Brad Stevens

With 21 games left in their regular season, the Boston Celtics appear well-positioned for a run at becoming the first back-to-back NBA champions since the Golden State Warriors accomplished the feat in 2017 and 2018. The 18-time champions have not put together quite the display of dominance that they showed in the 2023-2024 season when they won 64 regular season games and easily secured the top seed in the Eastern Conference as well as the best record in the entire league.

This season, the Celtics sit 7 1/2 games behind the streaking Cleveland Cavaliers in the East. But that still gives the defending champs the No. 2 overall seed. With a current record of 43-18 — third best in the NBA — they are still projected to win 62 games by the site RealGM.com, with a relatively unchallenging schedule left to play. RealGM.com ranks their remaining strength of schedule as the 13th-weakest in the NBA.

In a way, taking the second seed may be an advantage for the Celtics who have been a markedly better road team this season than they have been at home in TD Garden. The Celtics 19-11 home record equates to a respectable but not outstanding .633 winning percentage. On the road, the Celtics are playing at a .774 pace, 24-7. In other words, home court advantage in a playoff series could be a disadvantage for the Celtics. As the No. 2 seed, if the top-seeded Cavaliers survive to the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics would get the additional road game in that seven-game affair.

Brad Stevens Doubles Down on 3-Point Shooting

Even as their position appears secure, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens — who steered Boston to seven playoff appearances and three Eastern Conference Finals bids in his eight year tenure as head coach — is not relaxing and letting the stretch run of the season unfold.

On Sunday, the Celtics parted ways with their 2024 second-round draft pick Anton Watson — selected out of Gonzaga in the 54th overall slot — and quickly replaced him, using their third and last available two-way contract, to sign a three-point shooting specialist, albeit one who has yet to make his NBA debut.

Stevens is playing to the Celtics’ strength by signing 24-year-old, 6’10” Miles Norris from the G-League Memphis Hustle. Norris shoots 39 percent from three-point range in his G-League career, and averages 9.1 attempts per game from beyond the arc.

That is more three-point attempts per game than any player currently on the Celtics, except for superstar Jayson Tatum who has averaged 10.1 attempts per game from deep. Norris’ three-point percentage would tie him with Derrick White for fifth on the current Celtics NBA roster.

Norris an Upgrade Over 2nd-Round Pick Anton Watson

Watson was struggling at Boston’s G-League Maine affiliate, shooting just 30.8 percent from three-point land and 42.8 percent from the field overall in 21 appearances. Though he was on a two-way contract, Watson never cracked the Celtics’ NBA roster, even briefly.

The Celtics are currently the NBA’s most prolific three-point shooting team putting up a collective 48 attempts per game. Boston also makes more threes per game than any other team, 17.8, though their collective percentage from three-point range of .370 places them eighth in the league.

Norris went undrafted in 2023, after averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in his senior year at U.C. Santa Barbara. Norris averaged 39.1 percent on three point shots in his final college season as well.