In a recent appearance on Jones and Keefe on WEEI, seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry shared his perspective on what went wrong in the Boston Celtics' bid for back-to-back NBA titles.
"You can't settle like the Celtics did this year. They had fat cat syndrome more than anybody."
— Jones & Keefe (@JonesandKeefe) June 4, 2025
Robert Horry won back-to-back titles with the Rockets. He three-peated with the Lakers.
What went wrong with the #Celtics' pursuit of back-to-back titles? @RKHorry joined to discuss pic.twitter.com/kjjQnX1hsZ
"I think they had the fat cat syndrome more than anybody, and they just settled for a lot of 3s because it was easy," voiced Horry.
The player whose prowess in clutch moments earned him the nickname "Big Shot Bob" has a resume that includes consecutive championships with the Houston Rockets and a three-peat with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Celtics were hoping to become the first franchise since the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors to lift the Larry O'Brien Trophy in back-to-back seasons. They returned nearly their entire title team from the 2023-24 campaign. Boston brought back 15 of 17 players from that roster, accounting for those on two-way deals.
When evaluating what went wrong, Horry's take is heavy-handed, but within it lies a fair point.
What Robert Horry got right and wrong about the Celtics
Boston didn't fail to repeat as champions because of "fat cat syndrome." It was a group excited about returning to base camp to restart its challenge after reaching the NBA's mountaintop.
That doesn't mean the Celtics didn't pace themselves during the regular season, aiming to be at their best in the postseason. However, this was not a team pacified by the previous campaign. They recognized the opportunity they had. They weren't oblivious to the possibility that better ones might not await them.
It's also important to recognize the state of Boston's roster in the playoffs. The reigning champions were talented enough to repeat, but Jaylen Brown battled through a partially torn meniscus. Kristaps Porzingis's energy-draining illness reduced him to a shell of himself.
Jayson Tatum had a bone bruise in his shooting wrist before tearing his Achilles. Jrue Holiday dealt with a hamstring strain. And Sam Hauser sprained his ankle during the Celtics' second-round series against the New York Knicks.
Surviving the war of attrition is essential to any championship, regardless of sport. Unfortunately for Boston, it did not have good luck on the health front.
Still, it is fair to question if the Celtics needed more offensive variety and to operate at a faster pace with increased regularity. Regarding the former, this author stresses that in the second-half collapses of the first two playoff tilts vs. the Knicks, they consistently generated quality looks for reliable shooters.
However, they missed 45 threes in the series opener, a record for an NBA playoff game. Boston followed that up by going 10/40 from behind the arc in Game 2.
There were times in the latter loss when passing up threes proved harmful. But perhaps sprinkling in more variety would've helped protect the 20-point leads that slipped away.
It's a thought the Celtics have plenty of time to ponder as they reflect on what went wrong and how best to address it.