Boston Celtics
“There’s a fine line between fans being deemed passionate vs. obnoxious, and the Celtics’ loyalists are apparently walking it quite well.”
Celtics fans wave goodbye to Jalen Brunson during the 2025 Eastern Conference semifinals Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe
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There’s no question that Celtics fans can be intense.
The atmosphere at TD Garden shows it, and players have their ways of acknowledging it. During an anonymous player poll conducted by The Athletic, Celtics fans were simultaneously voted the “most passionate” fans in the NBA and the “most obnoxious.”
The outlet polled 161 players on a range of topics from fan passion, the least desired trade destinations, and the smartest things teams spend money on.
TD Garden narrowly beat out Madison Square Garden for the arena with the most passionate fans. TD Garden received 20.3 percent of the vote, while Madison Square Garden received 19.3 percent. OKC’s Paycom Center was third with percent.
“There’s something different about the Celtics faithful,” the story reads. “Just as there is when it comes to the Knicks crazies who spent so much of the Eastern Conference semifinals taking over the Philadelphia 76ers’ Xfinity Mobile Arena.”
The gap was much wider in the vote for most obnoxious fans. TD Garden received 32 percent of the vote, nearly twice as much than Philadelphia’s Xfinity Mobile arena (17.9 percent) which finished second. Madison Square Garden (16.4 percent) finished third.
“There’s a fine line between fans being deemed passionate vs. obnoxious, and the Celtics’ loyalists are apparently walking it quite well,” the Athletic story reads. “The former race wasn’t nearly as close as the latter, though, with the TD Garden crowd winning this one going away.”
The poll also touched on where players believe Giannis Antetokounmpo will land this offseason. There have been several reports indicating that the Celtics have had interest in landing the Bucks star, but Boston was not among the top eight vote getters in the poll.
Staying with the Bucks was the most popular option, with Milwaukee getting 45.3 percent of the vote. The Heat, Knicks, Timberwolves, Lakers, Warriors, Rockets and Raptors all got more votes than the Celtics.
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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