Surging Celtics End Rollercoaster 2025 On High Note

The Boston Celtics are off today, which means they’ve officially played their last game of 2025.

It’s been an eventful 12 months for the Celtics, who started the year as defending NBA champs. They looked like they were going to repeat before collapsing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, blowing huge leads to the New York Knicks at home in Games 1 and 2 and losing Jayson Tatum to a season-ending Achilles injury (he hasn’t played since).

That preceded a painful offseason for Boston. Not only did the Celtics complete their sale to a new ownership group led by Bill Chisholm, but they also blew up their championship core for financial reasons, moving on from Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Luke Kornet to get under the second apron.

Accordingly, Boston entered the 2025-26 with middling expectations and tons of question marks. The new-look Celtics still had enough talent to compete for a playoff spot in a weakened Eastern Conference, but not enough to contend for a title.

Sure enough, Boston began this season poorly, starting 0-3 for the first time in over a decade and remaining below .500 into mid-November.

The Celtics have rounded into form since then, however. Jaylen Brown has emerged as an MVP candidate and is playing the best basketball of his career, while the players around him have picked up the slack and flourished in their new roles under Joe Mazzulla’s guidance.

Boston ended 2025 on a 15-5 run, surging into third place in the East. After coming back to beat the Utah Jazz on Tuesday in their final game of the year, the Celtics went 9-3 in December — their best month yet.

After finishing the year strong, Boston will look to start 2026 on the right foot with a road win over the Sacramento Kings on New Year’s Day.