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For New Englanders, watching their favorite green and white players on the court is one of their favorite times of the year. Especially after their latest season, Celtics fans are looking forward to replacing last year’s upset with a possible Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy, and when it comes to the talent along with the fans, they just might do that.
After last year’s Eastern Conference upset of 4-3 in a 7-game series against the Miami Heat, New Englanders were more than surprised after the Celtics managed to have what Senior NBA Sports writer Taylor Snow describes as “their best regular-season record in 13 years followed by their fifth Eastern Conference Finals appearance in the last seven years.” Although this loss was notoriously disappointing for the New Englanders, they are still known to be some of the most dedicated fans in the business. When asked about last year’s loss, NH local and high-level Basketball player Bryana Szepan ’25 offers her insight on the subject. “Honestly, I think the team just wasn’t ready to play,” said Szepan. Beyond just not being ready, Szepan has some other ideas on last year’s loss. “They didn’t play strong defense, and when the Heat then turned up the heat on defense, the Celtics didn’t want to play as a team on offense,” said Szepan adding that their ability to not play “cohesively” is what, “ultimately led them to a loss”.
Moving on from last year’s loss, the Celtics have made changes to their roster with the addition of more talent. Trading Marcus Smart to Memphis, the Celtics have added power-forward Kristaps Porziņģis and point guard Jrue Holiday to their roster in hopes of maybe turning around this year’s results. Szepan is also eager to talk about this year’s new additions and what it means for the Celtics. “I think Porzingis will give them length and versatility in the post… I also think Holiday will help lead the team by adding a point guard to handle the ball, ” said Szepan before concluding that these two new additions, “will help make the Celtics a more all-around team”.
With these new changes, HB student and basketball player Annika Carlson ‘25 is maintaining her excitement about the new season. “I think the Celtics are going to come out strong,” said Carlson. And that they did. After winning their first season game against the Miami Heat by a score of 119-111, the Celtics have gone on to improve 7-2 to start off the 2023-2024 season. But before we can get our hopes up, there are potential weaknesses HB Student and basketball player Y’arie Ramas ‘25 warns us to look out for. The biggest weakness is “inconsistency from their superstars,” claimed Ramas.
The Celtics next game is November 13, 2023 at the Boston Garden as they host the New York Knicks with a record of 5-4.
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