10 Celtics stats that should show encouragement and discouragement entering All-Star break

Boston Celtics

We all know how well Jaylen Brown has played this season, but the Celtics haven’t been overly reliant on him to a fault.

By Conor Roche

February 13, 2026 | 4:11 PM

2 minutes to read

No matter how you slice it, the Celtics have been one of the league’s top surprises and best teams entering the All-Star break.

Boston is 35-19, good for second place in the Eastern Conference as it continues to find ways to win after a major roster shakeup over the offseason. Of course, Jaylen Brown emerging as one of the game’s top scorers has contributed to that. He’s scoring 29.3 points per game this year, earning him his first All-Star starter nod.

But there are other reasons why the Celtics’ record is so strong. There are also some reasons to have some concern about whether this team can make a strong playoff run.

So, let’s dive into those things and look at 10 encouraging and discouraging stats for Boston entering the All-Star break.

Encouraging stats

3: The Celtics are in the top three in offensive rating (third) and defensive rating (second). Four of the last five NBA champions have ranked in the top five in both categories. Only one of the last 14 champions has ranked outside of the top five in net rating, too.

16.8: The Celtics’ most frequent lineup (Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta), in terms of possessions played, has a 16.8 net rating this season. For reference, that number is astronomically higher than the net rating Boston had with its most-used lineup last year. That lineup had a minus-0.4 net rating last season.

17.7: Payton Pritchard has seemingly grown comfortable in his role as one of the Celtics’ primary scorers as of late. He’s scoring 17.7 points per game since the start of the new year, shooting 49 percent from the field and 40.6 percent from deep. For reference, there are only two guards in the league who’ve scored that many points per game while shooting that well from the field.

19: Jaylen Brown has had a strong year, but the Celtics haven’t been overly-reliant on him to a fault. They’re 18-9 in the 27 games he hasn’t scored 30 points this season, including the five games he’s missed. Boston has gone 4-1 in the games Brown has sat out this season.

15: When opponents have a good shooting night against the Celtics, it hasn’t been a death blow. The Celtics are 15-15 in games where the other team shoots at least 35 percent from the field, which is considered to be league average. For reference, the Knicks are 14-18 under the same circumstances this season.

23: One of the Celtics’ magic numbers to victory is 23. When they get 23 assists in a game, they’re 27-6 this season. When they don’t, they’re 8-13.

Discouraging stats

21: The Celtics are 12-14 in clutch games this season. Not only is that 21st in the league, but that’s the worst mark among the 12 teams that currently hold a playoff spot.

38.9: Derrick White’s made just 38.9 percent of his field goal attempts this season. No team has won a championship with one of their guards shooting below 40 percent since the Mavericks in 2011. Jason Kidd made just 36.1 percent of his field goal attempts that year.

9: The Celtics’ defensive rating (112.6) is good, ranking ninth in the league. But it might not be elite enough to turn into a deep playoff run. Three of the last four NBA champions ranked in the top two in defensive rating.

16: Boston is still pretty reliant on its 3-point shooting, losing more often than not when it fails to have a decent shooting night. The Celtics are 9-16 in the 25 games they’ve shot below 35 percent from deep. For reference, the Pistons are 13-11 in such games this season as they hold the best record in the Eastern Conference entering the All-Star break.