How Celtics can make history as one of NBA’s best road teams ever

Boston’s “road dogs” are just four wins away from tying a league record.



Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet are asked about two chants fans can hear when one of the Celtics are mic’d up in their team huddle.

The Boston Celtics have already lost twice as many home games this season (12) as they did in the regular season and playoffs combined (six) in 2023-24.

So, how do they still own the NBA’s third-best record at 54-19? To steal a line from the C’s locker room, they’ve been road dogs in 2024-25.

Boston’s 132-102 rout of the Suns in Phoenix on Wednesday improved the team’s road record to 30-7 on the season. Not only is that the highest road winning percentage (.811) in the NBA this season, it’s also one of the best in league history.

Only two NBA teams have won more than 81.1 percent of their road games in one season: The 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (31-7 road record) and 2015-16 Golden State Warriors (34-7 road record).

The Celtics have four road games left on their schedule: Saturday’s game in San Antonio, Monday’s game in Memphis, and a back-to-back in New York and Orlando on April 8 and 9. If they win all four games, they’ll tie the 2015-16 Warriors for the most road wins in a single season.


This year’s Oklahoma City Thunder are right on the Celtics’ heels with a 29-7 road record and four road games remaining on their schedule. But only Boston can tie the Golden State juggernaut, which won an NBA-record 73 games in 2015-16.

Even if the C’s don’t sweep the rest of their road games, they have the inside track on the best road record in franchise history, ahead of the 1972-73 Celtics and the NBA champion 2007-08 Celtics, who went 31-10 on the road.


It’s not just that the C’s are winning on the road, either; they’re dismantling teams. After Wednesday’s 30-point rout in Phoenix, Boston is closing in on the 1971-72 Lakers for the best road scoring margin and road point differential in NBA history, per NBC Sports Boston stats guru Dick Lipe.

“We have a very experienced team,” Celtics wing Jaylen Brown said Wednesday when asked about the Celtics’ road prowess. “We’ve got guys who have won championships, gold medals, deep playoff runs, all of the above. So, knowing how to win on the road is an experience thing that we’ve been able to be really good at this year.

“Last year I feel like we were really good at home, and then just year-to-year, everything’s different. Going into the playoffs, we’re going to need to win some road games, so it’s great that we’ve been able to find some rhythm in the regular season.”

The Celtics’ relative struggles at home this season are cause for some concern, especially since they’ll have home court advantage until at least the Eastern Conference Finals. But a strong road record is a sign of mental toughness, and this team appears to have it in spades.