We all know that the end goal is to raise Banner 19 and now we have part of the roadmap to get there.
The Celtics completely outpaced the rest of the league last season with 64 wins, fourteen ahead of everybody in the East and seven in front of the Thunder and Nuggets. When they were tested, they passed with flying colors. When they could have coasted, they didn’t.
But this upcoming season is a title defense and that comes with everybody using them as a measuring stick.
Positive Residual ranks the Celtics’ 2024-2025 regular season schedule as the 4th easiest in the league based on travel and rest day advantages, but as Larry Legend once astutely pointed out, everybody has the same number of home and road games. Bird didn’t play in the In-Season Tournament or load management era, so some of that logic is a little dated. Nonetheless, here’s the marathon course that runs from October to April. I always find it useful to break up the regular season into bite-size chunks. Let’s eat:
Knicks, at Wizards, at Pistons, Bucks: It’s always a curious choice who the league picks to be the visiting team on Ring Night. For the Celtics, their Atlantic Division rival will do just fine. New York is arguably the team that did the most in the offseason to matchup with Boston. A week later, they’ll host another Eastern Conference (supposed) juggernaut in the Bucks. Both matchups will be juiced (3-1).
at Pacers, at Hornets, at Hornets, at Hawks: First extended road trip features a rematch of the ECF and a two-game mini-series in Charlotte. It’s the first of 13 back-to-backs of the year. Spoiler alert: the Hornets wrap up their season in Boston with two games at TD Garden (3-1).
Warriors, Nets, at Bucks, Hawks, at Nets: Don’t put it pass Joe Mazzulla to play Jayson Tatum 48 minutes against Golden State and Olympic head coach Steve Kerr even if the score comes close to last year’s 52-point blowout in Boston. A home-and-away B2B most likely means Al Horford doesn’t make it up I-84 to Brooklyn, but he’ll probably play in the team’s first game of the NBA Cup round robin vs. his former Atlanta team (4-1).
Raptors, Cavaliers, at Wizards, Timberwolves, Clippers: By now, Mazzulla will have a good sense of what his big man rotation is going to be without Kristaps Porzingis for the first two months of the season. That’ll be tested when the Celtics host Cleveland and Minnesota. The winner of that Cavaliers game could be the Group C (3-2).
at Bulls,…
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