The 2023-24 Boston Celtics, led by means of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, are a juggernaut.
Entering Thursday’s matchup with the Denver Nuggets, they’re outscoring opponents by using an average of 11.2 points per game. And it really is after a gut-wrenching loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday.
That factor differential may additionally sound like a lot (and it is), however you can’t utterly recognize it besides a little context.
1.1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers ( 12.28 and championship)
2.1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks ( 12.26 and a championship)
3.1995-96 Chicago Bulls ( 12.24 and a championship)
4.2016-17 Golden State Warriors ( 11.63 and a championship)
5.2023-24 Boston Celtics ( 11.21)
6.1971-72 Milwaukee Bucks ( 11.16)
7.1996-97 Chicago Bulls ( 10.80 and a championship)
8.2015-16 Golden State Warriors ( 10.76)
9.2015-16 San Antonio Spurs ( 10.63)
10.1991-92 Chicago Bulls ( 10.44 and a championship)
Those are all-time exceptional teams. Those are teams led through Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Tim Duncan.
And there are these Celtics. Right in the middle. Among the all-timers and cruising toward, potentially, a sixth Eastern Conference Finals appearance for Brown, a fifth convention finals appearance for Tatum and a second NBA Finals appearance for both.
And of course, they hope they’re on the way to the first title for Boston on account that 2008 (and the 18th in franchise history).
That factor differential and the truth that they’re first in points scored per a hundred possessions and 0.33 in factors allowed per a hundred possessions endorse they can get there, however we have seen the basis of this team buckle in the past.
Of course, none of these preceding five convention finals appearances preceded a championship. Just last year, they misplaced that sequence to the eighth-seeded Miami Heat. Since the start of the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals (Brown’s first), the Celtics are minus-43 in Brown’s convention finals minutes.
Because of the organization’s history, Boston’s campaigns are almost always of the title-or-bust variety. The current history of Tatum and Brown, along with the way the arrivals of Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis have supercharged the team, ratchets up the strain on this group.
Ultimately, they’ll be judged on what they do in April, May and, potentially, June.
But if we’re just looking at regular-season performance, there’s an argument that even the notable Celtics groups of the previous have never considered something pretty like this.
You’ll observe that Boston is only listed in that top 10 above one time. It’s for this season (the 2007-08 squad that won the title is 11th). Obviously, that potential the Celtics are on tempo for the fine point differential in franchise history.
The contemporary squad is also the franchise leader in gamers posting a two-plus container plus/minus (BPM is “a basketball container score-based metric that estimates a basketball player’s contribution to the team when that player is on the court,” in accordance to Basketball Reference).
Right now, six gamers (Tatum, Porziņģis, Derrick White, Al Horford, Luke Kornet and Jrue Holiday) are over 2 (a mark round that of a “good starter”). Tatum (5.4) and Porziņģis (5.2) are inside putting distance of All-NBA range, in accordance to Basketball Reference’s scale.
10.0 is an all-time season (think top Jordan or LeBron)
eight is an MVP season (think top Dirk or peak Shaq)
6.0 is an all-NBA season
four is in all-star consideration
two is a exact starter
0 is a decent starter or solid sixth man
-2.0 is a bench participant (this is also described as “replacement level”)
Below -2.0 are many end-of-bench players
The 2023-24 squad, thanks to Tatum, Brown and Porziņģis, is also on song to be the third in team history with three gamers averaging 20-plus factors per game, becoming a member of the the 1966-67 (John Havlicek, Bailey Howell and Sam Jones) and 2019-20 (Brown, Tatum and Kemba Walker) groups.
