The Boston Celtics are your 2023-24 NBA champions, and they celebrated today with a parade. The Celtics secured championship number 18, more than any other NBA franchise on Monday night. Boston has been knocking on the door for this championship for quite some time.
They drafted the duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown nearly a decade ago. After years of coming up just short, they delivered a championship.
Before moving on to the offseason, let’s discuss where this 2023-24 championship team ranks in the history of the NBA. While they may not have had the individual star power of NBA champions that we have seen in recent years, this Boston team was deep. They had five or six players who could get you at least 20 points on any night.
This Celtic team went 64-18 during the regular season, the best record in the NBA. Then, they went 16-3 in the playoffs. They didn’t see a single series past game 5! How do they stack up against championship teams of league past?
The Dominance of the 2023-24 Celtics
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Boston went a combined 80-21 between the regular season and playoffs this year. They ran away with the best record in the NBA and were never threatened in the playoffs. It was a dominant run not seen since Curry and Durant led the Warriors teams.
Some skeptics of this team may say they got lucky with the amount of injuries in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. While that may be partly true, Boston showed in the regular season that they were still better than them. Plus, injuries happen every year. Having a team not reliant on one or two players means they are better equipped to not be decimated by one singular injury.
Another thing here is that you can’t say for sure they would have lost anyway. There are way too many hypothetical NBA scenarios people bring up every year. The fact is that the Celtics were the best team all year and proved it once again in the playoffs.
Greatest NBA Championship Teams
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It’s hard to quantify how teams from different eras match up against each other. I’m not going to try to compare this Boston team to the old Celtics dynasties, the Showtime Lakers, or Jordan’s Bulls.
Looking at the most recent NBA champs, you can make the case for the 2023-24 Boston Celtics being the most dominant NBA team since the 2017 Golden State Warriors. Since the 2016-17 Warriors, no team has won more games and gone on to win the championship than this Boston team. Furthermore, no champion has lost fewer games than the Celtics since the Warriors.
We might sleep on them because we don’t view Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown as transcendent superstars, but basketball is a team game. The 2023-24 Boston Celtics showed that and it’s why they are the most dominant NBA team in the last six years.
About the Author
Cory is an Oregon Duck alumni from the San Francisco Bay Area. He has been playing, watching, and following basketball + baseball his whole life. Follow Cory on X @cory_pappas1 for more breaking stories and game previews.
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