The Celtics are being subjected to the worst kind of criticism

The Boston Celtics are too good at basketball. That’s their biggest problem at the moment. They won the 2024 NBA Championship too easily, Brad Stevens built too talented of a team, and the way they won was too dominant for people around the NBA to accept.

Obviously, that’s how the Celtics want to keep things. Their goal is to win as many games as possible without looking back. In 2024, they accomplished that goal, and it led to Banner 18. But the end result of their supremacy is that they are incapable of earning individual praise (again, an issue the Celtics themselves likely don’t care about).

But just because Boston is happy to accept team praise over personal praise doesn’t mean the criticism isn’t ridiculous.

The Celtics are being criticized for being too good

From the moment they beat the Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, media members and NBA fans alike were trying to discredit the Celtics. All the way until they went up 3-0 in the Finals, Boston was doubted. But rather than being doubted for being untalented, they were doubted because of how great they were.

The Celtics made such quick work of the Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Indiana Pacers that more people picked the Dallas Mavericks to win the NBA Finals. Nine of 17 ESPN panel members picked Dallas.

But the criticism didn’t end there.

Jayson Tatum led the Celtics in points, rebounds, and assists during their playoff run, but Jaylen Brown won Eastern Conference finals and NBA Finals MVP. But instead of praising both players for their impressive accomplishments, Tatum was denounced for “getting carried” or “not being the best on his team.”

For context, only five other players have led their team in points, rebounds, and assists in the playoffs en route to a championship: LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, and Larry Bird.

Despite that, his shooting slump and lack of Team USA playing time at the Olympics have people doubting his greatness, criticizing his level of play because of how great the Celtics’ roster was.

Joe Mazzulla has been subjected to this criticism, too. He was recently ranked the 11th-best coach in the NBA, behind the likes of Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy and Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer. The former has yet to make the playoffs and the latter wasn’t even coaching in the NBA last season.

The reason Mazzulla was ranked so low? Because he’s only been coaching in the league for a couple of years (same as Hardy), and he had a cakewalk to the Finals. 

The. Celtics. Were. Too. Good.

Everybody is entitled to their own opinions. People can think Mazzulla is a mid-tier coach and that Tatum isn’t a top-five player in the NBA. But criticizing the Celtics for effectively being too dominant is utterly ridiculous.