Celtics clinch home-court throughout NBA playoffs with win over Thunder
BOSTON -- The Celtics have clinched everything there was to be clinched during the regular season. With Wednesday night's win over the Oklahoma City Thunder at TD Garden, the Boston Celtics (now 60-16) will finish with the league's best record and have home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs.
That means the road to the NBA Finals will run through Boston this summer. And that's great news for the Celtics, who own the NBA's best home record at 33-3.
Now the pressure is really on to bring home the franchise's first NBA Championship since 2008, which was also the last time the Celtics owned the league's best record in the regular season. That year, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen led the Celtics to a 66-16 record and the franchise's 17th title. That was the only time that iteration of the Big Three led Boston to the league's best record in the regular season.
The Celtics had already claimed the Eastern Conference's top seed last week, something they hadn't accomplished since 2016-17. But being the best team in the regular season -- and the Celtics have been the NBA's best team this season by a fairly large margin -- doesn't guarantee a celebratory parade a few months later.
The last team to claim the NBA's best regular season record AND win an NBA title was the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors, who went 67-15 and then lost just one playoff game en route to the team's second championship in three years. The six "top teams" since then have all failed to reach the NBA Finals, let alone win a championship.
The 2017-18 Houston Rockets (65-17) and 2018-19 Milwaukee Bucks (60-22) each made it to their respective conference championships, but came up short against the eventual champs -- the Warriors and the Raptors, respectively. The Bucks claimed the NBA's best record the following season at 56-17, but lost in the East semis to the Miami Heat in four games.
The 2020-21 Utah Jazz (52-20 in the COVID-shortened season) and the 2021-22 Phoenix Suns (64-18) both fell in the West semis. Last season, the 58-24 Bucks were sent packing after just five playoff games, defeated by the Heat in the first round in five games.
Since the 2000-01 NBA season, only six No. 1 overall seeds have gone on to win a championship: the 2002-03 Spurs, the 2007-08 Celtics, the 2012-13 Heat, the 2013-14 Spurs, the 2014-15 Warriors, and the 2016-17 Warriors.
Winning isn't easy in the NBA once the playoffs arrive, as the best regular season teams have found out in each of the last six postseasons. The 2015-16 Warriors were an absolute behemoth and set a new NBA record with 73 wins during the regular season. But even they weren't invincible in the playoffs, blowing a 3-1 series lead and losing to the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
There has been a Title-or-Bust mentality with the Celtics all season long, and the team has suffered very few hiccups along the way. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are determined to get over the hump and win a title after coming up short two years ago, and have their best shot with Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford giving them one of the deepest teams in the league.
This is an opportunity the Celtics cannot let slip away. Especially with the road to the finals now paved through Boston.