During the 2023-24 NBA season, the Boston Celtics dominated their opponents en route to a 64-18 record in the regular season. The Celtics tortured their opponents, forcing them to desperately chase after the ball as five capable deep-range shooters swung it around the perimeter.
The high-powered offense was accompanied by a stifling defense, and the Celtics needed just 19 playoff games to hang their 18th championship banner at TD Garden. Even when the Indiana Pacers had Boston on the ropes in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics flipped a switch and plunged daggers into the Pacers’ hearts.
In the 2024-25 season, the defending champions finished the regular season with a 61-21 record. The Celtics are still favorites to win the Eastern Conference and have the second-best odds to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy, but this iteration of the Celtics lacks the juice that powered them through last year’s playoffs.
While their win-loss record may not seem like a significant drop off from their past campaign, Boston has battled through notable fatigue and injury that was absent during their previous playoff run.
The Celtics’ fatigue and injuries are haunting them against physical Magic
The Celtics jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their first-round series against the seventh-seeded Orlando Magic, but Boston stumbled through a 95-93 loss in Game 3 on Friday night.
Orlando may not be expected to win the series, but they’ve taken a physical approach in an attempt to bully and wear down the Celtics. In Game 1, a flagrant foul caused Celtics star Jayson Tatum to miss the first playoff game of his career. In Game 2, another flagrant foul split open the forehead of Celtics center Kristaps Porziņģis, who required five stitches to close the wound. A third flagrant foul in Game 3 caused Celtics star Jaylen Brown to dislocate an index finger on his left hand. The 2024 Finals MVP criticized the Magic after the game, saying “it’s starting to feel like it’s not even basketball,” per ESPN.
The Magic’s physical style, combined with Boston’s lingering fatigue and attrition from their annual postseason runs, has made the series challenging for the Celtics.
Brown, the 2024 Finals MVP, has been battling through a right knee posterior impingement injury. Three-time All-Defensive first team point guard Jrue Holiday has been ruled out for Game 4 with a hamstring injury that caused him to miss Game 3.
That fatigue shouldn’t come as a surprise for a team whose two leading stars, Tatum and Brown, have made deep postseason runs nearly every year during their time in Boston. Brown has made six appearances in the Eastern Conference Finals or NBA Finals over the past eight years. Tatum has joined him for five of those runs in the past seven years.
That fatigue was also apparent in their last regular-season game against the Magic, a 96-76 loss on April 9. Boston’s top six players — Tatum, Brown, Porziņģis, Holiday, Derrick White and Al Horford did not play due to various ailments.
The Celtics will look to take a convincing 3-1 lead over the Magic on Sunday. For their sake, it’s likely best that they wrap up this series as quickly as possible.