Whenever a team, in any sport, captures a title by coming out on top of the grandest stage, the expectations of repeating are immediately applied; as is the target from foes league-wide aiming for their shot at glory. The Boston Celtics understand this as they enter 2024-25 on the hunt for Banner 19 and are ready for the challenge.
"People are gonna say the target is on our back, but I hope it's right on our forehead in between our eyes," Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told the "Locked on Celtics" podcast, scheduled to release Wednesday evening.
Mazzulla added: "I hope I can see the red dot."
The new-look Celtics of last season, which welcomed Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday aboard, wasted little to no time surging as the most dominant roster in the NBA. Boston stripped the Philadelphia 76ers of the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference on Nov. 14 and didn't surrender, holding on for 114 days until the Celtics officially clinched the mountaintop spot on April 3. Entering the postseason with a league-best 64 wins in the regular season, Mazzulla's squad didn't miss a beat, even after losing Porzingis in the first round of the postseason and throughout most of the title run, and finished off the Dallas Mavericks in five games in the NBA Finals to finish the job once and for all.
Boston prioritized keeping the band together and retained everyone -- except for Oshae Brissett and Svi Mykhailiuk -- while forming a jaw-droppingly-expensive starting lineup of Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Porzingis, Holiday and Derrick White, which will cost ownership over $930 million. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens didn't dust off his hands after addressing the team's most notable contracts. Stevens also added prospects Baylor Scheierman and Anton Watson in June's NBA draft, and signed free agent guard Lonnie Walker IV to an Exhibit 10 contact -- making the most of a (very) limited offseason to strengthen Boston's title repeat odds.
As intense, challenging and fulfilling as 2023-24 was for the Celtics, the franchise's first opportunity to repeat since 1969 -- over five decades ago -- will present a much different beast. Teams like the New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, and of course, the Milwaukee Bucks, will all have their say in going after Boston once the season tips off on Oct. 22. However, judging from Mazzulla's contagious competitive edge, it's like the third-year head coach is itching to face anyone in the organization's way of booking its third trip to the Finals in the last four years.
