NBA Analyst Says Celtics 'Have No Excuses' If This Happens In NBA Playoffs originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.For most of the 2025-26 NBA regular season, the Boston Celtics were a Cinderella story.Despite losing multiple stars over the offseason and Jayson Tatum for most of the year to injury, the scrappy Celtics kept finding ways to win games. They banded together, played hard every night and dramatically exceeded expectations, somehow remaining one of the best teams in basketball.That narrative has shifted over the last month and a half, however, ever since Tatum returned from his Achilles injury in early March.

Now favored to win the Eastern Conference, Boston is no longer the lovable underdog entering the NBA Playoffs.The Celtics may have been playing with house money at the start of the season, but that is no longer the case, according to CBS Sports analyst Ashley Nicole Moss.are the Celtics playing with house money?"absolutely not. everyone in Boston wants to talk about all they do is win championships and hang banners (...) there is no excuse. it wasn't a gap year, you ended up 2nd seed without Tatum ... now you have him back."@CBSSportspic.twitter.com/rvr7YaTsAY— Ashley Nicole Moss (@AshNicoleMoss) April 15, 2026"You have no excuses. It wasn't a gap year.

You ended up the second seed in the Eastern Conference without Jayson Tatum," Moss said on Wednesday. "Now you have Jayson Tatum back, who's playing phenomenal basketball, will only get better as he progresses with every game."Moss is right. Boston is fully healthy entering the playoffs and Tatum is mostly back to normal.

The Eastern Conference is relatively weak this year, too, so it's not like the Celtics have a particularly challenging path to the NBA Finals.Boston has the talent, experience, coaching, health and everything else it needs to make a deep playoff run. If the Celtics don't and fall short, that's on them.More NBA: NBA Insider Drops Massive Joel Embiid Update Ahead Of Celtics-76ers Playoff Series