With three days to go before the Boston Celtics face the Orlando Magic to open their 2025 NBA playoff run, the defending NBA champions appear fully focused on taking back-to-back titles. Though the Celtics have won more championships, 18, than any other NBA team, they have not won consecutive banners since 1968 and 1969, the legendary Bill Russell’s final two years with the team.
The Celtics finished the 2024-2025 NBA season with 61 wins, the 15th time that Boston has reached the 60-win mark. That’s also an NBA record. The Los Angeles Lakers are second with 11. The Celtics won 64 games last season, making this year the first time since the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 seasons that the team has won at least 60 in back-to-back seasons
After starting the just-concluded season by winning 21 of their first 26 games, the Celtics slumped for several weeks, playing barely over .500 ball (11-10) until January 27. Since that point, the reigning champions have been playing like it, ending the regular season on a 29-6 run.
Celtics Appear Healthy For Playoffs â Mostly
More importantly, the Celtics who have been pestered by injuries and player illnesses all season long, appear to be, with one exception, fully healthy heading into the playoffs.
But that exception is a big one.
Jaylen Brown, who the Celtics made the No. 3 overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft and who has since become a three-time All-Star and perennial 20-plus points per game scorer, has been playing through a nagging right knee injury, the exact nature of which has not been made entirely clear. The Celtics have characterized the injury as a “bone bruise.”
After a road game against the Phoenix Suns on March 26 in which he scored 24 points in 28 minutes, the 28-year-old Brown â who signed a “SuperMax” five-year, $285.4 million contract extension during the 2023 offseason, revealed that he was playing under a minutes restriction, in an attempt to manage the injury.
Then in April, Brown received multiple injections in the injured knee, though the exact nature of those injections was not specified. Brown sat out the final three games of the season and ended up playing in 63 of the Celtics 82 games overall.
Now, according to Celtics insider reporter Jay King of The Athletic, the Celtics star who averaged 22.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in the regular season, may find his participation restricted in Boston’s postseason campaign as well.
Brown Remains a ‘Question Mark’ Heading into Game One
“Brownâs injury might limit him in the postseason,” King wrote on Thursday. “Though the Celtics have sounded optimistic about his form at practices, he remains their biggest question mark with Game One days away.”
While the Celtics can likely survive the first-round matchup with Orlando even with a “limited” Brown, as they move deeper into the playoffs against more formidable opposition, a hobbled Brown could prove a serious disadvantage. But Brown’s teammates appear unworried about the star’s health, especially after Brown participated fully in a team practice on Tuesday.
âI think heâs fine,â Celtics guard Jrue Holiday said after the practice, as quoted by Boston.com. âIâm pretty sure if yâall asked him, heâd be fine, too. I think itâs whatever it takes to win.”
âHe looked great today,â center Al Horford added. âI was very happy to see him out there doing everything. Itâs a really good sign for us.”
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