The Boston Celtics have been actually good this season.
Like, actually good.
The C’s secured their 18th championship Monday evening, steamrolling the Dallas Mavericks in Sport 5 of the NBA Finals at TD Backyard. Boston posted an 80-21 file (64-18 within the common season and 16-3 within the playoffs) en path to the title, a powerful mark that leaves little doubt over its standing because the NBA’s greatest workforce for the 2023-24 marketing campaign.
However the place precisely does this Celtics workforce rank within the pantheon of NBA historical past? Certainly, it’s one of many all-time greats, proper?
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Barstool Sports activities founder Dave Portnoy raised the “dialogue” instantly after the Celtics locked down Banner 18.
“We have to begin the dialogue of whether or not that is the best workforce within the historical past of the NBA,” Portnoy posted to X, the platform previously often called Twitter. “They have been that good. #banner18 #celtics”
The 2016-17 Golden State Warriors and the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, amongst others, may need a difficulty with that declaration. Heck, these Celtics may not even be one of the best workforce in franchise historical past. The 1985-86 squad was elite.
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However there’s nonetheless some reality to Portnoy’s remark. Whereas the 2023-24 Celtics in all probability aren’t the greatest workforce in NBA historical past, they have been, the truth is, distinctive from begin to end. They usually positively deserve their flowers.
The Celtics outscored their opponents by a median of 10.7 factors per recreation within the common season and the playoffs, the fifth-best mark in NBA historical past.
They ranked first in offensive effectivity and second in defensive effectivity. Based on NBA.com, the 122.2 factors per 100 possessions Boston scored within the common season was the best mark ever.
Think about Boston’s depth and star energy, led, after all, by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and it’s laborious to search out a lot flawed with these C’s. They’re analytical darlings and they go the attention take a look at.
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We’d say that — along with the shiny Larry O’Brien Trophy — makes them among the finest groups ever, even when they don’t essentially rank No. 1.
