Coming into the season, expectations for the Boston Celtics were pretty muted. Not only had they lost a ton of talent over the summer, but they were also going to be without their best player, Jayson Tatum, for most of the season .

Accordingly, many experts viewed the Celtics as a .500 team that might make the playoffs if things broke right. Nobody expected them to be a top contender in the Eastern Conference.

And yet, that’s what they are. Through its first 24 games, Boston has shockingly emerged as one of the best teams in the NBA . The surging Celtics are 15-9, rank fifth in net rating and own the No. 3 seed in the East.

On Tuesday’s episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” Simmons discussed Boston’s surprising start and how the team is overachieving.

Simmons cited several facto

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