The Boston Celtics concluded their 2024 regular season campaign Sunday with a 132-122 win over the Washington Wizards, and will now turn their attention to the playoffs in pursuit of championship number 18.
The Celtics finished the season with a league-best 64-18 record. No other team eclipsed the 60-win mark. This is the most wins the Celtics have had in a season since they won 66 games in their 2007-08 title season.
Not only did the Celtics win games this season, they dominated games. The Celtics had 17 games this season in which they won by 25 points, which is the most in a season in NBA history. Additionally, the Celtics won three games in 50-point blowouts, another NBA season record.
The Celtics saw an unprecedented amount of offense this season. With a total of 9,887 points scored, they broke a franchise record that’s stood since the 1961-62 season. The ‘62 team did have two fewer games and it was before the era of the three-point arc, but the accomplishments of this season’s team are undeniably impressive.
Speaking of the three-point arc, the Celtics set records from there as well. With 1,351 three-pointers made, this year’s Celtics rank second for three-pointers made in a season, trailing only the 2022-23 Golden State Warriors. In terms of the franchise record, this year’s crew broke a record that dates all the way back to last season (The 2022-23 Celtics made 1,315 threes).
Although the Celtics have had a couple of frustrating losses in the past month, they still seem to be heading into the playoffs playing some of their best basketball as players from the starting lineup to the bench are achieving milestones.
In an April 7 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, Jaylen Brown hit a major career milestone by scoring his 10,000th point.
Meanwhile, top-of-the-bench star Payton Pritchard set a career-high in points in a game when he scored 31 points in a win over the Charlotte Hornets April 12. Then, two nights later, he set a career-high again when he scored 38 points in the regular season finale against the Wizards.
In Sunday’s postgame press conference, head coach Joe Mazzulla said that it’s important to appreciate what the team accomplished in the regular season while keeping their sights set on playoff success.
“Winning can be just as dangerous as losing, so if you hang onto a loss it could kill you, if you hang onto a win it could kill you. So it’s important to take it for what it is, have an appreciation of it, focus on the relationships and the things that we were able to build this season and take that into the playoffs,” Mazzulla said.The Celtics kick off their playoff run Sunday and will face off against either the Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls or Atlanta Hawks, depending on the results of the NBA play-in tournament.
On Wednesday, the 76ers will host the Heat. The winner will become the eastern conference’s seventh seed and face the New York Knicks, while the loser will host the winner of the Bulls versus Hawks game. The winner of that game will play the Celtics as the eighth seed, with the Celtics having home-court advantage as long as they are in the playoffs.
