Why the Celtics are the best team in the NBA

As the playoffs inch ever closer and our seedings become set, the postseason picks are being put in for who will walk away with the title of 2025 NBA Champions and more importantly, why that title goes to the Boston Celtics once again.

“But Shai and the Thunder are so efficient! And their perimeter defense!”

“B-b-but the Cavs are on pace for 65+ wins!”

While I can admit that Boston are not as overwhelmingly dominant this year compared to last, they still will lull any team to sleep with a barrage of 3 pointers.

What’s important to realize is that these other favorite teams (Cleveland, OKC) are looking to make a name for themselves, and having the best record in the league going into the postseason is what matters to them.

The Celtics don’t need any of that, as coach Joe Mazzulla has already stated that they are just looking to make the postseason, and aren’t worried about any sort of seeding.

On another note, I want to touch on the topic of Jayson Tatum as the engine of Boston compared to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Donovan Mitchell for their respective teams.

Tatum has the rare ability to make the players around him much better just by him being on the floor, something that you see in guys like Jokic and LeBron. In a way, he is developing much like LeBron James did in his career.

Both were always known as facilitators from draft night but it wasn’t until after Bron got over the hump, did his playmaking evolve to the next level, especially in his second stint in Cleveland (ironic right).

This season has been the beginning of that for Tatum, he currently has 385 assists on the season with his highest assist to turn over ratio on this volume in his career (1.97), approaching LeBron’s numbers later in his career.

The reason for bringing all of this up, is that while every superstar including SGA and Mitchell elevates their team to a degree, I would argue neither are as dedicated to an unselfish playstyle, and plays as much winning basketball as Tatum.

Come postseason, most fans tend to look at box scores and decide who is playing good and who isn’t when that never tells the whole story.

Think of just last season after the Finals and Jaylen Brown came away with the Finals MVP award, which was well deserved however, I believe it could’ve gone either way but Tatum took the time to focus more on supporting his team than scoring.

He led the team in PTS, REB and AST throughout the playoffs and won the chip, only the 6th player in history to do so.

Tatum, Brown, Porzingis, Holiday, White and soon to be 6MOTY Pritchard are still the favorites come playoff time.

Chris Vadnais is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email cmv5562@psu.edu.