OPINION By Kalvin Tragethon

Their game 7 loss on Monday night to the Miami Heat came after the Celtics came back to tie the best of 7 series at 3 games a piece. This comeback came after losing the first 3 games of the series, something that only 3 other teams had managed to do. But Monday night’s 103-84 loss was not the display of a team falling short of a remarkable comeback, but rather a team that squandered their best opportunity to win the Larry O’Brien trophy with this core of players. 

  In this year’s playoffs, the Celtics entered as the number 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 57-25 record; the only team with the better record was the Milwaukee Bucks, who won 58 games this season. As for the Heat, the team the Celtics succumbed to, they were the last seed to make the NBA playoffs as their regular season record was an unimpressive 44-38, just 6 games over .500.

  This unimpressive regular season record meant that the Heat had to take a tough road to get to the Eastern Conference Finals, first knocking off the 1st seeded Milwaukee Bucks in a 5 game series and then beating the 5th seeded New York Knicks in 6 games. 

  As for the Celtics, their path through the playoffs was an easy one. When the most dangerous team, the Bucks, were eliminated in the first round, the Celtics were clearly the team with the most talent left in the playoffs. But, the early rounds of the 2023 NBA playoffs pointed out clear flaws in their team. 

  In the first round, the Celtics went up against the 7th seeded Hawks, where the series was pushed to 6 games, after the Celtics failed to maintain the double digit point lead they had in the fourth quarter game 5 of that series. Then in their next series with the 76er’s, they fell down 3-2 in the series and were forced to win a game 6 in Philadelphia and a game 7 in Boston in order to win the series. 

  The Celtics’ inability to put themselves in a favorable position in these series, and their tendency to blow leads in games, proved to be a fatal flaw, as they would blow double digit leads in the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals series with the Miami Heat, falling behind in the series 2-0 because of their inability to close. The hole that the team put themselves in would ultimately be the reason why they lost, because despite the fact that the Celtics won three of the last four games in the series, they lost game 7 on their home court, the place where they were 5-6 throughout the NBA playoffs. 

  This offseason, the Celtics have more questions than answers for the future of the roster. The biggest question mark without a doubt is Jaylen Brown. This past year was Brown’s 7th in the NBA, and on May 10 he was named to the All-NBA Second Team, meaning that he is viewed by the NBA stars as a top player in the league. Being named to this prestigious team also has contract implications. By being named to an All-NBA team, Brown is eligible to receive a large contract deal known as a Supermax deal. For Brown, this means that the Boston Celtics could give him the most lucrative contract in NBA history, up to 5 years worth a total of $295 million. But, after seeing Jaylen Brown struggle in the final round of the playoffs, as he turned the ball over 6 times in game 1, 4 times in 6 and a catastrophic 8 times in game 7, it is obvious that Jaylen Brown is not worth the Supermax contract that he is eligible to receive. If the Celtics and he are unable to agree upon a deal this offseason, it is likely that the Celtics would pursue trading the two-time All-star so they can get an asset of value, as opposed to letting Brown walk out of the Celtics’ organization in the summer of 2024 with no return. 

  What is clear from this Eastern Conference Finals is that the Celtics need a shift in their culture, they need to add someone to the team who has climbed the mountain before and been able to win a championship. After 6 seasons together, it appears as though the mix of 4-time NBA All-Star Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown is not enough to get the Celtics to a championship, and they are going to need to bring in outside experience in the form of a veteran leader on the floor, or a veteran coach with NBA Finals experience, to get them over the hump and get banner 19 to Boston.