17-05-2025
Celtics lost more than just a series to the Knicks; they lost some hope for the future, too.
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Instead of raising Banner No. 19 the Celtics are faced with razing their team. Instead of confetti raining down on them to signal the end of their season it feels like the sky is falling. Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens brought back everyone except Oshae Brissett from 2023-24 NBA champions. That will not be the case in 2025.
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That total all-in payroll cost would be the largest in NBA history. It already would've been a tough bill to swallow
So, there is an opportunity cost to not cashing in on this opportunity to win another title.
Kristaps Porziņgis (right) is due $30.7 million in the final year of his contract.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
'We set a goal out. At the end of the day, we didn't achieve that goal,' said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla. 'But it shouldn't take away from the mind-set and the effort that the players put in. … I thought they gave it everything they had throughout the season.
'Obviously, we didn't achieve that, but you can't take away from what they did. This is the price you pay for trying to go after something.'
The Celtics are about to pay the price for success by having to sell off pieces to avoid being above the prohibitive second apron, set at $207.8 million for next season. With Tatum and Jaylen Brown on supermax contracts, the Celtics, who were above the second apron this season, already sport approximately $230 million in salary commitments for 2025. That's well above the base luxury tax line of $187 million.
Center Kristaps Porziņgis, severely limited this postseason by a persistent and mysterious respiratory illness, and venerable guard Jrue Holiday figure to be on the chopping block.
Porziņģis is due $30.7 million in the final year of his contract. Holiday will earn $32.4 million in the second year of the four-year $135 million extension he signed last spring.
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Despite being annihilated by the Knicks, the true grim reaper for the Green is the NBA collective bargaining agreement, which penalizes franchises such as the Celtics who assemble All-Star-laden rosters and invest heavily in winning championships.
It's a shame the league and its owners want to disband dynasties and punish the pursuit of greatness.
The Parquet Postmortem examination will show the cause of premature death for this dynasty interrupted will be the NBA CBA with Tatum's injury as a contributing factor.
The Boston Basketball epoch that brought Banner 18 demanded more than getting obliterated in front of the glitterati at MSG in a no-contest that was over at halftime with the Celtics trailing by 27.
It was worthy of a proper send off, a Viking funeral. Instead, it got an embarrassing coda reminiscent of the famous quote from former Knick Michael Ray Richardson — 'The ship be sinking,' — the third-largest playoff margin of defeat in Celtics history. Ugh.
Perhaps, this was the basketball gods expressing their ire, humbling the Celtics for worshipping the false idol of unabashed 3-pointers and for perverting the game with the intentional fouling free-throw-phobic Knicks center Mitchell Robinson.
The consequences of the loss stared the Celtics players and coaches in the face as unflinchingly as a Knicks team that rallied from three double-digit, second-half deficits in the series and put six players in double figures in the clincher. It likely was the last time this group of ring-bearers would be together.
'Our group, we had a bunch of great days together. Just, we didn't win in the end,' said Brown.
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The hope is that Game 6 wasn't a preview of coming attractions next season if the Celtics execute
But he fouled out with 2 minutes and 50 seconds left in a disastrous third quarter, finishing with 20 points but the same number of fouls (six) as his individual numbers of rebounds and assists, as well as seven of Boston's 15 turnovers.
The Tandem is the dual-powered engine of the Celtics success. But Brown projects to be a solo act for much of, if not all of, next season while Tatum recuperates.
Brown expressed the end of this era is merely hitting the pause button on chasing championships, not exiting out of the picture.
'I know Boston, it looks gloomy now with JT being out and us kind of ending the year,' said Brown. 'But it's a lot to look forward to, and I want the city to feel excited about that. This is not the end. I'm looking forward to what's next.'
But what's next isn't as promising as what just passed.
It's all right to mourn, Celtics fans. You lost more than just a series Friday night.
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
