Boston Celtics top nearly every category at Xmas Day benchmark, but what jumps out?

At the start of 2024, the Boston Celtics sit atop the NBA in wins. They are universally accepted as the current best team in the league and have a legitimate case for at least three All-Stars; potentially even four or five if voting goes favorably enough. Heading into 2024, they sit nearly at the top of every category, it's remarkable.

Per dunksandthrees.com, they are first in adjusted net rating (+9.5), first in adjusted offensive rating (121.1), and third in adjusted defensive rating (111.6). They sit third in effective field goal percentage (57% ) and even have an extra 0.7 boost to their overall rating for strength of schedule, meaning they're doing this against the good and bad teams alike.

These stats could go on and on to illustrate how good the Cs have been. Everything from transition offense, transition defense, even opponents free-throw percentage has Boston at the top or nearly the top. All except one category, that is assist percentage.

The only nitpick, and it is a big one, albeit a negligible one at that, any observer could have with this team is that only 59.3 percent of their makes were off of assists, ranking 22nd. They could move the ball a little bit more but in all honesty, why bother forcing something to fill a stat sheet? The point of the game is to put the ball in the basket and this team has no trouble doing that.

Boston Celtics undeniably firing on all cylinders

Looking everything over, the Boston Celtics are firing on all cylinders right now and it is almost frightening. They put all their chips in this offseason and it hasn't taken long to see results. The only question is health. And to that effect, the team is taking no chances. They aren't afraid to rest guys for "injury management" as we saw in their recent matchup versus the Toronto Raptors.

The team knows they need to hold on to their stars and have them healthy in March, April, and June. They're playing the long game and it's been helpful in more ways than one, allowing Coach Joe Mazzulla to go further into his bench. Third-string center Luke Kornet played 33 minutes against the Raptors and put up 20 points and 8 rebounds. Those reps will pay off later if he needs to see the floor in crucial minutes down the road.

Overall the Celtics should garner no complaints from fans, even though they will, at the Christmas Day check in. Things are falling into place it's just a matter of staying hungry. This team has been after Banner 18 for 15 years now. This is their best chance for it.