If Any NBA Playoff Team Can Survive Without Its Top Star, It's the Boston Celtics

The end of the Boston Celtics' Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks on Monday was devastating. Jayson Tatum rupturing his Achilles tendon was far worse than Boston going down 3-1 in its second-round series, with Tatum now out for the remainder of this run (and likely next season).

Heading into Wednesday's Game 5, the long-term implications of the injury (or more specifically, what Boston would do with a potential gap year) felt like a bigger story than the game itself.

But Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and the rest of the Celtics weren't ready for those stories, trade rumors and the offseason to take center stage.

Instead, they led Boston to a dominant 127-102 victory that saw several players make major contributions.

White had 34 points, seven threes and three blocks. Brown had 26 points, a career-high 12 assists and eight rebounds. Payton Pritchard (17 points), Jrue Holiday (14) and Al Horford (12) all reached double-figures, as well.

And perhaps most surprisingly, Luke Kornet replaced a seemingly-still-ailing Kristaps Porziņģis by adding 10 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks in 26 minutes off the bench.

The reigning champs clearly aren't ready to go home. And Wednesday reminded us one of the strengths that helped them earn that title a year ago.

Boston has one of the deepest rosters in the NBA. In fact, it may be the only one (and certainly the only one still alive) that can survive the loss of its best player.

Of course, that's not to suggest the Celtics are fine without Tatum. They'd obviously prefer to have one of the most prolific playoff scorers of all time, but after Wednesday's win, Boston is now 10-2 without him in 2024-25.

Now, several of those wins came against non-playoff teams, but for the entire season, the Celtics were a whopping plus-8.7 points per 100 possessions when Tatum was off the court. And that number creeps up to 10.5 for the 1,000-plus possessions in which White and Brown played without Tatum.

Those two are star-level players with or without the superstar alongside them. Brown, of course, has literally made All-Star teams, but White has had an argument to be included in each of the last two seasons.

White was tied for 10th in the Eastern Conference in estimated plus-minus this season. And when he was on the floor without Tatum and Boston needed him to score a bit more, he averaged 21.6 points per 75 possessions with a 60.8 true shooting percentage.

He's also one of the league's best high-volume three-point shooters, a description shared by Payton Pritchard. Those two were fourth and fifth, respectively, in total threes made this season.

And with the Celtics' three-point-heavy attack, having both (not to mention Brown, Sam Hauser, Al Horford and Jrue Holiday, all of whom made over 100 threes in 2024-25) means Boston can still have roughly the same approach without Tatum.

Of course, not having his slashing and from-scratch shotmaking ability will likely make life a bit difficult for everyone else, but the remaining Celtics are capable of winning three-point-variance battle against anyone still standing, including the Knicks.

It won't be easy to survive elimination two more times, particularly Game 6 in New York. But this team can do it. From there, Boston would almost certainly need a rejuvenated Porziņģis.

When healthy, he too can play like a star. He just hasn't looked anywhere near healthy in the postseason, as he continues to deal with the lingering effects of a virus that held him out of an extended stretch in February and March. On Wednesday, he was 0-of-3 from the field and sat the entire second half.

Perhaps two more wins could buy him the time he needs to restore a little more strength.

And if his shot-blocking and jump shot are back for a conference finals against the Indiana Pacers, flanked by the outside shooting of his aforementioned teammates and backed up by a defense led by White and Holiday, Boston might still be able to get back to the NBA Finals.

There are a lot of what-ifs in there. New York isn't going to make it easy to escape this round, but Boston might still have the league's best roster from its second-best player down to the bottom.

And that might be enough to delay the doom-and-gloom takes about 2025-26 far longer than we anticipated.