2016–17 Boston Celtics season 2016–17 Boston Celtics season The 2016–17 Boston Celtics season was the 71st season of the franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team obtained the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time since 2008 when they won the NBA title. At 53–29, they finished with the lowest winning percentage of a No. 1 seed since the Detroit Pistons in 2007. In the playoffs, the Celtics defeated the Chicago Bulls in the First Round in six games, advancing to the Semifinals, where they then defeated the Washington Wizards in seven games, advancing to the Eastern Conference
Original Celtics fourth place, while first-half winner Cleveland slumped badly to fifth place. Cleveland’s fall was precipitated by the hasty mid-season departure of star Honey Russell, who was exiled to Chicago after a disagreement with team owner Max Rosenblum. The Celtics easily disposed of the weakened Cleveland team in three straight games to take the ABL championship. In 1926, the American Basketball League, developed by sports entrepreneur George Preston Marshall, effectively railroaded the team into joining its ranks by prohibiting member teams from playing against them. The Original Celtics responded by winning the next two ABL titles. During their first full season