It’s been six months since Jayson Tatum stood at center court in TD Garden, still soaking in the moment of Boston’s 18th NBA championship banner being raised and his newly-earned 2024 title ring glinting on his hand. Emotions running high, Tatum thanked the fans for their unwavering support—and then delivered one last message:
“Let’s do it again.”
That mission begins Sunday as the Celtics, the second seed in the Eastern Conference, kick off their first-round playoff series against the seventh-seeded Orlando Magic. It’s been nearly a decade since a team has successfully defended their title—the last to do it was the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. But with Boston coming off another 60-win season, they’re in prime position to end that streak.
Still, Tatum isn’t looking beyond the first hurdle.
“We’re not thinking about anything other than the Magic right now,” he said. “Not the next round, not the Finals. Just getting ready for Game 1. That’s all we’re focused on.”
One lingering concern for Boston heading into the postseason is the health of Jaylen Brown. Last year’s Eastern Conference and Finals MVP missed the final three games of the regular season due to a sore right knee. Head coach Joe Mazzulla revealed Brown recently had an injection in the knee but has been practicing without restrictions.
When asked about his condition, Brown kept it short: “I’m not here to talk about my knee, guys. It is what it is. I’m focused on Orlando.”
Still, he acknowledged that the challenge of playing through injury is fueling him.
“You could say that,” he said. “But I don’t overthink it. One day at a time. I’m grateful to be here with this team, in the playoffs. I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’m one of the best athletes in the world, and I believe that’s enough. We’ve just got to figure it out, step by step.”
On the other side, the Orlando Magic enter the series as one of the postseason’s surprise stories. Back in March, it seemed their playoff hopes might be slipping away when standout guard Jalen Suggs was ruled out for the year following knee surgery. That followed the earlier loss of Moritz Wagner, who tore his ACL in January. But head coach Jamahl Mosley kept the group focused, and the Magic won 11 of their final 15 games before dominating Atlanta in the play-in tournament to clinch a spot.
“However you get here, you get here,” Mosley said. “We’ve had our share of adversity—injuries, tight games, tough losses—but we kept grinding. And now that we’re here, we’re not just satisfied. We believe we can make noise.”
Even though Boston had an outstanding 33-8 record on the road—the best in franchise history—they dropped the season series to Orlando, 2-1. It’s worth noting that Tatum didn’t play in either of those losses, but the Magic’s defense still made a mark, holding the Celtics to their fewest three-pointers per 100 possessions (11.3) in any season matchup.
Orlando comes in fresh off an 11-for-29 shooting night from beyond the arc against Atlanta, a promising sign as they get ready to face a Celtics squad that just broke the league record with 1,457 made threes this season.
Still, Mosley knows this isn’t going to be a shootout.
“We’re not trying to run with them,” he said. “They shoot 50 threes a game, that’s not who we are. But our guys hit 11 threes and had 28 assists in the play-in. That shows how connected we are. Defense is our identity, and that’s what we’ll lean on.”
