Now that your Celtics have completed a 64-win season and defeated the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, it’s time to sаy what everyone already knows: Banner or bust.

With a 25-win squad in 2013, the Brad Stevens Era got underway. Boston qualified for the playoffs each year for the ensuing ten years. Stevens led the C’s on an unexpecteԀ run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017. Soon after, Jayson Tatum was born, and the Celtics missed the Finals in 2020 and 2018 by one round. In 2022, Stevens gave Ime Udoka the whistle, and he led that squad to the Finals.

Then Udoka had some problems. Despite the setback, the Celtics persevered and during Joe Mazzulla’s first season led them back to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In 2024, that won’t work. We will view anything less than a Finals berth as a complete failure. After taking over the front office, Stevens put together a group of players that may be even more skilled than the Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen “Ubuntu” Celtics. (This team still needs three rings to be included with the likes of the Celtics of Larry Bird era or Bill Russell’s eleven titles. In 2029, get back to me.)

The Celtics have taken the typical route used by young NBA teams: suffer some setbacks during the playoffs (typically at the hands of a single team, Miami in this case); move on; and complete the deal.

What is the Celtics’ weak point as they are now constructed? Before the season started, there was speculation that Stevens had compromised depth, leaving the club exposed, after he skillfully acquired Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday. However, Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard had their prime, while the timeless Al Horford is still performing at his peak with far less wear and tear than he otherwise would have.

While other players contributed, the Celtics have a strong core of eight players, and that should be sufficient as playoff rotations get shorter.

The glaring problems of every team that could pose a threаt to the Celtics in the postseason include Miami’s absence of Jimmy Butler. Julius Randle is not with the New York Knicks. Joel Embiid of the Sixers has been sidelined. And the Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo.

With that in mind, everything is waiting on the Celtics.

Mazzulla is perhaps the only one who could raise any doubts. After two seasons as an NBA coach, he has amassed 121 victories. Very awesome content.

However, when compared to Erik Spoelstra, Doc Rivers, Rick Carlisle, Nick Nurse, and Tom Thibodeau, Mazzulla’s youth and relative inexperience are evident. He’s just not capable of that. Still.

Guy V. Lewis spent thirty years as the University of Houston’s head coach. After his first three seasons, he never had a losing season, winning 68% of the time, and his best team was the “Phi Slama Jama” Cougars, which had Clyde Drexler and Akeem Olajuwon. Lewis was a great recruiter, which damaged his reputation as a coach. He looked a lot like Grandpa Munster. It was believed that he would simply hand out the basketballs during practice, leaving the rest to players like Elvin Hayes and former Celtic Don Chaney.

Some believe Mazzulla has a similar coaching style to the loaded Celtics. Furthermore, he has triumphed at a faster rate than Lewis.

Undoubtedly, though, this season is now a referendum on Mazzulla, who took over after Udoka had a self-inflicted catastrophe. Mazzulla will suffer the consequences if the Celtics lose in the Final, barring a major ιnjury that might not deter them.