Celtics Rumors

Community Shootaround: Are NBA’s Top Seeds In Trouble?

May 6th, 2025 at 8:27am CST by Luke Adams

The second round of the 2025 NBA playoffs are off to an unexpected start, with the league’s top three regular season teams all dropping the first game of their respective series.

The 64-win Cavaliers, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, fell to the Pacers on Sunday, and the No. 2 Celtics followed suit on Monday by losing to the Knicks. In Monday’s late game, the Thunder, who led the league with 68 regular season wins and dominated Memphis in round one, blew a late-game lead to the Nuggets and lost Game 1.

None of the three games were one-sided. The Pacers and Cavaliers were neck-and-neck through three-and-a-half quarters before Indiana pulled away late in the game; the Knicks required overtime to sneak past the Celtics; and the Thunder fell to the Nuggets on an Aaron Gordon three-pointer in the game’s final seconds.

It’s also worth noting that the Pacers are unlikely to make nearly 53% of their three-point tries (19-of-36) on a regular basis, as they did in Game 1. The Celtics probably aren’t going to miss 45 three-point attempts (they went 15-of-60) very often. And the Thunder could have easily won Game 1 if not for some questionable fouling decisions in crunch time.

In other words, the higher seeds may have no reason to panic — it’s not as if their opponents found glaring weaknesses that can be exploited for the rest of the series. Still, the margin for error in a competitive matchup can be slim, and the fact that those three higher seeds have all given up home-court advantage already could come back to haunt them later in the series.

Of the three teams who trail 1-0 in their respective series, the Cavaliers appear to be in the most danger due in large part to their injury situation. Darius Garland has been out since Game 2 of the first round due to a toe injury and is considered questionable to play in Game 2 vs. Indiana. Evan Mobley (ankle) and De’Andre Hunter (thumb) have joined him on the injury report with the same questionable designation after suffering injuries in Game 1.

Still, oddsmakers don’t appear overly concerned about the top seeds just yet. Despite the fact that they’re trailing in their series, the Cavaliers (-230), Thunder (-325), and Celtics (-355) are listed as solid favorites to advance by BetOnline.ag at the time of this writing. By comparison, the Timberwolves are just a -200 favorite against the lower-seeded Warriors despite that series not yet getting underway.

We want to know what you think. Do you still expect the Cavaliers, Celtics, and Thunder to make it through to the conference finals, or have the Game 1 results of any of those three series made you more inclined to pick an underdog to advance?

Head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts.

Atlantic Notes: Hart, Knicks, Robinson, Kornet, Nets

May 5th, 2025 at 6:13pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Josh Hart‘s contributions will be even more invaluable to the Knicks in their second-round series, which began tonight, Jared Schwartz of the New York Post notes.

While the Knicks were able to answer runs against the inexperienced Pistons in their first-round series, the defending champion Celtics possess a killer instinct to bury teams once momentum shifts their way. Hart can guide his teammates through those storms.

“For me, I’ve said it all year, it’s how can I get my guys going? How can I help them get an easy shot or an open look or get their energy into the game? A lot of that I do by example,” Hart said. “I’ll talk to guys obviously, but it’s making a big play here or there, a hustle play that will get one of those guys an open shot that they knock down, now they’re feeling good, the energy is up. That’s something I always try to do, that I hang my hat on.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

A big concern for the Knicks is matching up against the Celtics‘ bench, Schwartz notes. Boston has the Sixth Man of the Year, Payton Pritchard, and several other contributors in reserve, while Miles McBride struggled during New York’s first-round series. Mitchell Robinson was the only second-unit player who provided consistent production against Detroit and they’ll need that again from him in this series.
Speaking of Celtics reserves, Luke Kornet had to make a major career adjustment with the team. They asked him to be more of an interior presence, rather than joining the long list of big men tasked with stretching the floor. “It was actually really hard,” Kornet told Brian Robb of Masslive.com. “All of a sudden, the thing that I was most proud of and felt was my identity, and the reason I was in the NBA was kind of gone.”
The Nets‘ stockpile of draft picks is more valuable than ever, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. They have multiple picks in this year’s loaded draft, plenty of extra picks and picks swap in future seasons. Cheap rookie contracts are more important now because of the restrictions in the current CBA.

Celtics’ Jrue Holiday Removed From Injury Report

May 4th, 2025 at 5:42pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jrue Holiday is off the injury report for Game 1 of the Celtics’ second-round series against the Knicks, as Brian Robb of MassLive.com writes.

The Celtics issued a clean injury report on Sunday, signaling they’ll be at full strength when they take the court for Monday’s home contest.

Holiday missed the final three games of Boston’s first-round series against Orlando due to a strained hamstring.

Holiday will likely be matched up defensively against the Knicks’ top offensive threat, Jalen Brunson. Brunson averaged 26.3 points and 5.8 assists against the Celtics this season but Boston swept the four-game season series.

Holiday, who won the NBA’s annual Sportsmanship Award, averaged 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.1 steals during the regular season while starting 62 games. The scoring average was his lowest since his rookie season, but he’s a steadying force.

Holiday was instrumental in Boston’s title run last season, averaging 13.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists while committing just 1.5 turnovers per contest and earning second-team All-Defensive honors.

Knicks Notes: Brunson, Anunoby, Towns

May 4th, 2025 at 1:45pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The next major playoff test for Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson will be grappling with the Celtics’ All-Defensive backcourt, writes Zach Braziller of The New York Post.

The reigning Clutch Player of the Year averaged 31.5 PPG, 8.2 APG, 4.0 RPG in New York’s first round playoff series victory against Detroit, while fending off top point-of-attack Pistons defender Ausar Thompson.

The Celtics’ imposing defensive duo of Derrick White and Jrue Holiday isn’t looking past Brunson either.

“Big-time player,” White said of Brunson. “Seems to make the big plays for them. He’s had an unbelievable year, and obviously these playoffs, he’s taken it to another level. … Try to make it as difficult as we can for 48 minutes.”

There’s more out of New York:

All-Defensive Knicks forward OG Anunoby is preparing for his own massive test, in this case defending the Celtics’ best player, six-time All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. “I always have confidence [in OG] no matter who he is guarding,” Brunson said of Anunoby. “He brings that mindset every game. And so I have confidence regardless of whatever he is doing.” As Botte notes, former All-Defensive wing Mikal Bridges could also spend significant time guarding Tatum.
After attempting a series-low 10 shots in the Knicks’ series-clinching Game 6 win over Detroit, Karl-Anthony Towns says he isn’t concerned about the drop in his field goal attempts — as long as New York keeps winning, writes Ethan Sears of The New York Times.
In case you missed it, Holiday is looking to return to the hardwood early in the Knicks series after sitting out Boston’s last three playoff games with a strained right hamstring.

Celtics Notes: Holiday, Brown, Porzingis, Offseason

May 4th, 2025 at 10:58am CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics are getting healthier as they prepare for the start of their second-round series against the Knicks, writes Matt Vautour of MassLive. After Saturday’s practice, coach Joe Mazzulla offered an encouraging update on Jrue Holiday, who missed the final three games of the Orlando series with a strained right hamstring.

“He was able to work on everything he wanted to work on,” Mazzulla said. “He’s getting better every day.”

Holiday’s return will be especially important in the matchup with New York, as he’s likely to be the primary defender against Jalen Brunson.

Jaylen Brown told reporters that he’s feeling better despite dealing with a posterior impingement in his right knee that has been bothering him for several weeks. The condition hasn’t gone away, but Brown is learning how to play through it.

“I’m just trying to trend back in the direction of being 100 percent,” Brown said. “Physically holding my ground and still making plays for our team. Even with guys being out — Jrue, (Jayson Tatum) missed a game — being able to step in and fill a role. I feel I’m decent. Now, moving forward, it’s a whole different ballgame, different team, different challenges. My focus is fixed on that. Structurally, everything is fine. There’s some other stuff going on, but I’m trending in the right direction.”

There’s more from Boston:

The Celtics are looking forward to getting back to their normal style of play after being frustrated by Orlando in the first round, Jay King of The Athletic states in a discussion of the upcoming series with Fred Katz and James L. Edwards III. That means returning to their normal rate of three-point attempts, which the Magic were able to limit much better than the Knicks did in their four regular season matchups with Boston.
There are reasons to be concerned about Kristaps Porzingis heading into the second-round series, Brian Robb of MassLive states in a mailbag column. Robb points out that Porzingis has never played more than seven games in any postseason, and he wasn’t effective in rebounding against Orlando or in stopping dribble penetration by Franz Wagner. Those challenges will be magnified against New York, which has Karl-Anthony Towns and Mitchell Robinson on the boards and Brunson attacking the basket.
Robb expects money-saving roster changes this summer, noting that the Celtics had “a unique two-year window” to compete for a title with the current group. He sees Porzingis and Holiday as obvious trade candidates and adds that there could be “surprises” depending on how far the Celtics advance in the playoffs.

Knicks Notes: Porzingis, Brunson, Bridges, Anunoby, Towns

May 3rd, 2025 at 9:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kristaps Porzingis was once beloved by Knicks fans who saw him as their best hope of escaping years of dysfunction, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. But years later, after a devastating injury and a messy breakup, Porzingis is a member of the Celtics and stands in their team’s way of reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.

When he was drafted with the fourth pick in 2015, Porzingis was hailed as a “unicorn” because of his unique combination of size and outside shooting touch. He was an immediate fan favorite in New York, but his efforts to turn the Knicks into contenders were sunk by general mismanagement and what Bondy calls “petty infighting” involving the front office and coaching staff.

Bondy states that former team executives Phil Jackson and Steve Mills never viewed Porzingis as a future star and unsuccessfully tried to trade him after his second season. He suffered a torn ACL midway through the following season and then missed all of 2018/19. Before he was fully healed, he was traded to Dallas, and Knicks management cast him as a villain on the way out.

“The whole process was just a mess,” Porzingis said. “I didn’t like the way it ended. That wasn’t how I wanted it to end, if it did end. I tried to stay myself the whole time. Not do anything. Not say anything. If I did say anything, it would’ve been right after I was traded. Now it’s too late.”

There’s more on the Knicks:

Knicks players are acknowledging that Boston will present a tougher challenge than they faced in the first round, per Peter Botte of The New York Post. New York went 0-4 against the Celtics this season, dropping the first three games by 63 total points before losing in overtime in April. “Obviously, (we have to) play better than we did (against them) throughout the regular season,” Jalen Brunson said. “Be better, ready to do it from the jump, knowing it’s going to be a game of runs, knowing that they’re capable of doing a lot of great things. I feel like we played better in that (fourth) game. We adjusted from the first three times we played them, obviously still not getting it done, but definitely played better and competed better than the first three games. So that’s something we can look at and build off of.”
The Knicks never lost faith in Mikal Bridges no matter how bad things got this season, and he rewarded them in the close-out game against Detroit, notes Barbara Barker of Newsday. Bridges scored 25 points in Game 6 and tied the contest on a put-back slam in the final minute. After Saturday’s practice, coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters that Bridges has done an admirable job in dealing with a heavy amount of pressure after the Knicks sent five first-round picks to Brooklyn to acquire him. “I think for anybody who gets traded or in free agency or whatever it might be there’s an adjustment period that you have to go through and it takes some time,” Thibodeau said. “I think he’s very confident in his abilities.”
Steve Popper of Newsday lists five keys for the Knicks in the series, including the need for Bridges and OG Anunoby to control Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, and a more consistent performance from Karl-Anthony Towns.

Celtics Sale Expected To Close Soon

May 3rd, 2025 at 8:47pm CST by Arthur Hill

The group headed by William Chisholm has attained enough money to cover the cost of buying the Celtics, and the sale is expected to be finalized in the next week or so, sources tell Ben Horney of Front Office Sports.

Two sources describe the group’s status as “oversubscribed,” according to Horney, with more than enough capital on hand to complete the deal. Horney states that the buyers will acquire slightly more than 51% of the franchise in the first part of the transaction, but the exact stake for Chisholm hasn’t been clarified.

Front Office Sports reported last week last that Chisholm was still seeking investors, so progress has apparently been made in the past few days.

Horney notes that Chisholm’s group has also resolved an issue involving Sixth Street Partners, a private equity firm. Reports emerged after the sale was announced in March that Sixth Street Partners was contributing more money to the sale than Chisholm, which isn’t permitted. NBA regulations state that private equity firms cannot be the largest stakeholder in a team and that at least 15% of the purchase price must come from the controlling owner.

That issue was raised by current minority owner Steve Pagliuca, who also sought to buy the team. Horney states that Pagliuca wrote a public letter to Celtics fans last month promising that his proposal was “fully guaranteed and financed” and contained “no debt or private equity money that would potentially hamstring our ability to compete in the future.”

Pagliuca added that he and his partners were “ready to check back into the game” if Chisholm’s group couldn’t comply with NBA bylaws.

According to Horney, a plan remains in place to have current owner Wyc Grousbeck continue as CEO and governor through the 2027/28 season. A source tells Horney that there will be two parts to the sale, and current minority owners can also keep their positions in the organization until 2028.

The minority owners can sell their stakes for up to 20% more than the original price of the deal, Horney adds, under a revenue-based formula established by the league. He estimates that it will bring the actual value of the deal to almost $7.3 billion.

Several new minority owners will be identified in the coming weeks, and they could include a few familiar names to Boston sports fans, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. A source tells Himmelsbach that Chisholm has made it a priority to establish ties with the local business community.

Himmelsbach also points out that no matter when the sale is finalized, it won’t become official until it’s approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors, probably in June or July.

Celtics Widely Expected To Make Offseason Roster Changes

May 3rd, 2025 at 2:09pm CST by Luke Adams

After winning a title in 2024, the Celtics brought back essentially the same team this season, parting ways with only a couple reserves. No NBA team retained more players from the end of the 2023/24 season to the start of ’24/25 than Boston (15).

However, even if the Celtics repeat as champions this spring, they’re unlikely to maintain that sort of continuity going forward, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show this week (YouTube link), Charania said Boston is widely expected to make cost-cutting moves that will impact its roster this offseason.

“The rest of the league is bracing for some level of change to come to the Celtics roster this offseason,” Charania said (hat tip to RealGM). “Sources have been telling me for weeks now that the Celtics will be exploring trade options in the offseason.

“This iteration just is not going to be sustainable for this team and no one around the organization – from players to staffers – would be surprised if there are changes coming to this roster. Because when you think about the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, there’s restrictions that come with trades, there’s restrictions that come with freezing of draft picks. That’s all stuff that they’re dealing with right now.”

As Charania observes, star wings Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will both be on super-max contracts in 2025/26 and beyond, with Derrick White, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday also set to earn between $28.1MM and $32.4MM apiece next season. Those five players on their own will earn a combined $198.5MM, which exceeds the projected first tax apron ($195.9MM).

In total, Boston has about $221MM in guaranteed money committed to nine players and will still need to add at least five more players to that count. Even if those last five players are earning minimum-salary deals, the Celtics’ team salary would soar past the second apron ($207.8MM), setting the club up to pay a massive tax bill as the more punitive repeater penalties go into effect. It would also place serious limitations on what the front office can do in free agency and on the trade market.

What form Boston’s roster changes take remains an open question, one that figures to be decided at least in part by how the team performs during the remainder of its postseason run. While it’s possible a starter like Porzingis or Holiday ends up on the trade block this summer, the team also may look to make tweaks around the edges, perhaps including a role player like Sam Hauser.

If the Celtics’ new ownership group is comfortable paying substantial tax penalties, there won’t necessarily be urgency to get below the second apron right away, but the longer the team continues to operate above that threshold, the more limited its roster-building options become — a team that remains above the second apron for several years at a time would have a handful of future first-round picks “frozen” (ineligible to be traded) and moved to the back of the first round.

For now, Boston’s focus is on winning a second consecutive title, but teams around the NBA are keeping an eye on the defending champions and are curious to see what’s in store for them this offseason, according to Charania.

“None of these changes are at the top of mind for the Celtics now, they can’t be,” Charania said. “This is obviously the most talented team in the league. I think a lot of people would agree with that. So these are good problems to have, but the league is bracing for some level of change to come to this Celtics roster in the offseason.”

Celtics’ Jrue Holiday Wins 2024/25 Sportsmanship Award

May 1st, 2025 at 11:41am CST by Rory Maher

Celtics guard Jrue Holiday has won the NBA’s Sportsmanship Award for the 2024/25 season, the league announced today in a press release (Twitter links). It’s the second time the 34-year-old has claimed the award, having previously won it with Milwaukee back in ’20/21.

The Sportsmanship Award has been presented annually since ’95/96 and “honors a player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court.”

Each of the league’s 30 teams nominated one of its players for the award, then a panel of league executives narrows that group to six finalists (one from each division) and current players voted for the winner.

As the full voting results show, Holiday received the most first-place votes and most total points. Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen finished in second place, followed closely by Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving. Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lakers forward Dorian Finney-Smith, and Magic forward Franz Wagner rounded out the top six (in that order).

The trophy for the Sportsmanship Award is named after Joe Dumars, the Hall-of-Fame guard who won the inaugural award back in ’95/96. Dumars was recently named the Pelicans’ head of basketball operations after working for the NBA for the past few years.

Holiday has earned numerous team and individual accolades throughout his career. The combo guard has won two NBA championships, two Olympic gold medals with Team USA, is a two-time All-Star, and has earned six All-Defensive nods. He has also been named Teammate of the Year three times. Now he has added a second Sportsmanship Award to his impressive trophy case.

Jrue Holiday To Remain Out For Game 5

April 28th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

Veteran guard Jrue Holiday, who has missed the past two games of the Celtics‘ series vs. Orlando due to a right hamstring strain, will remain sidelined for Game 5 on Tuesday, the team announced today (Twitter link).

The Celtics lost Game 3 in Orlando without Holiday available on Friday, but bounced back with a 107-98 victory on Sunday to take a 3-1 lead in the series.

Al Horford has taken Holiday’s spot in the starting lineup, with Sam Hauser playing an increased role off the bench and Boston leaning heavily on its stars. Jayson Tatum and Derrick White each played at least 39 minutes in Games 3 and 4, with Jaylen Brown logging 41 minutes in Sunday’s win.

Speaking of Brown, he’s listed as questionable for Game 5 due to a posterior impingement in his right knee, per the Celtics. However, the reigning NBA Finals MVP had that same questionable designation prior to Games 3 and 4 and ultimately saw a full workload in both contests, so it would be a bit of a surprise if he joins Holiday on the inactive list.

If the Celtics can wrap up their first-round series with a win over the Magic on Tuesday, the team will have a lengthier layoff before beginning its second-round series, which would give Holiday some additional recovery time.

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