The Boston Celtics are currently preparing to embark on the unofficial second half of their season, which will begin on Thursday evening vs the Golden State Warriors. The Celtics were represented by Jaylen Brown at the NBA All-Star weekend, who participated as part of one of the USA teams in the round robin tournament.
The Celtics have performed well above expectations this year, and recently, former NBA guard Lou Williams took to FanDuel's “Run It Back” show to heap praise on what Boston has been able to accomplish in 2025-26.
“I still think Boston is the most dangerous team in the East,” said Williams, per Run It Back on X, formerly Twitter.
“They’ve exceeded everyone’s expectations… Jaylen Brown should be in these MVP talks,” added co-host Chandler Parsons.
Indeed, most pundits expected the Celtics to be a fringe playoff team at best this year, considering that the team was playing without injured superstar Jayson Tatum, and also parted ways with Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis via trades over the summer, moves that were mostly financially motivated.
However, as Parsons noted, Brown has been playing at a borderline MVP level for the Celtics this year, more than replicating the production of Tatum, and has also gotten some help from players like Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, who have rounded into form after rough starts to the year.
Looming over it all is the prospect of Tatum's eventual return, which is looking more likely to happen at some point this season by the day. If Tatum can look even somewhat like his usual self during Boston's upcoming playoff run, the Celtics would likely be the clear favorites to come out of the East this year.
In any case, the Celtics will next hit the floor vs the Warriors on Thursday at 10:00 pm ET as they begin a West Coast trip.
