The Boston Celtics, a force to be reckoned with all season, proved their dominance in the playoffs, handling their opponents professionally and securing the 2024 Championship. Now, as the hunters try to defend their title for next season, they’ve also found themselves in a new role: the hunted.
An increased competition demonstrates that transition, with several teams already gearing up to challenge their reign. So, as the Celtics faced several obstacles to reach the mountaintop in 2024, some challengers are biding their time, ready to knock them off.
Celtics Trials and Tribulations
But first, the Celtics’ story must be told. The team traded away the pillars of their 2008 Championship to a division rival, drafted numerous young players, and built them up while future Hall-of-Famer LeBron James dominated the East.
They hit on a young coach in Brad Stevens, who later moved to the front office after successfully raising the Celtics’ profile. The Isaiah Thomas era brought them to the top of the East, but it was short-lived in favor of a Kyrie Irving trade. Player development was a benchmark throughout their lull period.
Once James left the conference, a power vacuum was created, and it took a while to stabilize. Some individual players like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jimmy Butler filled it temporarily, but no teams did.
Enter the Boston Celtics. They were pretty good as far back as 2019, but it took a lot of losing to get to where they are now. Losses to Milwaukee and Miami in the playoffs are sandwiched between a surprise run to the Finals in 2022, which ended in another loss, followed by a coaching scandal immediately after.
Now, as the 2024 NBA champs, the best players on the Celtics have just entered their prime, and the sky is the limit, but there are five teams that will attempt to cloud over those Celtic green skies.
5. Miami Heat
A healthy Miami team is always a threat to the Celtic reign. They have a seasoned coach and front office. They also have experience beating the Celtics several times in the playoffs. There is no fear in their game, so expect a healthy Heat team with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo to be a chronic Celtic foe.
4. Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee is constantly under pressure from two-time MVP and former Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo to be contenders. It is easy to envision more retooling around the best player in the Eastern Conference, both this summer and in the NBA draft. The Bucks made a bold move to bring All-Star Damian Lillard over last summer and an even bolder move to fire their first-year head coach midseason. Antetokounmpo wasn’t healthy in this year’s playoffs, either.
3. Philadelphia 76ers
The 76ers have former MVP Joel Embiid in tow. They also come equipped with an All-Star guard in Tyrese Maxey, not to mention a championship-winning coach in Nick Nurse. This summer, they will have a bag to throw to talented free agents, needing only one more wing defender to become a significant thorn in the Celtics’ side.
A certain All-Star wing has been hanging around Embiid and Philadelphia for much of the summer and could also make himself a free agent this weekend (by opting out of the last year of his contract). Perhaps the Sixers could get him to leave his hometown and make a serious championship run.
2. Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets are surely kicking themselves for losing to the Timberwolves in the playoffs. They proved they could outplay the Celtics during the season, having swept them in their two matchups. The Nuggets have as much depth as the Celtics, and they pose tremendous matchup challenges.
No way would a Celtics team nursing Kristaps Porzingis all playoffs have held up against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and company. Jokic has the summer to tune up, but expect the Nuggets to rise again and be formidable in the Western Conference.
Another undersold Nuggets story is their effect on the rest of the West contenders. Each team is stockpiling big men and defensive game plans to stymie Jokic’s production. Expect every future Western Conference champion to have a dominant paint presence to foil the Boston Celtics.
1. New York Knicks
Yes, you read it; I’m surprised I typed it. This wouldn’t be my first prediction regarding a Knicks revival, but here I am, taking yet another drink from the Knickerbocker Kool-Aid.
Free agency hasn’t even started yet, and the Knicks have already taken massive steps to threaten the Boston Celtics. News broke midweek about an enormous trade of picks to the crosstown-rival Nets to secure the rights to Mikal Bridges. Bridges is a massive grab for coach Tom Thibodeau’s crew because he is an elite defender of guards and forwards and doesn’t miss games.
Bridges, MVP contender Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, and Josh Hart were all teammates at Villanova, where they won a national championship (I attended that game in person). They’ll get to go for another championship run as professionals next season.
The Knicks didn’t stop there. They re-signed their best free agent, OG Anunoby, yet another wing defender (and former NBA champion). The signing kept him off the open market, where anything could’ve happened. Last summer, the Celtics pounced on a Jrue Holiday trade, a catalyst for their championship run.
New York also drafted two young players in the first round of the NBA draft (a wing and a combo guard), and they still have two more picks in Round 2. The Celtics will presumably groom those picks to replace outgoing players long-term and provide injury insurance in the short term. The Knicks are young and deep, with a superstar player and several defenders to throw at the Celtics’ best.
Expect an absolute bloodbath among the top three in the Atlantic Division. A preview title for one of my upcoming summer articles reads Meet Your 2025 NBA Champions, the New York Knicks. Feel free to consider that a threat, Boston.
Photo credit for featured cover image: Getty Images.
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1 Comment
Agree with you for the most part but having 4 eastern conference team and only Denver from the west is a miss. The west is going to be dominant again next year and I think the young OKC team will take that next step to the top 5 threat.