c/o Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

This season is Celtics season, baby. 

Though, that wasn’t what everyone thought back in September, when former head coach Ime Udoka was suspended for the 2022–2023 season following “a violation of multiple workplace policies,” more specifically an alleged relationship with a woman within the organization. With assistant coach Joe Mazzulla stepping up in the interim, the team seemed like a ship without its captain, having made it all the way to the NBA Finals under the guidance of Udoka.

And then they absolutely eviscerated the rest of the league with an 18–4 start to the season. Mazzulla was awarded Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for October and November thanks to the Celtics’ incredible performance. A good beginning generated a great mid-season, and their record currently stands at 37-16.

Of course, not everything is due to Mazzulla’s leadership. Jayson Tatum has been positively disgusting this season, posting an average of 30.9 points per game to take sixth best in the league. He was instrumental last season as well in bringing the Celtics all the way to the NBA Finals—which culminated in a painful 4–2 loss against the Golden State Warriors. I have nightmares about Steph Curry casually netting threes while chewing on his mouthguard. It haunts me.

Tatum’s tag team with Jaylen Brown makes for a nasty combo. In a game against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday, Feb. 1, they combined for 57 points. In the process, they broke a record: the most of all time by any pair prior to the All-Star game.

Brown and Tatum both recently received an NBA All-Star selection, meaning that a trip to Salt Lake City for the game on Sunday, Feb. 19 is in both of their futures. The accolade is just more evidence that the C’s are scarily dominant this year.

I don’t want to suggest that the Celtics only depend on two top players, though. Al Horford, Derrick White, Malcolm Brogdon, and Robert Williams III are all a part of the cast that makes up a pretty terrifying and terrific team. Horford, at age 36, is on the older side in a league where the average age is 26, but he has been sinking three-pointers at a monstrous rate of 42.7%. White is able to roll with the punches and play at a high level regardless of what’s asked from him, having recorded six straight games with ten or more points as of Sunday, Feb. 5. Brogdon, who the Celtics acquired this offseason, has been instrumental to the teams success providing instant offense off the bench. And Williams (also known as “Time Lord” for his reputation of missing flights and video meetings), despite his delicate health, is a threat both offensively and defensively. 

As scary as the Celtics seem, though, at certain points during the season, they have given off the vibe of the Cowardly Lion à la Wizard of Oz: big and scary until something (or someone…or someone with a mouthguard…?) disrupts their courage. When the Celtics and the Warriors met for the second time this season on Thursday, Jan. 19, the Warriors were 22-23 against a conference-leading Celtics. Despite the stats being in the Celtics’ favor and their home court advantage, the team looked shaky during the second half and trailed their rivals before somehow managing to get it together and pull out an 121–118 overtime win.

While the dominant Warriors seemed to be getting into the swing of things following that game and could present a potential future scare to the Celtics, that future may not be in the cards—Curry is out indefinitely with a knee injury. With Golden State’s biggest star sidelined, the team must be experiencing a morale decline (even with Klay Thompson still in the picture), and so the Celtics may not have to suffer an ugly replay of last season’s finals.

Then again, I might be getting ahead of myself. We still have four and a half months before the beginning of the NBA Finals on Thursday, June 1. A lot can change in terms of storylines, injuries, and records.

In the meantime, the Celtics are the top dogs in the hunt to claim the 2023 NBA Finals Banner, and the odds are heavily in their favor. Let’s just hope that another team doesn’t manage to pull off a fairytale turnaround midway through the season and steal the championship from under their noses. But what are the chances of a team managing to do that?

Cameron Bonnevie can be reached at cbonnevie@wesleyan.edu.