Under the leadership of a first-year head coach for the 2022-23 campaign, the Boston Celtics produced their best regular-season record in 13 years followed by their fifth Eastern Conference Finals appearance in the last seven years. After ending a 12-year NBA Finals drought the previous season, the C’s finished one win shy of a return trip to the championship round, maintaining its position as a title contender where it should remain for years to come.
Brad Stevens’ first order of offseason business was to retool his roster by adding depth in the scoring and playmaking departments, both of which were insufficient during Boston’s six-game Finals defeat against the Golden State Warriors. In early July, the President of Basketball Operations bolstered the bench by trading for veteran point guard Malcolm Brogdon and by signing free-agent sharpshooter Danilo Gallinari.
As the summer came to a close, the Celtics, with their core still intact and a couple of extra weapons in their arsenal, appeared to be in an even better position for a championship run than the previous season. But that’s when adversity began to hit.
During the last week of August, Gallinari tore his left ACL while playing in a FIBA World Cup qualifying game with his home country of Italy and would miss the entire Celtics season as a result. Additionally, in late September, Rob Williams underwent left knee surgery and wound up missing the first two months of the season. Finally came the biggest blow just days before the start of training camp when the team underwent a change at head coach.
Rather than let those unexpected obstacles get the better of them, the Celtics moved forward and attacked the challenges as a team. Two days before the start of training camp, assistant coach Joe Mazzulla was appointed as interim head coach with the backing of Stevens and the players.
Under the guidance of its 34-year-old rookie head coach, Boston barely skipped a beat. On Opening Night, the C’s honored the late Bill Russell with a tribute ceremony followed by a 126-117 win over the rival Philadelphia 76ers. Jayson Tatum erupted out of the gates during the first week of action with a team-record 104 points through the first three games, leading Boston to its first 3-0 start since the 2009-10 season.
The team got off to a league-best 21-5 start behind a potent offense that was producing at an NBA record-setting pace. Mazzulla and Tatum were named Eastern Conference Coach and Player of the Month, respectively, for games played during October and November, making them the first Celtics duo to earn such recognitions in the same month since Larry Bird and K.C. Jones in March 1986.
The Celtics went into their first rut in mid-December, losing five out of six and dropping to 22-10. However, they bounced back by winning 13 of their next 15 games over the following month, including a 139-118 Christmas Day victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, a 124-95 win in Dallas, a 109-98 win in Brooklyn, and a Finals revenge overtime victory at home against the Warriors.
Right at the end of that stretch, Marcus Smart suffered a bad ankle sprain, which would keep him sidelined for nearly a month. However, that opened the door for Derrick White to shine as the team’s primary ball handler, and he rose to the occasion in tremendous fashion. During Smart’s absence, White averaged 20.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game, while shooting 49.1 percent from the field, 43.6 percent from 3-point range, and 88.6 percent from the free-throw line. He earned Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from Feb. 6 – 12, which included a string of three straight games of at least 23 points and 10 assists. White would go on to play in all 82 games and established himself as a key cog in the rotation.
The Celtics went into the All-Star break with the best record in the league at 42-17, which meant that Mazzulla and his staff would be representing the East for the All-Star Game. Right before the break, he received more life-changing news as the Celtics removed his interim tag to make him the full-time head coach.
Mazzulla was joined in Salt Lake City by Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Team captain Giannis Antetokounmpo chose Tatum with his first pick in the All-Star draft, proving to be a wise decision, as JT erupted for an All-Star Game-record 55 points to go along with 10 rebounds and six assists, earning him MVP honors in a 184-175 Team Giannis win.
Tatum’s greatest competition in that game happened to be Brown, who was chosen by captain LeBron James out of the reserve pool. A masked JB, playing in his first game since suffering a facial fracture earlier in February, scored a team-high 35 points, grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, and added five assists and two steals.
The Celtics emerged a bit rusty out of the break, losing four of their first seven games, including consecutive overtime losses to New York and Cleveland. However, they righted the ship again by closing out the final month of the regular season on a 12-4 stretch. Brown played a key role during that span, showcasing his best basketball of the season. He joined Tatum and White to become the third Celtic of the season to earn Eastern Conference Player of the Week during the week of March 20–26, when he averaged 31.7 PPG, 8.3 RPG, and 3.7 APG.
Boston finished the regular season with a 57-25 record – just one win behind the league-leading Bucks. It was the franchise’s winningest regular season since a 62-win season in 2008-09. For Mazzulla, the 57 victories represented the second-most in team history for a first-year head coach, trailing only Bill Russell’s mark of 60 wins in the 1966-67 season.
Mazzulla finished third in Coach of the Year voting behind unanimous winner Mike Brown of the Sacramento Kings and Massachusetts native Mark Daigneault of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Although Mazzulla didn’t win the award, several of his players earned regular-season recognitions. Tatum made his second straight appearance on the All-NBA First Team after becoming the first player in Celtics history to average at least 30 points per game in a single season. Brown earned his first All-NBA selection as a member of the Second Team following a career year, as well. White, the league’s leading shot-blocker at the guard position, was the team's lone All-Defensive honoree as a member of the Second Team. Brogdon became the first Celtic to win Sixth Man of the Year since Bill Walton in 1986. And Marcus Smart won his third NBA Hustle Award over the past five seasons.
The Celtics entered the playoffs as the East’s No. 2 seed and got matched up against the 7th-seed Atlanta Hawks. Boston took care of business at home in the first two games, then split the next two in Atlanta to take a 3-1 series lead, before eventually winning the series, 4-2. Brown had a magnificent first round against his hometown team, averaging 26.7 PPG while shooting 54.1 percent from the field and 51.5 percent from long range.
Next, the Celtics faced off against the No. 3 seed 76ers. Philly stole Game 1 in Boston, 119-115, to which the Celtics responded with a 121-87 blowout victory in Game 2. Boston won Game 3 in Philadelphia, then dropped Game 4 in overtime. The 76ers snagged another win in Boston in Game 5 to go up 3-2, but the Celtics bounced back with a 95-86 Game 6 win in Philly followed by a 112-88 series-clincher at home, in which Tatum scored an NBA Game 7-record of 51 points.
Finally, the Celtics got matched up against the dark horse of the league in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch against the No. 8 seed Miami Heat. However, this Heat team wasn’t like any 8 seed from the past, as it already proved by blowing past the first-place Milwaukee Bucks in Round 1 and then doing the same to the No. 4 seeded New York Knicks in Round 2. The Heat stayed hot against the Celtics, taking a 3-0 series lead. Boston then attempted – and nearly pulled off – the first reverse sweep in NBA history. The C’s won Games 4 and 5 by double digits, and then won Game 6 in Miami on a miraculous buzzer-beating put-back layup by White. But just when it seemed like they could pull off the improbable, the Celtics hit one last piece of season-altering adversity. On the very first play of Game 7, Jayson Tatum sprained his ankle and Boston never recovered. Although Tatum played through the injury, the Celtics faltered in a season-ending, 103-84 loss.
Even though they left their business unfinished, the Celtics entered the 2023 offseason with a hopeful outlook, knowing that their championship window is still wide open. They’ll just be more experienced and more hungry to complete the job next year.