Through the first 24 games of the season, the Boston Celtics have been one of the best teams in basketball once again. Fresh off their road to the 2024 NBA Championship, they look poised to make another run. Their five losses have been to some solid teams, including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, and Memphis Grizzlies, but they’ve beaten some quality teams as well.
Wins over the Minnesota Timberwolves, New York Knicks, and the same Cavs have highlighted the Celtics’ early-season schedule, but they have a fairly easy schedule remaining this season. In fact, according to Tankathon, the Celtics have the second-easiest strength of schedule remaining this year.
They could be ready to dominate.
The Celtics have the second-easiest remaining strength of schedule
The only team with an easier strength of schedule left this season is the Chicago Bulls, who are on a one-way path to the NBA Draft Lottery. They will likely be trying to lose more games than win by the end of the season.
Boston, on the other hand, will benefit from as many “easy” wins as their schedule allows as they push forward on the path toward Banner 19.
The teams the Celtics are slated to face throughout the next 58 games of the season have a collective winning percentage of .476. Obviously, the Celtics being in the Eastern Conference gives them a significant advantage in that regard, but not every East team is so lucky.
Teams like the Knicks and Detroit Pistons have a much harder strength of schedule, largely because they have to play the Celtics and Cavs multiple times in the upcoming portion of the season.
All that being said, some of the teams the Celtics are competing with for a top spot in the East also have fairly easy schedules. Cleveland, in particular, who is still in first place in the conference, has the seventh-easiest remaining schedule at a .490 opponent winning percentage.
If the Celtics want to win a championship, they will have to beat whoever is put in front of them, no matter what that team’s record is. But getting to go up against some weaker opponents along the way will make their lives objectively easier.
And after enjoying a 64-win regular season last year, they could be poised for an even more successful stint this year. They are already on pace to match their record from last season, and they could easily surpass it.
Considering how easy the rest of their schedule is, Boston could be in for a victory explosion.