How Bruins, Celtics are on pace to achieve ultra rare feat in same season

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The Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics have enjoyed a ton of success in their long, storied histories of NHL and NBA franchises, respectively. 

The Celtics have won a record 17 NBA championships, while the Bruins have six Stanley Cup titles. In addition to immense playoff success, these two teams have also dominated in quite a few regular seasons.

Despite all of this success and almost 80 years of playing at the same time in the same city, these two franchises are on pace to accomplish a feat we have never seen from them.

What is it? 

Both teams finishing with the best record in their respective leagues in the same season.

This might be hard to believe, but it's true.

Pastrnak poised to have best offensive season for Bruins in 30 years

Since the NBA's inaugural season in 1946-47, the Celtics have earned the top record (or tied for it with another team) in the regular season 19 times, but only once (2007-08) since 1986. During that same span, the Bruins have finished with the best record eight times, but just twice (2013-14, 2019-20) since 1990. 

Both of them are on track to finish atop their respective leagues in 2022-23.

The Bruins are a much safer bet to finish first overall and win the Presidents' Trophy. They enter Wednesday with a 32-4-4 record -- 11 points higher than the next team. The B's are on pace to win 65 games and finish with 139 points. Both would be new league records, besting the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens record for most points in a season (132), and the 1995-96 Detroit Red Wings and 2018-19 Tampa Bay Lightning for the most wins in a season (62). 

The Celtics enter Wednesday with a 29-12 record. They lead the Denver Nuggets, Memphis Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets by 1.5 games. 

How rare is it for one city to have the team with the best NHL and NBA records in the same season? It's happened only one time.

The 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons both led their respective leagues in the regular season. However, neither team won a championship that year. The Red Wings were upset in the first round by the Edmonton Oilers and the Pistons lost to the eventual NBA champion Miami Heat in the conference finals.

Both the Bruins and Celtics have a long way to go before wrapping up the regular season, but there is a good chance Boston fans witness a very rare event in April. 

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