We’re about to find out a whole bunch about the 2025-26 Boston Celtics.
On Thanksgiving Eve, the Celtics launch into a brutal seven-games-in-12-days stretch. That includes the second dreaded five-games-in-seven-nights span of the season, with five games in four different cities and travel before each tilt.
The next seven games will also feature:
- Matchups with four of the top five teams in the Eastern Conference (Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland, New York)
- Two games against teams with double-digit win totals in the West (Minnesota, LA Lakers)
Take away a pit stop in Washington on December 4 — the night before a rivalry showdown with the Lakers back in Boston — and the other six opponents in this seven-game stretch have a combined .702 winning percentage (73-31).
In the ’90s, the World Wrestling Federation often held an annual pay-per-view on the night before Thanksgiving. Now, the Celtics are about to launch into their own Survivor Series.
The Celtics are 4-6 this season against opponents with a record of .500 or better. Two of those wins came against Orlando, with the others against Cleveland and Philadelphia.
After a roller-coaster 9-8 start to the season, these new-look Celtics are either going to show that they can measure up against some of the NBA’s elite, or get a bit of a reality check about the ceiling of this team while hunting for their identity as Jayson Tatum rehabs from his ruptured Achilles.
The gauntlet starts Wednesday with a showdown against the streaking Pistons. How ironic that, as Boston was starting its title march two years ago, the Celtics handed Detroit their record-tying 28th consecutive loss (albeit needing overtime) as the Pistons matched their longest losing streak in league history.
This year? Detroit will be looking to set a new franchise record Wednesday night while hunting its 14th consecutive win. Life comes at you fast in the NBA.
Adding to the daunting nature of the upcoming schedule, the Celtics will start this stretch without center Neemias Queta, who owns the best net rating (+16.4) and on/off differential (+21.0) on the team. The Celtics defense is 21.3 points per 100 possessions better with Queta on the floor and the team is severely undersized without him.
Yes, Boston starts this tall task without its tallest player (and the only 7-footer on the roster).
After kicking away some wins earlier in the season, the Celtics have won five of their last seven. As part of that stretch, they let a win slip away in Philadelphia, then played down against an inferior Brooklyn team on Sunday.
Despite some early bumps in the road, the 2025-26 Celtics sit a game above .500. There have been a lot of positives, though they’ve sometimes been masked by consistency woes.
The next two weeks ought to tell us a lot more than the first four weeks did.
Is the glass half full for the Celtics? Boston owns the fifth-best offensive rating in the league and sits inside the top 10 in net rating (tied for ninth, +4.8). Boston ranks in the top five in half-court defense and has been slowly tightening up its early-season rebounding woes.
Still, navigating even a short stretch without Queta could be daunting. Can the Celtics survive going small with Josh Minott or Chris Boucher eating the majority of center minutes? Can the team confidently lean on Luka Garza, who logged a rare DNP even after Queta limped off on Sunday night? Can rookie two-way center Amari Williams hold up if thrown into the NBA spotlight the next two weeks?
The next two weeks could answer a lot of the lingering questions about the Celtics, and it might dictate a whole new batch of questions about where the season goes from there.
