Boston Celtics Regular Season Report Card: Superstars shined, role players faltered

The Boston Celtics finished the 2022-23 regular season with the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference and the second best record overall. Before the regular season started Vegas set the win total for the Celtics at 53.5, and the Celtics went over that by 3.5 games.

Boston won six more games compared to last season. The only thing that stayed the same was the postseason seeding. The Cs went from a defensively inclined team to an offensive juggernaut under Joe Mazzulla.

Overall I would give the Celtics a B+ for the 2022-23 season — the reason being the second half of the season was somewhat of a disaster for the Celtics following the 2023 All-Star Game. In the first half of the season, the C’s were 29-12 and they were the first seed in the east. In the second half, they finish 28-13, losing the first seed to the Bucks.

Last season in the second half the Celtics had a 31-10 record, and they were able to turn their season around. This season they had too many questionable losses starting from the Nets who traded away Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. The tanking Houston Rockets, and The Utah Jazz as well. There were too many questionable losses, hence the B+, and not an A.

Now it is time to grade the key players on the Boston Celtics

Jaylen Brown Grade: A+

Jaylen Brown is getting an A+ because overall he had a fantastic season. Brown averaged 26.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game on 49% shooting from the field and 33% from the 3-point line. No. 7 also improved on getting to the free throw line this season as he jump from 4.8 attempts per game to 5.1 attempts per game.

Brown was selected to be in the NBA All-Stars game, and there is a good chance he is going to get picked for the All-NBA Third Team. His best game was when he had a season-high 43 points against the Houston Rockets.

Jayson Tatum Grade: A+

Jayson Tatum had an MVP-like season as he average 30 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. Tatum was also 46% from the field and 35% from downtown, and the one stat that stood out was his free throw attempts. Tatum’s free throw attempted last season was 6.2 and this season he attempted free throws 8.2 per game.

In December, the ESPN MVP straw poll had Tatum first in the MVP race. Tatum probably going to finish fourth in the MVP race, but he did put the league on notice that he can hang with the best.

Post All-Star break Tatum’s stats did take a small dip. His 3-point percentage went from 35.7 pre-All-Star break to 32.8% post-All-Star. Even with the small dip overall, I would still give Tatum an A+ for the season. Tatum’s best game this season was when he had a season-high 51 points against the Charlotte Hornets.