(Photo courtesy of Sports Illustrated) “Jaylen Brown defends Pascal Siakam”
Jake Messer
Connector Editor
On Wednesday night, the Boston Celtics suffered their first setback of the 2024-25 NBA season, losing to the Indiana Pacers 135-132 in an overtime thriller. This marks the first time the Celtics have lost to the Pacers since Jan. 8 of this year.
The Celtics struggled to get going throughout most of the night, as the team went 19/57 beyond the arc and struggled to keep up with the hasty Pacers. Despite the loss, forward Jayson Tatum finished with 37 points and 8 rebounds, including hitting the clutch three-pointer with 13.1 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
“We got a good group, a good unit, but we can’t take it for granted,” said forward Jaylen Brown after the game. “We had an opportunity to win tonight and we didn’t pull through.”
Even though the defending champions lost to the Pacers, the game highlighted the team’s backbone and tenacity. Head Coach Joe Mazzulla could have easily waved the white flag and sent the bench players into the game early in the fourth quarter, as the team was behind as much as 24 points, but he did not. Allowing his team to gain confidence in themselves, even on a night when things just didn’t go their way, showed the confidence Mazzulla had in his team.
With that being said, the Celtics are still off to a great start this season, going 4-1 through their first five games. With a key 119-108 victory at home over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Celtics seemingly have maintained their winning ways from the previous season.
Guard Derrick White continues to be one of the most underrated point guards in the NBA. This season, he is averaging 19 points while shooting 55% from the field. In addition, he is also averaging a block a game while having the highest assist-to-turnover ratio on the team with five.
Stepping up big this year is guard Payton Pritchard, who is an early candidate for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award. Pritchard has provided a huge spark coming off the bench, averaging 16 points on 45.6% from the field all while only playing 27 minutes a night. His ability to score coming off the bench will be invaluable to the Celtic’s success throughout the season.
However, the biggest impact has come from forward Jayson Tatum, who is an early candidate for NBA MVP this season. With an average of 30.2 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, Tatum has been playing some of the best basketball throughout his entire career. In regards to the award, it isn’t a top priority for Tatum currently, as he is focusing on winning Banner 19.
“If you’re an MVP, you’re dominating, you’re efficient and you’re impacting winning,” Tatum said. “Championships are the most important, but being the best version of yourself is also important as well.”
One player who is missing from this team this season is center Kristaps Porzingis, who has been out this season due to a leg injury he suffered in last year’s playoffs. Porzingis had surgery to repair the rare leg injury sometime after the finals.
Porzingis is currently rehabbing the leg and working to get back to the court this season. At this point, there is no official timetable for his return. However, it is being reported that he could be back on the court as soon as early December if all goes to plan.
Looking ahead, the Celtics will play their NBA Cup Group Stage games this month. On Nov. 12, they will host the Atlanta Hawks. One week later, they will host the Cleveland Cavaliers. They will wrap up the group stage games on the road against the Washington Wizards a few days later.
Winning a championship is hard. Winning back-to-back championships is even harder as you carry a target on your back. The Celtics will look to overcome this challenge and go back-to-back for the first time since the Bill Russell-led Celtics did in the 1960’s.
