The defending NBA champion Boston Celtics suffered their seventh loss of the 2024-2025 season on Monday, when they fell to the Magic in Orlando by a 108-104 final score. Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum was dropped from the Celtics lineup unexpectedly minutes before the tipoff, with the team citing a non-COVID illness.
Without Tatum, and in spite of 35 points from the their other All Star Jaylen Brown, Boston squandered a 15-point halftime lead, committing 19 turnovers in the loss that dropped them to 22-7, one game behind their pace after 29 games last season and 3 1/2 games behind the Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers. In fact, the Celtics stood just three games ahead of the New York Knicks, putting them closer to third place in the East than to first place for the first time in more than two years.
Offense Let the Celtics Down: Mazzulla
The Celtics who have been averaging 50.4 3-point shot attempts per game this season managed to get off just 33 attempts from behind the arc against Orlando, and converted just eight for a dismal 24.2 percent.
“I thought our offense let us down,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla said after the game. And on Tuesday, Christmas Day, the Celtics got more bad news ahead of their Christmas Day matchup against their longtime rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers — the ninth consecutive season the Celtics have played a game on Christmas.
The bad news came in the form of an injury report that continued to list Tatum as “questionable” with the non-COVID illness. And that wasn’t the only bad news on the report. The Celtics backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Derrick White were also both listed as questionable for the game at Boston’s TD Garden against the 10-17 ‘Sixers.
Holiday’s ailment was described as a “right shoulder impingement,” while White was listed as experiencing “right hamstring tightness.”
Celtics Look Vulnerable on Christmas
With the 76ers coming in as winners of seven of their last 10 games after starting the season 3-14, the possibility that three of their starting five could miss the game puts the Celtics in danger of dropping back-to-back games for the first time since April 9 against Milwaukee and April 11 against the Knicks toward the end of the 2023-2024 regular season.
The Celtics will also be facing an especially motivated Philadelphia team. According to the Philly Voice newspaper, the Christmas Day showdown is “the most anticipated Sixers game of 2024-25.”
Celtics beat reporter Bobby Manning, in a preview of the game for the Philly Voice, said that the Celtics, despite still boasting the NBA’s third-best record, look more vulnerable this season compared to their championship campaign last time around.
“So far it’s a shooting regression. Boston finished second in three-point percentage at 38.8 percent last season alongside their massive nightly volume in attempts. This year, even with Jayson Tatum back on track and (Payton) Pritchard shooting out of this world, they’re down to 36 percent – in a tie for 15th,” Manning said. “They need (Kristaps) Porzingis more than they did last year, and they probably need to explore adding a wing at the trade deadline. There are still a small number of teams that could beat this group four times – but they’re not unstoppable.”
Without three of their best players, the Celtics could be even more vulnerable on Christmas Day.
