Four tough games stand between the Celtics and a holiday stretch softer than a Hallmark movie plot.
After a rocky start to the 2025-26 season, the Celtics (15-9) have finally settled into a groove, having won 10 of their last 12.
In advance of this current tough stretch of the schedule, we’ve written at length about the steep competition Boston was slated to face. After a bad loss to the Nets on November 21, it appeared as though the Celtics were about to enter a portion of their schedule that could ultimately determine whether or not they should pack it in and work on getting as good a pick as possible while Jayson Tatum continues to rehab his Achilles’ tendon, or if they should buckle down and attempt to show they could hand with some of the league’s best teams despite missing their best player - at least for the foreseeable future.
They chose the latter, and followed through on that promise to themselves. And as of publishing, the Celtics are currently the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference being the Pistons (19-5) and Knicks (17-7) - two teams they have vanquished in the past two weeks.
Starting Thursday, Boston will begin the final four games of the mini gauntlet they’ve been taking in:
- December 11 @ Milwaukee (10-15), no Giannis but still scrappy
- December 15 vs. Detroit
- December 19 vs. Heat (14-11)
- December 20 @ Toronto (15-11)
If the Celtics can just survive through this stretch, they’ll receive the gift of cushion-building games this holiday season, hitting a seven-game stretch in their calendar against teams they will almost assuredly will be heavy favorites against:
- December 22 vs. Pacers (6-18)
- December 26 @ Pacers
- December 28 @ Portland (9-15)
- December 30 @ Utah (8-15)
- January 1 @ Sacramento (6-18)
- January 3 @ Clippers (6-18)
- January 5 vs. Bulls (9-15), in the midst of a seven-game losing streak
If they can split these next four games, they’ll head into this soft part of their schedule with a 17-11 record.
Let’s say they then realistically go 5-2 over that easy seven-game stretch - I’ll give them losses in Portland and Los Angeles, just for the sake of hypothetical context.
That means they’ll head into Denver (17-6) at 22-13.
At the very least, that record should have them as one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, and possibly pushing to be considered a real threat for top five in the overall NBA power rankings. As of publishing, they sit just outside that top five group at No. 6 overall.
Go into this wonky four-game stretch against good opponents stretched across nine calendar days with a survive-and-advance mentality, and greener pastures will lie ahead.
Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.