The Boston Celtics are widely known as one of the most prestigious franchises in all of sports, winning 17 championships with its most recent win in 2008. After winning that year, the Celtics traded away two of its core pieces, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, to the Brooklyn Nets for two first round picks in 2016 and 2017. With those picks, the Celtics drafted Jaylen Brown third overall in 2016 and Jayson Tatum third overall in 2017. After facing adversity from NBA critics claiming that the two cannot work together, both Brown and Tatum have silenced the critics and blossomed into a dynamic duo, becoming the heart and soul of the Boston Celtics along with Marcus Smart, Robert Williams III, Malcolm Brogdon and many more.

The Celtics have never been closer to an NBA Championship in the last 13 years than right now. If you take a dive into the Celtics roster you will find it has one of the most talented groups of players in the league. The Celtics have a superb scoring offense and are currently fourth in points per game across the entire NBA. The Boston Celtics also have the second best defense in the NBA, second to only the Milwaukee Bucks. On paper, the Celtics have all the pieces to win the NBA finals and are a shoo-in for the playoffs. However, with inexperienced coach Joe Mazzulla, some of the Celtics biggest slip-ups are in the hands of Mazzulla.

Mazzulla has been a great first year coach for the Boston Celtics, but with the departure of Ime Udoka, who led Boston to the finals last year, there was a hole in the Celtics organization. The team needed a new leader, someone who would bring the best out of all of the Celtics players. The team decided on Joe Mazzulla and recently waived his interim head coach title and promoted him to a full-time head coaching position. Mazzulla has been a great coach, leading the Celtics to a record of 42-17 going into the All-Star break and being named the head coach of team Giannis at the 2023 All-Star game. Mazzulla is currently one of the two youngest head coaches in the NBA, but that comes with some drawbacks. His inexperience as a coach has begun to show in some close games. Mazzulla will fail to start some of the Celtics’ best players in clutch situations, and this action, if continued, will hurt the Celtics in the long run. As long as Mazzulla plays his role as a head coach for one of the best teams in the NBA, the Celtics are a lock for the 2023 NBA finals.

The Boston Celtics have it. Their defense and offense is outstanding when they have all of their starting five on the floor, and it is clear that they are one of the best teams in the NBA. It seems that a championship may be coming back to Boston in 2023. As long as the Celtics aren’t held back by the coaching and injuries that have caused problems this season, they can win the NBA’s 76th championship.