What are the best NBA teams of the last five years that did not win an NBA championship? More importantly to most of you reading this, which among them were versions of the Boston Celtics? According to Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey, three of the last ten such teams happened to be an iteration of the storied ball club.
To evaluate these ball clubs in terms of their contend-ability with regards to what we might otherwise expect from such a team, the B/R analyst uses four key metrics: Simple Rating System (SRS), Relative Offensive Rating (Rel ORtg), Relative Defensive Rating (Rel DRtg), and Win Percentage (W%). These metrics help rank and sort the teams over the last five seasons.
Buy Celtics TicketsLet’s take a look at where each of the trio of Celtics squads made the final cut.
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Honorable mention: 2021-22 Boston Celtics (51-31)
“The record for this team doesn’t do it justice,” writes Bailey. “It took some time for first-year coach Ime Udoka’s philosophies to take hold, but once they did, the Boston Celtics looked unstoppable.”
“Following an 18-21 start, Boston went 33-10 with a 13.5 net rating (net points per 100 possessions) that nearly doubled the second-place Phoenix Suns’ 7.2 over the same stretch. Those Celtics had a juggernaut-level defense that ran into a buzzsaw named Stephen Curry in the NBA Finals.”
Honorable mention: 2019-20 Boston Celtics (48-24)
“One thing this exercise proves is that the Jayson Tatum- and Jaylen Brown-led Celtics are really good,” offers the B/R analyst. “And this particular version of the team also got strong campaigns from both Kemba Walker and Gordon Hayward.”
“But that season, of course, ended with the irregularity of the NBA’s “bubble” postseason. And Boston had to face Jimmy Butler on his first seemingly unstoppable crusade to the Finals in the Eastern Conference Finals.”
No. 5. 2022-23 Boston Celtics (57-25)
“One last time with Boston, which followed up its Finals loss against the Warriors by posting 2022-23’s best SRS and finishing one win shy of the Milwaukee Bucks for the best record in the league,” recalls Bailey. “Led by Tatum… and Brown …, these Celtics … felt like a relatively safe bet to win it all after the Bucks were eliminated in the first round.”
“Despite the talent, depth, and playoff experience of this group, we maybe shouldn’t have been surprised by the eventual collapse. Boston was heavily reliant on 3-point shooting, which can abandon a team at the worst playoff moments. And it was led by a first-year coach who’s younger than starting center Al Horford.”
