Settle the Argument: What is the best Celtics team of all time?
The Boston Celtics have hung 17 championship banners, winning NBA titles in five different decades. But which team is the best in franchise history?
It’s a debate that might never be truly settled. But with the NBA’s In-Season Tournament in the rearview mirror, we decided to create a little tournament of our own. With help from our friends at Strat-O-Matic, the market leader in sports simulations, we pitted six of the best Celtics teams in franchise history against each other in a tournament-style battle.
How it all unfolded might surprise you.
Let’s start with the methodology. We picked six of the most successful C’s teams of all time, trying to incorporate as many different eras as possible. Not all of these teams won titles. The 1972-73 Celtics — featuring John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, and Jo Jo White — won a franchise-best 68 regular season games but bowed out in the Eastern Conference finals.
Some of the most talented teams in Celtics history didn’t make the cut simply because their rosters were a bit too similar to another team that made it. The title-winning 1983-84 Celtics gets squeezed by the 1985-86 team. You could make a case that, with a healthy Kevin Garnett, the 2008-09 Celtics might have been even more talented than the 2007-08 team, but the championship squad gets the nod in our tournament.
Further down the road, it will be fun to add some of the modern Celtics teams to the mix and see how these squads headlined by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown might fare against the more legendary squads. Heck, the 2018-19 Celtics might be one of the best teams on paper, even if the results never translated on the court.
Let’s run down the seeding for our tournament:
The 1985-86 Celtics are generally regarded as the best team in franchise history so it’s no surprise that they slot in the top spot. A healthy win total and championship status helped the 2007-08 squad wrestle away the No. 2 seed.
The '85-'86 team and the '07-'08 team earned a first-round bye in our bracket-style play. The other four seeds competed in best-of-five quarterfinal series with these matchups:
No. 3 seed 1972-73 vs. No. 6 seed 1980-81
No. 4 seed 1961-62 vs. No. 5 seed 1964-65
The two winners advanced to the best-of-seven semifinals to compete for a spot in the best-of-seven championship round. How did it all play out? You’re going to have to stick around to find out.
What we can tell you is a little about how Strat-O-Matic got the most realistic simulation of these games.
Simulation
Each game was simulated by the Strat-O-Matic Basketball game engine. Every team's head coach -- the virtual Red Auerbach (1961-62 and 1964-65), Tommy Heinsohn (1972-73), Bill Fitch (1980-81), K.C. Jones (1985-86), and Doc Rivers (2007-08) -- was "instructed" specifically to treat these as tournament games, meaning minutes were condensed to the top players on the team similar to how each team managed minutes during their actual playoff run.
Rules
Every matchup in the tournament used rules from the modern NBA, except for the one Celtics quarterfinal matchup featuring the 1961-62 team against the 1964-65 team.
This was the only matchup where both teams played prior to the addition of the 3-point line. That series utilized rules from the 1960s instead, which not only included no 3-pointers but the old “three to make two” and “two to make one” free-throw rules.
Here’s a look at when the results will be unveiled this week:
Tuesday, Dec. 12: Results from best-of-five quarterfinals
Thursday, Dec. 14: Results from best-of-seven semifinals
Friday, Dec 15: Result from best-of-series championship series
Finally, here's a rundown of the teams involved:
1985-86 Celtics
This 67-win team, featuring the original Big 3 of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, posted a 40-1 record at home then rumbled through the Eastern Conference playoffs, losing just one game. With 33-year-old Bill Walton serving as Sixth Man, Boston bested the Rockets 4-2 in the NBA Finals.
2007-08 Celtics
After the ping-pong balls defied the Celtics with a chance to land Kevin Durant or Greg Oden, Boston called an audible and built a new Big Three by trading for both Garnett and Ray Allen to pair with Paul Pierce.
Chemistry came quick -- Boston won its first eight games and 11 of its first 12 while dominating its competition -- and the Celtics won 66 games. The playoffs were a grind, however, including a pair of seven-game series to start a playoff trek that ultimately culminated with beating the rival Lakers 4-2 in the Finals.
1972-73 Celtics
Coach Tommy Heinsohn had the pace cranked for a team that raced to a franchise-best 68 wins. Havlicek, Cowens, and White played routinely played 40 minutes per night. Paul Silas, Don Chaney, and Don Nelson highlighted the bench.
This group surprisingly got bounced by New York in seven games in the East Finals, but rebounded to win the title a year later.
1961-62 Celtics
The '61-'62 squad had the lowest win total (60) of any of the teams in our tournament but featured Bill Russell in his prime (in the midst of three consecutive MVP awards) and late-career Bob Cousy.
Heinsohn and Sam Jones added offensive firepower to Russell’s output while Tom "Satch" Sanders infused some youthful energy into a team that won eight consecutive titles from 1959 to 1966 (then added two more in 1968 and 1969).
1964-65 Celtics
Cousy is gone but Havlicek has arrived to help Boston maintain its winning ways. This 62-win team posted a ridiculous defensive rating of 84.2 while outscoring teams by 8.4 points per game.
The Celtics had to grind through Philadelphia in seven games to win the East but rolled through the Lakers in five games in the Finals.
1980-81 Celtics
Load management wasn’t a thing for a Boston team that saw its entire starting five of Bird, Tiny Archibald, Cedric Maxwell, Chris Ford, and Parish play 80 games or more. McHale, Gerald Henderson, and Rick Robey all played 82 games, largely in bench roles.
This team won 62 games, outlasted Philly in seven games to claim the East, then took down the Rockets in six games to win the Finals.
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