BOSTON – Perfection at TD Garden: 18-0.
In their first 76 years of existence, no Celtics team had gotten off to such a start. Not the 2008 team. Not the 1986 team. Not any of the teams that won eight consecutive championships between the 1950s and the mid-1960s, nor any of the thirteen groups that recorded 60 wins in the season. regular.
No team had done that until this season’s edition of the Celtics did it earlier this week.
By beating the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night, the Celtics set a new franchise record for their home start, breaking the 67-year-old mark held by the 1957-58 team that opened 17-0 at Boston Garden and made headlines. Second Year Center.
Entering this season, the C’s, and head coach Joe Mazzulla in particular, emphasized a need to take better care of their home court after going 5-6 at TD Garden the previous postseason. And so they have, to the tune of perfection.
Boston led the visitors with an average of 14. 6 points per game, nearly four points more than the closest game (Oklahoma City – plus-10. 9 points per game at the Paycom Center). The Cs have recorded 10 double-digit wins at home, and only four of their single-digit wins came through a single owner or went to overtime.
What made Boston’s streak even more impressive is the fact that until Wednesday they had to deal with the second-toughest schedule in the league, according to ESPN, meaning that most of their wins came against teams with winning records.
All with a clever omen in their first home game, in which the C won a 119-111 rematch over the Miami Heat, who had already stunned Boston in May by winning 3-of-4 at TD Garden in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals.
The Celtics followed with a 155-104 win over the Indiana Pacers, which is the second-highest point overall and third-largest margin of victory in franchise history. It is the first of 4 direct home wins with at least 14 points, as it beat Brooklyn by 14, Toronto by 23 and New York by 16.
On the eve of Thanksgiving, the C hosted the Milwaukee Bucks, which many experts expect to be Boston’s biggest festival in the East, and pulled off a 119-116 victory. They closed out the month of November with a 113-103 win over the Hawks, followed up with a 124-97 run against the Bulls.
December was supposed to be the toughest month of the season, but the Cs finished 12-2 in that stretch, going 8-0 At home. It started with wins over Atlantic Division rivals Philadelphia and New York. They then starred in a rare series of matchups — back-to-back miniseries with Cleveland and Orlando, which they swept 4-0.
They then faced a Pistons team that had lost 27 games outright and yet Detroit gave them a money-making opportunity by becoming the first visiting team this season to force overtime at TD Garden. Fortunately, the Cs held on and pulled away from the threat of defeat for the Pistons, who tied an NBA record that night with their 28th straight loss.
The Cs closed out December with another close win, beating Toronto by two points, and a few days later, Joe Mazzulla was named Eastern Coach of the Month for the second time in his career.
Boston opened the new year at home with a 29-point victory over the Utah Jazz for its franchise-record 17th straight win to open the season. And after all came the record: a 127-120 overtime win over the Western Conference. -Leaders of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
It’s fitting that the 18th win produced one of the most exciting atmospheres Mazzulla has ever experienced at TD Garden, as the enthusiasts helped the Cs get the win after trailing for the first 11:24 of the fourth quarter.
After the game, the head coach reflected on the impact that the greatest fan base in basketball makes on its beloved team, and how 18-0 likely wouldn’t have happened without them.
“There’s been two times that I’ve actually shown that I have a pulse, and tonight was one of them and it was because of the crowd,” Mazzulla said. “I’m not going to say we’re 18-0 at home without that, and so to me, we want to create this identity of playing Celtic basketball, because the fans are really smart and they know when we suck and they know when we don’t, and they’ve seen great basketball for a long period of time. So usually if they’re cheering it’s because you’re doing something right, and I think over the course of this season, they’ve seen moments of greatness, they’ve seen moments of Celtic basketball and they’ve responded to that really well, and I think that’s had a huge impact on our team. And to me, especially being from here (as a native New Englander), there’s nothing better than getting the Garden, the crowd to appreciate Celtic basketball. So I think the connectivity between us and the identity of the city and the identity of the arena is kind of building something for us.”
Only 12 times in NBA history has a team gotten off to an 18-0 start at home, making the Celtics a lucky number 13. They still have a long way to go before breaking the NBA record 39-0 as the Spurs opened the 2015-16 season at home. Remarkably, the Golden State Warriors that same season went 36-0 at home, before the Celtics ended that streak with a win at Oracle Arena. Neither team managed to surpass the Celtics’ 1985-86 regular season home record of 40. -1, either of them completed 39-2.
That’s still a long way off, but for now, the Celtics are satisfied with the history they just made by going undefeated at home and getting their 18th win, the same magic number they’re also aiming for in June when it comes to titles. .
As Jaylen Brown said, “Anytime you get a chance to look back on history, a lot of wonderful bands have come out and played at the Garden, and for us to have started in the history of the franchise, I think that says a lot about the group. It is an honor to be in this sense and let’s continue to do so.
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