Celtics begin 2025 with great road test against four of the Western Conference's best teams
BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics closed out 2024 with the biggest home win in franchise history, crushing the lowly Toronto Raptors by 54 points. Now the Celtics will open 2025 with their toughest test of the season.
Starting Thursday night, the Celtics will play four road games over six nights against teams they could potentially meet in the NBA Finals in a few months. (Assuming the Celtics hold up their end of the bargain, of course.) They'll visit the Minnesota Timberwolves, Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Denver Nuggets on this mini-gauntlet of a road trip.
It will be a great test for the defending champs, who haven't been playing their best basketball for several weeks. The Celtics are just 5-5 over their last 10 games, which included the team's first losing streak of the season with back-to-back loses to the Orlando Magic and the Philadelphia 76ers. Boston went just 8-6 in the month of December, with four of those loses coming on their home court.
Despite that, the Celtics are still 24-9 on the season and occupy second place in the Eastern Conference. But they are five games behind the first-place Cavaliers, and the red-hot Knicks (who have won eight straight) are just a game behind Boston.
The start of this season has been a lot tougher than last season, when it took until Jan. 11 for Boston to lose its ninth game of the season.
"Every season is a little different. Every season is going to have ups and every season is going to have its downs," Derrick White said after Tuesday's blowout win in Boston. "It's not going to be exactly like it was last year, and we understand that. We just got to understand that there's a lot that we can improve on. We got to continue to get better.
"We know what the end goal is," added White.
We're a ways away from that end goal, but this next week will be a long way in potentially resharpening the team's mettle. Here's a look at what the Celtics will be dealing with on their trip.
Celtics vs. Timberwolves
The trip tips off Thursday night with Boston paying a visit to the Timberwolves in Minnesota, which will be on TNT for the basketball world to see. The Timberwolves have been extremely streaky this season, and are currently in the 8-seed in the West at 17-15.
Minnesota had won three straight before losing to the Thunder, 113-105, in OKC on Tuesday night. They had lost three straight prior to that streak, after winning six of seven. Before that, they had lost seven of nine.
While the wins have been sporadic, the Wolves are still getting some MVP-like performances out of Anthony Edwards, who is averaging 24.8 points per game. His overall shooting is down a few ticks, but he's hitting a career-best 41.5 percent from downtown so far this season. It's going to be a treat to watch Ant and Jaylen Brown go toe-to-toe on Thursday.
Rudy Gobert has been mostly average for Minnesota this season, but Julius Randle is fitting in nicely with the Wolves, averaging 19.9 points and 6.9 rebounds for his new team. That frontcourt will give Boston some issues, especially if Kristaps Porzingis remains on the shelf Thursday night.
The Celtics and the Wolves split their two meetings last season as each team won on their home court, and both games went to overtime. The Wolves won 114-109 to hand Boston its first loss of the season, and the Celtics won 127-120 at TD Garden a few months later thanks to 45 points from Jayson Tatum.
Celtics vs. Rockets
The Celtics won't spend very long in Minnesota, with a tilt against the Rockets in Houston on Friday night. Ime Udoka has the Rockets playing extremely well in his second season in Houston, as they're currently 21-11 and the 3-seed in the West.
Houston's offense ranks 12th in the NBA at 113.0 points per game, but the Rockets defense is holding opponents to 106.6 points per contest -- good for third-best in the league. The Rockets are also the best rebounding team in the NBA.
While Houston has some talented scorers in Jalen Green and Fred VanVleet, what the team doesn't have is a lot of sound shooting. The Rockets are hitting just 44.3 percent of their shots overall and only 32.7 percent from three, which ranks 27th and 29th, respectively.
The Celtics took both matchups with the Rockets last season, including a 145-113 blowout win in Boston. They won in Houston, 116-107, on a 32-point night from Porzingis.
Celtics vs. Thunder
Sunday afternoon usually belongs to the NFL, but this weekend's Celtics-Thunder clash is worth skipping out on Week 18 -- at least until the Lions and Vikings kick off Sunday night.
The Thunder are the best team in the West and have won a dozen straight heading into Thursday night's game against the L.A. Clippers. They also have the NBA's best differential at plus-12 for the season. (Boston is third at plus-10.7.)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is playing out of his mind this season, averaging 31.3 points (second in the NBA) to go with 5.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game. He dropped 40 in a win over the Wolves on Tuesday night, which had Edwards praising SGA as the MVP. Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 35 points in four of the last five games, and averaged 33.3 points per game off 56.3 percent shooting for the month of December.
Oklahoma City owns the best defense in the NBA, holding opponents to 103.3 points off 42.5 percent shooting. The Thunder are holding teams to just 33.2 percent from three-point range, which is second-best behind the Grizzlies.
The Thunder are doing this despite big man Chet Holgrem being out for the last two months. Isaiah Hartenstein has filled in well during Holgrem's absence, while forward Jalen Williams is averaging a career-high 21.0 points.
The Celtics dropped 45 points on the Raptors in the third quarter on Tuesday to completely turn that game in their favor. Later that night, the Thunder outscored the Wolves 34-8 in the third, turning a 10-point deficit into a 14-point lead heading into the final quarter. The Thunder's performance was much more impressive, considering it came against the third-ranked defense in the NBA.
The Thunder are dangerous and will only get better when Holgrem returns. Sunday afternoon is going to be Boston's biggest and toughest test of the year.
Celtics vs. Nuggets
And then after that one, the Celtics head to Denver to close the trip against the Nuggets on Tuesday night, which will also air on TNT. Denver has been solid but not great this year, sitting at 18-13 and in the 5-seed in the West.
But they've still got that Nikola Jokic guy, who is averaging a ridiculous 31.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 9.5 assists for the season. He had six triple-doubles in the month of December, and finished the month with a 36-point, 22-rebound, 11-assist opus in a win over the Utah Jazz.
He's had similar nights against Boston in recent years. (Who hasn't Jokic had nights like that against in recent years?) Last March in Denver, Jaylen Brown's 41 points and 14 rebounds weren't enough as Jokic led the Nuggets to a 115-109 victory with a 32-point, 12-rebound, 11-assist triple double. The Celtics struggled from deep, hitting just 11 of their 38 shots from downtown (28.9 percent).
The Nuggets took both games against Boston last season and have won three of their last four meetings. The Celtics swept the season series in both 2022 and 2021.
This road trip won't be a walk in the park for the Celtics, especially given the way they've played over the last month. Boston has been guilty of playing with its food, which led to losses to the Bulls, Magic, and 76ers over a four-game stretch.
It's a long season and even the best teams go through "slumps" like the Celtics. The defending champs are getting everyone's best effort on a nightly basis, and they haven't reciprocated on a few occasions.
But expect them to really wake up for a stretch like their upcoming road trip against some of the best teams in the NBA . They begin the trip with an 11-3 record on the road, and are tied with the Cavaliers (12-3) and the Thunder (13-3) for the fewest road loses this season.
