The Celtics had an incredible year, but they didn't seem to get the appropriate credit on Sunday night.
The Boston Celtics defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 123-91 on Sunday afternoon in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference playoff's first round at TD Garden.
The Celtics had six players in double figures in the performance, re-iterating just how good they were this season (56-26) to many fans, pundits and analysts.
However, later in the day, it was clear that several pundits did not seem to value just how good the Celtics were in the regular season.
When the NBA Awards finalists were announced on Sunday evening, the Celtics seemed woefully underrepresented.
For starters, Jaylen Brown was not named a finalist for the NBA MVP and Derrick White was not named as a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year award. Joe Mazzulla did receive recognition as a Coach of the Year finalist, but no other Celtics were represented on any other list, including the Clutch Player of the Year.
Coach of the Year
The one that the committee did get right, Mazzulla is absolutely deserving. Not only did he lead the Celtics to a 56-26 record, he did it in the face of little expectations, much adversity and major roster turnover.
Boston traded Jrue Holliday and Kristaps Porzingis in the offseason, eroding a championship core from 2023-24. They also saw Al Horford leave in free agency and Jayson Tatum was limited to just 16 games because of his Achilles recovery. Mazzulla helped navigate all of that with the help of Jaylen Brown and a continually improving Payton Pritchard, and an emerging group of big men, including Neemias Queta.
Mitch Johnson led the Spurs to a No. 2 seed in the West while Bickerstaff led the Detroit Pistons to the top seed in the East.
NBA MVP
Brown wasn't included on this list, as the finalists were defending MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama and Nikola Jokic. Brown averaged 28.7 ppg this season, further elevating his game in the absence of Tatum. He was named to the All-Star Game for a fifth time and will certainly earn a spot on an All-NBA team.
Jokic played in 65 games, the bare minimum allowed in order to be considered for these awards.
Defensive Player of the Year
It's not necessarily a surprise that White wasn't included in the final three, especially with a group of dynamic big men in the mix. But that doesn't make it right. One of the most effective two-way players in the league, White had 98 blocks out of the guard position. He was just two blocks away from becoming the first player in league history to hit 200 three-pointers and record 100 blocks in the same campaign.
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