Jayson Tatum returned from injury to the Boston Celtics after 298 days out with a torn Achilles tendon, which required reconstructive surgery. As impressive as it is that Tatum—someone who is 6’8” and 210 pounds—was able to return in under a year, what is more impressive is that the Celtics managed to remain one of the best teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) despite his absence.
The Celtics always had talent with their trio of Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard leading the way, but second place in the Eastern Conference is exceeding expectations nonetheless. People on social media point to Brown as the driver of Boston’s success and label him as an MVP candidate, but this represents a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes the Celtics so good. Brown is having a career-best season, but he is far from being an MVP—if anyone was the team’s most valuable member, it would be Head Coach Joe Mazzulla.
In the Celtics’ previous two seasons, which included an NBA Championship run in 2024, Mazzulla’s team shot an absurdly high number of three-pointers each game. Boston averaged 48.23 attempts per game from behind the arc in the 2024-25 season, a full three attempts more than the next most in NBA history. By stretching the defence through the threat of shooting, Boston’s players could attack in isolation without other players being able to help defensively for fear of giving up a three. With the losses of Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis, the team went into this season with less shooting and athleticism, so they took a different approach.
With Tatum sidelined, Payton Pritchard stepped into a bigger role and has excelled at pretty much everything Boston hangs their hat on. Boston has become a pick-and-roll-heavy team this season, running the action at the third-highest frequency in the NBA and generating 0.93 points per possession out of the pick-and-roll, also good for third in the league. Where Boston has the ultimate advantage is their league-lowest turnover frequency. Limiting turnovers has been a major reason why Boston has been so good this year, and that starts with Pritchard. The Celtics have also placed an emphasis on generating steals, deflections, and offensive rebounds to gain more possessions than opponents and attack a defence that is in scramble mode.
While Pritchard and Brown have helped to fill the void that Tatum left on offence, Derrick White serves as the team’s ultimate connective piece. Despite his shooting struggles this season, White has been one of the most impactful guards. He could score five points in a game and still remain his team’s most valuable player because he impacts the game in so many different ways: By playing great defence, generating extra possessions, and consistently making the correct reads offensively. Another driver of Boston’s success has been the emergence of Neemias Queta. Boston lost all three of their rotation ‘big men’ in the off-season, something that felt like it would be their Achilles’ heel. Queta has emerged as a starting-calibre ‘big’ and that has been good enough to keep the Celtics afloat.
With Tatum back, a great coach, and the help of players like Pritchard, White, and Brown, the Celtics look poised to make a deep playoff run. In what should have been a gap year for Boston, they have positioned themselves as one of the Eastern Conference favourites. Their unexpected success is a testament to the organizational excellence that Boston has exemplified for decades, from the front office to the coaching staff to the entire roster.
