PHI, ORL), some dogshit (BKN, WSH, MEM, NO) but that's not really all that different from any other team. You play who is on your schedule. Things were brutal early and have lightened up recently, and those are the moments in your schedule where you have to capitalize, especially when you start 0-3. 

As it stands today, the Celts join OKC/DEN/HOU/SA as the only teams in the NBA in the top 10 in offense/defense/net rating so far this season. In the East, they own the 3rd highest point differential. 

For me, the biggest surprise has to be the defense (10th). Heading into the season, it looked like we were about to watch a bottom 3rd defensive group. The start to the season didn't really change my mind, but in the 12 games since? The fact that Joe Mazzulla has this team in the top 10 defensively is beyond insane. What team with arguably the worst frontcourt situation in the NBA, who lost their best player who is a two-way monster, still finds a way to have a top 10 unit defensively? That's unheard of.

We knew the shots would eventually start falling, guys like Payton Pritchard and Derrick White didn't forget how to shoot. But the defense? That's the foundation of this early season turnaround in my opinion, and how this team is going to have to continue to grind out wins. Defense, ball security, and offensive rebounding. That's their formula to win the possession battle, and if this team wins the possession battle, they can be tough to beat, especially once they stop missing every shot they take.

Through 15 games, the Celts continue to thread the needle of their season perfectly. Just 2 games back of the 2 seed, but should you suffer an unfortunate injury to a key player, they're still close enough to the Lottery to still get into the dance for a high pick should that become their reality. Given this entire season is fluid up until around the deadline, we're currently experiencing the best of both worlds.  It's a bit odd as a fan, but it's exactly what you should want. All the options are still on the table while we also wait to see what happens with Tatum, and that's all you could really ask for given the context of the Celts season.

So on the surface, beating the Nets is whatever. Everyone is going to beat the Nets this season. But for a team that needs to start stacking wins, a two game set with Brooklyn could be just what the doctor ordered.

The Good

- With each passing game, we're starting to see Payton Pritchard claw his way out of his early season shooting struggles. When playing bottom of the league teams, it's the perfect opportunity for a confidence boost. For all the talk about how Payton Pritchard hasn't lived up to the responsibility as a starting point guard (???????), all I'm seeing is a player who continues to live up to the responsibility of a starting point guard

I'm not sure I love the small point guard leading the team in rebounding, but that's just another reason why Payton is so valuable. He's SO MUCH MORE than just a shooter. He's finding ways to impact games in a wide variety of areas, even if his shot isn't dropping. Take the 2nd half of this game as a prime example. Pritchard finished 1-8 (0-4), couldn't hit a wide open look to save his life. So what did he do? He found other ways to impact winning.

6 total rebounds (led team), good defense, 2 assists, some FTs and a +12 in his 18 2nd half minutes. 

Now that his 3pt shot is starting to return, it's the icing on the cake. With each passing game I get more and more confused at those who continue to suggest Pritchard shouldn't be starting. He's been arguably their best point guard all season who just went through a shooting slump to start the year. That's it. Now that the shot is back, we're seeing just how impactful Pritchard can be in this role.

So yes, against a team like the Nets it should be expected that Payton Pritchard plays well. That doesn't mean he shouldn't get credit when he lives up to that billing.

- I know it's the Nets and their offense stinks, but I will always appreciate holding a team to under 100 points in 2025. In the NBA, on any given night you can see a team drop 120+, shit these exact same Nets just did that in their last game. Guys can get hot, teams can have a magnet ball game, shit happens. 

And while allowing 43 paint FGA is way too many, overall I have few complaints about the defensive effort. Overall, the Nets shot just 40% from the floor, they only had 1 quarter scoring 30+, and in the fourth quarter when it came time to win the game, the Celts held BKN to just 14 points on 28/11% splits while forcing 6 TOs.

In the rebounding department, Celts won that battle 49-39 and allowed only 9 2nd chance points.

See how much better things look when you're not dogshit around the margins? When you rebound the basketball good things can happen, who knew! 

They didn't let go of the rope early when the Nets started the game by going 5-6 from deep, the defense played by Derrick White in the 2nd half was some of the most dominant individual defense you could possibly see an NBA player play, and even Sam Hauser was making massive defensive plays to help swing momentum

The Celts flipped this game not by their shot making, but their defense. So if you're looking for things that might be sustainable, I'd say that fits.

- The turnovers were beyond awful, but overall it was another efficient 29 point night for Jaylen Brown. These types of games require your best player to make sure you don't lose. That's the requirement of the role. If you're in the Celts position and you're playing a 2-12 team, then the best player has to show up and carry. Period. 

To start, Jaylen played like shit. That's not me saying it, that's Jaylen saying it

His 3rd quarter was much better, and helped give Celts control

In the end, I'll take 29/4/4 on 9-19 (3-7) while being 8-10m from the FT line. The 8 TOs absolutely cannot happen again, but in just 32 minutes, I thought Jaylen filled his role to the level that was required. In the past, that slow start would have tanked his entire night, so it was good to see the mental toughness show up and prevent things from spiraling into what would have been a beyond terrible loss.

- I continue to love pretty much everything we're seeing from the young wings. The last few games, it's been the Jordan Walsh show. In this game with Walsh in foul trouble, Josh Minott stepped right in and was massive in his minutes off the bench. A nice little 10/4 on 3-4 (3-3) and a +15 in his 19 minutes, this in my opinion has been one of the biggest success stories of the early season.

All of their young wings are showing real flashes in their opportunities. Heading into the year, we were hoping maybe one or two of the wings would pop. In reality? None of them have played poorly to start the year

I have no idea if I should be buying Minott's three point shooting, but what I do know is that he's shooting 38% on 3.0 3PA so far this season, which is more than good enough for his role. Add in the energy and defensive versatility, and I continue to be intrigued. If that outside shooting is like 75% real, that's a pretty big deal.

It's been awesome to see every backup wing from Walsh to Minott to Baylor to Hugo play like their basketball lives depend on it. Joe has left that spot up for grabs, and whoever is playing the best and worthy of minutes is getting the nod. That's what this season is about, throwing shit out there and seeing what sticks, and so far the play of all the young unproven wings is starting to stick.

- There are moments when Anfernee Simons goes on a heater, and in those moments he's rewarded with minutes. When he's not shooting and is starting to present issues defensively, he doesn't play. Feels like a simple concept that a lot of people still can't grasp, but I will say it was nice to see Simons get back to his shotmaking in the first half.

He played 26 minutes which was mostly fine, and a night like this is what I think the expectations should be. When he's hot, you ride that wave. When the tide changes, you take him out. 

When he plays hard and is engaged, he's rewarded with minutes. When it's the opposite, he shouldn't be and isn't. Feels pretty simple in my opinion.

- Let's all just take a minute and appreciate Derrick White. What a player

I'm not sure who felt better seeing Derrick White make big 4th quarter 3s, me or him. You could see the relief on his face, you could see the joy. It was the Derrick White we know and love. It's why I'll never object to him taking whatever shot he wants in the 4th quarter, because I've seen him come up huge time and time and time and time and time again. Felt great to see it again in this win.

The Bad

- I know the whole defensive approach is to be more aggressive and cause chaos, but this team still fouls way too much for my liking. Every game, it's 27-30 FTA for the other team, the bigs are always in foul trouble, it's not great. And while some of the calls last night were tough (Jordan Walsh), this team has to get better at defending without fouling. While not every team gets the OKC whistle, we can still do better than being the worst fouling team in the NBA. Nets took 27 FTA in this game and most of them were obvious fouls. I just think giving away so many points at the line is asking for trouble, especially since the Celts only get to the line around 18 times a game. That math ain't mathing.

- While holding the Nets to 99 points was great, when it came to the point of attack defense in this game, I'd say things were less than ideal. Bad in fact. Not a ton of resistance on the perimeter is what led to the Nets living in the paint, and that just can't happen when playing better teams. If you allow teams with a pulse to take 40+ paint shots, you're going to lose. Simons had some issues in that department which is what I think led to him getting yanked, and for a team that has led the league in opponent paint points, I expect that to be much better moving forward. 

- Another Hugo DNP-CD whichw as a bummer, but credit Baylor Scheierman for playing well in his minutes. This is clearly his stretch to showcase, just like Hugo had his a few weeks ago. For those of us who love watching Hugo play this is a bummer, but it's how the season is going to go. My guess is he'll be back in that 10-15 role soon enough as things feel fluid with all these bench guys.

- I had thought maybe Nicolas Claxton could be a potential center trade option, but after watching him…..I think I'm all set. Was he all that better than Queta? If you don't think so, then maybe you don't need to add on two more years of $20M+. I don't know what the move is at that position to add to Queta, but after last night I'm not so sure that player is Claxton. A good offensive rebounder sure, but overall…..meh.

The Ugly

- 19 turnovers is downright pathetic against a team like this, especially when you see the types of turnovers the Celts couldn't stop committing. I'm talking about some of the worst passing you'll ever see an NBA player have

Just gross. Lazy passing, poor decision making, careless turnovers, it's how the Nets were able to stay attached for most of the game, and is exactly what you cannot do when playing dogshit teams. That's how they get confidence and how you find yourself unable to get any sort of legit separation. For a team that averages 11 TOs a game, the Celts had that number in just 1.5 quarters. It didn't bite them in the ass in this game, but it will against literally any team with a pulse.

It felt like maybe the Celts weren't taking the Nets seriously to start, so let's hope that's out of their system for the game on Friday. For this team to be successful, they HAVE to take care of the basketball.

All in all? The Celts went to BKN and did what we expected them to do. They're over .500 for the first time this season, and through 15 games are playing at a 43 win pace, which is certainly better than I expected them to be. Win again on Friday night against this same team and who knows what might be possible now that the vibes are starting to shift.