At 53-25, the Boston Celtics are sitting with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and a 12-4 mark (also second in the East) since Jayson Tatum returned from the Achilles tendon surgery that ended his playoff run in 2025. They’re heading into a playoff run that begins in 10 days with the No. 2 play-in finisher, a group that will be one of the Raptors, Sixers, Hornets, Magic or Heat. In the regular season, the Celtics have gone 13-4 against that bunch.
At plus-160, the Celtics are sitting at the best odds, by far, of any team in the East to go to the NBA Finals. The Cavaliers are a plus-360, the Knicks are plus-425 and the No. 1 seed Pistons are plus-550, according to ESPNBet.
It’s a remarkable turn of events for a team from which little was expected this season, as the Celtics were not only without Tatum, but had also seen the front office sell off pieces like Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis in trades to mitigate the massive luxury-tax penalties that were lined up. But instead of the Celtics taking a so-called “gap year,” the team is the East’s top contender.
Celtics Far Exceeded Expectations
Perhaps no driver of the Celtics’ success this season has been more important than star wing Jaylen Brown, who spent most of the season as the team’s top option and one of the most prolific No. 1 options in the NBA–Brown is averaging 28.7 points, well about his 20.0-points-per-game average for his career, and is leading the NBA with 12.8 2-point attempts per game.
Brown has seemed to take this season personally throughout, as though the calls for the Celtics to tank and have the gap year with Tatum out were shots at his talent and ability to carry the team through the regular season. Brown may be somewhat justified in that–few saw his MVP-type season coming, and the Celtics were projected for 42 wins before the season.
GettyCeltics star Jayson Tatum
Jaylen Brown: ‘You Never Really Forget’
Brown says the success of the Celtics this year is a special point of pride. He also has a warning for those denizens of Celtics fanhood who were agitating for the team to tank this year the way the Indiana Pacers have done with Tyrese Haliburton out, also because of an Achilles tendon team.
He appreciates all fans who have come around to where the Celtics are now. But he won’t be forgetting those who wanted them to lose.
Said Brown: “When you salary dump or you X-Y-and-Z, when it’s a gap year or you’re borderline tanking, etc. It is, it was a lot of uncertainty around this season in the beginning. Obviously, the bar gets moved. But I am bringing this up because I am extremely proud of our group. As we are getting closer to the end of the year, it is a super-rewarding feeling we got, from the fans, the amount of energy we got from all the supporters who believed from Day One, all the people who have been on this journey.
“But even a lot of Celtics fans, a lot of people from within the fan base were pro-tanking. And now it is like, it is what it is. You forgive. But you know, you never really forget, you know what I mean?”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Celtics’ Jaylen Brown Has Warning For Fans Who Wanted to Tank appeared first on Heavy Sports.