The Boston Celtics seemed to be cruising for most of the regular season and throughout the first round against the Orlando Magic as they chased a second consecutive NBA Championship, but it all came crashing down in the second round. For reasons both self-inflicted and out of their control, the Celtics bowed out of the playoffs in a 119-81 Game 6 rout at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks.

With this loss, there will officially be a new NBA Champion again in 2025. The last team to repeat is still the Golden State Warriors back in 2017 and 2018, and the Warriors were also eliminated recently. Unless the Denver Nuggets win the title, we will have our sixth different champion in pro basketball in the last six seasons.

Incredibly, no defending champion has even made it past the second round since the Warriors made it to the NBA Finals in 2019 when they were searching for a three-peat, according to Greg Silver of KNBR.

The Los Angeles Lakers lost in the first round in 2021 after winning the title in the bubble, and all five other defending champs in that span were bounced in the conference semifinals.

After the loss, Celtics guard Derrick White talked about why winning back to back titles is so hard, via Daniel Donabedian of ClutchPoints.

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“We didn't go back to back but it’s hard to win in this league,” White said. “Just have to learn and grow.”

The Celtics now have a very interesting offseason ahead of them. They have aging pieces on the roster such as Jrue Holiday and Al Horford as well as a player in Kristaps Porzingis who was ineffective due to a nasty illness for almost the entire postseason.

The team has a decision to make about how it wants to approach next season with Jayson Tatum likely out for all of 2025-26, and it will be fascinating to see how they attack the offseason after this crushing loss in the second round.