Bill Russell famously closed out his unparalleled playing career with consecutive NBA championships, beating the Los Angeles Lakers in 1968 and again in ’69.
The Celtics have won it all seven times since Russell retired more than a half-century ago. But that feat — back-to-back titles — has never been replicated in Boston.
The Dave Cowens- and John Havlicek-led teams of the 1970s never did it. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish never did it. Nor did Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.
This year’s Celtics have a chance to end that drought — and do so in an era of NBA parity that hasn’t been seen in decades.
“It’s something that we’re aware of,” Al Horford said as Boston prepped for its opening-round series against the Orlando Magic, which tips off Sunday at TD Garden (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). “But for us, it’s understanding the opportunity we have in front of us. We have a really good team and a team that’s resilient. We’re all very driven right now and we all understand what the goal is. When you have the clarity, it makes everything easier.”
The NBA has not had a repeat champion since the Golden State Warriors in 2018. In the six seasons since, six different teams have raised the Larry O’Brien Trophy — the first time that’s happened since the late 1970s.
The Celtics just enjoyed the most successful regular season by any defending champ since the 2015-16 Warriors, posting a 61-21 record and top-four ranks in offensive rating, defensive rating and net rating. After a long winter swoon that stretched from Christmas through January, they won 25 of their final 30 games despite playing most of those without their full starting lineup. They had just two losing streaks all season, neither longer than two games. And Boston won’t need to worry about key players being intimidated by the heightened intensity of the postseason, as its entire rotation from last year’s playoffs remains intact.
Head coach Joe Mazzulla is well aware, however, that the last five NBA champions all failed to advance past the second round the following season. So, while this Celtics postseason has the feel of a 2010s Patriots run, with no realistic chance of elimination expected until the conference finals at the earliest, Mazzulla and his players are keeping their focus narrow.
“I said it a lot: We’re not defending the championship,” Jayson Tatum said. “We won last year. Can’t nobody take it from us. But last year is last season. That’s out the window. We’re not worried about anything besides the Magic right now. We’re not looking past (to) second, third, fourth round. That’s all that’s on our mind, just trying to get ready for Game 1.”
The Celtics are expecting a more difficult playoff path than they walked last year, when they benefited from injuries to Jimmy Butler in the first round, Donovan Mitchell in the Eastern Conference semifinals and Tyrese Haliburton in the East finals. While injuries still could occur in the weeks to come, most of the premier players Boston could face currently are healthy.
(One star who does enter the postseason with injury concerns: Jaylen Brown. A painful knee issue limited the 2024 NBA Finals MVP for the final month of the regular season, though teammates and Mazzulla are optimistic he’ll be his impactful self when the playoffs begin.)
Boston also might need to eventually win two series against higher-seeded teams, with the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers looming as the most likely conference finals foe and the juggernaut Oklahoma City Thunder favored to come out of the West. Most sportsbooks have OKC — which went 68-14, set an NBA record for point differential and swept its two-game season series against Boston — pegged as the championship favorite.
Last year, the Celtics defeated teams seeded eighth, fourth, sixth and fifth in their ruthlessly efficient title march, during which no series lasted more than five games.
“I feel like every year is different, every run is different, every game is different,” said Kristaps Porzingis, who, importantly, also missed most of Boston’s championship run with lower leg injuries. “What we can prepare is to have a harder run than we had maybe last year, because last year we were really, really dominant and it kind of looked maybe as a pretty like easy run for us. Even up until the Finals, everybody was saying, ‘Oh, they’re not battle-tested. We’re going to see now.’ And it just kind of went that way all the way through, and we won the championship.
“So (we’re) maybe not expecting that same thing but showing up to do that same thing. Showing up with the same intensity, with the same mindset and being on the hunt again, just like we were last year.”
That hunt begins Sunday against an Orlando team that will look to batter Boston with its elite, hyper-physical defense while hoping young stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner can carry a flawed offense that ranked 27th in the NBA. If the Celtics can pass that first test, they’ll face either the New York Knicks — who boast one of the East’s most talented rosters but went 0-4 against Boston this season with three blowout losses — or the upstart Detroit Pistons in the East semis.
“I feel like we’ve experienced that (pressure) most of the year already,” said Horford, who has a chance to become just the fourth player ever to win back-to-back titles in college and the NBA, joining Hall of Famers Russell, K.C. Jones and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. “We experienced everybody giving us their best shot and trying to do different things to combat us. I feel like playing 82 games, our team, we’ve seen a lot. I feel like we’re ready for this new chapter.”
