“Celtics Soar into Historic Territory as Season’s Final Stretch Approaches”

From left to right, Boston Celtics starters Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White watch from the bench after building a nearly 30-point lead over the Utah Jazz midway through the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, in Boston.(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

BOSTON — Even without a bulk of their rotation players suiting up Monday, the Celtics walked away with a blowout win over the Pistons. That’s not only their sixth straight win, but the C’s are now a league-best 54-12 on the season. That’s a whopping 10-game lead over the second-place Bucks in the East standings.

At this point, it’ll take a complete Celtics collapse for them not to nab the best seed in the East with only 14 games left on the schedule. It’s close to a foregone conclusion that the East playoffs will run through Boston — and that puts the current version of the C’s in some historic air.

Joe Mazzulla Praises Jrue Holiday for His ‘Emotional Stability’Joe Mazzulla Praises Jrue Holiday for His ‘Emotional Stability’

Of course, the Celtics have a lengthy history with the 17 banners hanging at TD Garden. But it’s been decades since a Celtics team has dominated the conference like this. The last time the C’s finished a season with at least a 10-game lead over the second place was back in the 1985-86 season. So even with a handful of games still left, don’t take what the Celtics are doing for granted.

“They are self-motivated,” C’s coach Joe Mazzulla said of his team. “I think if you want to get to the level that we want to get to — there’s time for short-term motivational pockets — but the greatest strength of this team is the locker room and their character and the way that they play. We’ve had very few of those this year. No, I don’t have to do anything to motivate them. They do it on their own.”

Looking back at recent NBA history, what the Celtics are doing sticks out. The last time a team had at least a 10-game lead in the standings at the end of the regular season was the 2014-15 Warriors, who went 67-15. They had an 11-game lead on the Rockets and Clippers, who won 56 games. Not even the 73-win 2016-17 Warriors had a such a commanding lead in the standings (thanks to the 67-win Spurs that year).

So in many ways, the Celtics can relax at this point of the season. Instead, the C’s keep chugging along, bouncing back from a rare losing streak to rip off six straight wins. Whatever cast the Celtics put together for any given game, they’ve remained professional and haven’t let their play slip. That’s a credit to them.

“This is the type of team we have,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “It’s a big privilege though for us. Some guys are out — not some guys, top guys are out — and other guys just step in and we can just keep rolling as a team. It’s a privilege that I don’t know if there’s on one hand teams in the league that are like us. I don’t think so. So we believe we are on a different level and we’re going to have to show it in the postseason.”

In the meantime, the Celtics do have a great built-in advantage because they took care of business throughout the season. For example, Porzingis missed the last five games because of his right hamstring strain. The Celtics were extra cautious with him as he took his time to come back, and even when he did play Monday, he was on a minutes restriction. But Porzingis said if this were the playoffs, he would’ve been back earlier.

Elsewhere, the starters can get their scheduled rest days down the stretch of the season. Jaylen Brown played Monday, but he sat Sunday. It was the reverse for Jayson Tatum, who played Sunday but was out Monday. That’s the same case for guys like Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and more. The backups like Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet have slid right into the rotation and continued to produce.

So some fans will likely check out down the stretch of the season with the stakes much lower. That’s natural considering the Celtics have been so dominant. But it’s important to appreciate these moments ahead of the high-stress playoffs. The C’s are also still meshing as a team, tinkering with lineups before every game will mean much more.

“Depending on matchups in the playoffs, you never know,” Porzingis said. “There’s going to be different situations and it’s good that we have the flexibility and also these kind of moments where guys are sitting out and we can try out these different things. So it will definitely just add more to our toolbox.”