The current Boston Celtics are performing far worse than they were last year. Last year the Celtics were the best team in the league for almost the whole season. With newly added star Kristaps Porzingis staying mostly healthy up until the last few games of the postseason, they ended up winning the NBA finals.

However, this year they are in second place to a breakout Cleveland Cavaliers team and only two and a half games ahead of the third place Knicks. They have been barely above a 500 record at home this year whereas historically they have dominated. Especially last year, when they ended the season 37-4.

But it seems like most of their home success has been transferred to the road. This year they have so far improved from a .658 to a .785 winning percentage. But that’s not good enough to overcome their terrible performance at home for Celtics standards as their only seven games over 500. They have had some terrible losses including losses to the Bulls, Rockets, and Grizzlies.

In the case that they do lose on the road, it’s in even better matchups that they should have won. This is most shown by the loss to the Raptors on January 15th. In this 13 point loss the Celtics never seemed like they were in this game. Since the first few minutes of the game it looked like the game was already over.

This team is capable of winning every game. They have beat the Cavs in two out of three games they have matched up against each other. They have stayed healthy for most of the season with their only worry coming from Kristaps Porzingis who is just generally an injurious player because of his lanky frame and dangerous job as the Celtics big man.

The one person that seems to actually be making an improvement is Payton Pritchard. He improved on every stat on his stat line except field goal percentage which is the same as list year. He is averaging double digit points for the first time in his career. This is probably because the Celtics trust him more by giving him an extra five minutes a game.

The Celtics are definitely a playoff team but they aren’t playing like the same team that won the championship last year. They are just as deep as they were last year but some of their most recognizable players from 2023-2024 like Derrick White just aren’t playing as well. They just don’t seem like the same team.