{"id":532183,"date":"2026-03-19T05:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/532183\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T05:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T05:05:11","slug":"celtics-went-from-afterthought-to-a-real-favorite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/532183\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics went from afterthought to a ‘real favorite’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“When we played them a month ago, I was just blown away by how good they were.”<\/p>\n

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\n\tSteve Kerr AP Photo\/Charles Krupa\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat Kristaps Porzingis said about his return to TD Garden\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2026 NFL mock draft roundup: Who experts have Patriots selecting with 31st pick\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

As the Celtics <\/a>play out the final stretch of the regular-season, they\u2019ve found themselves in a position that few outside of the organization expected them to be in.<\/p>\n

They established themselves as one of the top teams in the East without Jayson Tatum. Now, with Tatum back in the fold, they seem poised to kick things up another notch. <\/p>\n

Warriors coach Steve Kerr<\/a> knows a contender when he sees it. He has nine NBA Championships, five as a player and four as a coach. The Celtics swept the regular-season series against the Warriors with a 120-99 victory at TD Garden Wednesday night. <\/p>\n

While the Celtics are second in the Eastern Conference, Kerr didn\u2019t have an issue using the word \u201cfavorites\u201d when describing where they stand now. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team has a different set of circumstances,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cThe Celtics sure aren\u2019t used to being an afterthought and they kind of were before the season with Jayson\u2019s injury and the departures of Kristaps [Porzingis] and Al [Horford]. When we played them a month ago, I was just blown away by how good they were.\u201d <\/p>\n

Boston turned what was supposed to be a disadvantage into an opportunity for development. Tatum\u2019s absence opened up minutes for the team\u2019s younger wings and the experience helped them grow as the season went on. They were able to play without the weight of championship expectations, and now that Tatum is back, the Celtics are deeper than they initially seemed to be. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that time without the expectations really gave them a chance to play their younger guys, to kind of lay in the weeds a little bit,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cNobody was really talking about them and that\u2019s kind of a nice position to be in when you\u2019re used to being the favorite year after year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, it feels like they really took advantage of it, really developed their young guys and hammered home expectations for those guys and roles \u2026 I\u2019m just really, really impressed by the job Joe and Brad have done putting this team together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe spacing, the execution, just got good shots over and over again,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cThey played so well together and that was even without Jayson. So, I just think the continuity of what they\u2019ve built has carried over so that even with all the departures they still know exactly who they are and now they get Jayson back, of course.\u201d <\/p>\n

The process has been fun, said Celtics guard Jaylen Brown, and it has led to uncommon results. <\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball is a team sport so the strength of the team is what you lead with,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI think from the beginning of the season, that\u2019s what I\u2019ve emphasized.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFast forward to where we\u2019re at now and I feel like we\u2019ve improved at a very fast rate and that does not happen in the NBA, having a bunch of guys where you can just plug and play and expect things to work out even though the expectations are high here in Boston. That simply doesn\u2019t happen in other places.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few constant themes during Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla\u2019s press conferences are winning the margins, finding and exploiting two-on-one matchups, and keeping proper spacing on offense. <\/p>\n

The Celtics execute those things better than just about anyone else in the league, Kerr said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey put a lot of stress on you,\u201d Kerr said. \u201cTo me, they\u2019re the best spacing team in the league. With all those great isolation players, Pritchard included in that, when they start to drive you really feel it when you play against them live. Those guys on the wing, it feels like they\u2019re at half-court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got multiple guys who can shoot from out there and so many guys that can put the ball on the floor obviously with Jaylen and Jayson but also Derrick White and Pritchard. So, you\u2019re really spaced out. Are you willing to give up shots to certain players? You really have to know personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Celtics are No. 2 in the league in offensive efficiency. Keeping spacing in mind has been a priority for the Celtics and it shows in the advanced stats. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is just staying spaced, reading the spacing. It can come in different ways,\u201d Mazzulla said. \u201cI think the thing we\u2019ve gotten better at is reading the different coverages, something that Golden State does very well, changing defenses, changing coverages \u2026 It\u2019s something that our guys work hard at, have gotten better at and when you\u2019re properly spaced you can usually see the reads a little bit better.\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics “When we played them a month ago, I was just blown away by how good they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-532183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}