The Celtics are 3-1 after three straight home wins, and the immediate reaction around the team should be pretty simple: the results are good, but the process isn’t matching them.
That was laid bare again Tuesday night in Brooklyn, when Boston escaped with a dramatic overtime win on a Jayson Tatum buzzer-beater. The finish was electric, the vibes were high, and the Celtics got the kind of hero shot that can cover up a lot. But underneath that moment, they were losing the game in the exact areas that usually define their regular-season edge.
Joe Mazzulla’s formula is built on margins. Boston is supposed to squeeze extra possessions out of an opponent by taking more shots, getting more three-point attempts, forcing turnovers, and winning the glass. That approach powered last season’s 56-win, two-seed finish, and the expectation was that a deeper, more talented roster would lean into those advantages even harder this year.
Through four games, that hasn’t happened.
Against the Nets, the Celtics were outshot 97-93. Brooklyn launched 50 threes to Boston’s 41 and connected on 17 of them, while the Celtics hit just 11.
The Nets also beat Boston on the boards 61-55, including a 12-11 edge on the offensive glass. The only margin Boston won was turnovers, and even that was close: 16-14.
That’s a pretty un-Celtics performance, and it’s a big reason the game needed overtime in the first place. Tatum’s late shot saved the night, but it also masked how much work Boston still has to do if it wants its identity to look the way it’s supposed to.
The encouraging sign is that the Celtics have shown one piece of the puzzle. Their defense has created turnovers, and that has come from the chaotic new looks Mazzulla has rolled out.
But the rest has been uneven. Opponents have done a good job keeping Boston away from the three-point line, and the Celtics have already had a couple of rough shooting nights.
The rebounding, too, has been a problem. That was supposed to be one of the biggest built-in advantages for this group, yet Boston has been outrebounded in three of its four games.
There are individual parts still trying to click as well. Mitchell Robinson has not looked comfortable and has struggled to adjust to life as Boston’s starting center.
Payton Pritchard has had one strong quarter and then faded into the background. Mazzulla is still sorting through his rotations, and the wing group has not yet found a real rhythm.
It is still early, and the sample size is tiny. There’s plenty of time for this team to settle in, and there’s no real reason to think the roster can’t come together.
Winning while the margins are messy is better than the alternative. But if this keeps going, the Celtics’ hot start could come with a lot more concern attached to it than anyone expected.
In Other News...
Jayson Tatum Just Delivered A Celtics Reminder In Crunch Time
Jayson Tatum spent 42 minutes reminding everyone why the Celtics can still lean on him when a game turns chaotic, and Boston needed every bit of it in a 125-124 overtime win over the Nets. He was efficient, steady and all over the stat sheet, piling up 40 points on 50% shooting with eight assists, five rebounds and a block while keeping his turnover count at zero.
The performance also pushed Tatum deeper into the Celtics record book, where he added more franchise marks tied to scoring, playmaking and efficiency. Paul George, meanwhile, also left his mark by setting a Celtics record for steals per game, but the lasting image from this one was Tatum taking control when the game was hanging in the balance. [Read more 🡒]
Mitchell Robinson Sparks Tense Celtics Flashpoint In Tight Nets Battle
A tense moment briefly overtook TD Garden in the first half when Celtics center Mitchell Robinson got into a verbal exchange that pulled players and coaches toward the Nets bench. The back-and-forth gave an otherwise tight game a jolt, and Robinson was already having a solid first-half impact with seven points and three rebounds by halftime.
The incident also came with a technical foul for Robinson, adding another layer to a game that already had a competitive edge to it. Boston carried an 86-82 lead into the fourth quarter, with the kind of playoff-style friction that can linger as the game gets late. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Have A Payton Pritchard Debate That Could Grow Fast
Payton Pritchard has settled into the kind of role that has become valuable to the Celtics in recent years, coming off the bench as a spark and helping drive the offense in the minutes that often decide games. He was a key part of Bostons 2024 title run, then followed that by winning Sixth Man of the Year the next season, which only sharpened the conversation around how much the Celtics should be using him.
Joe Mazzulla appears content to keep Pritchard in that sixth-man lane, with Jordan Walsh getting the start instead, but the debate is starting to bubble up for a reason. When the Celtics are short-handed, there is a clear case for giving Pritchard more runway with the first group, and his shot creation has become too important to treat as a luxury no matter where he enters the game. [Read more 🡒]