Boston Celtics vs Indiana Pacers Preview

After an underwhelming and offensively disappointing first week of the season, the Boston Celtics are now beginning a crucial stretch against eastern conference opponents. The Celtics’ next five games are all against eastern conference teams and while that is a refreshing sight after playing the San Antonio Spurs, none of the games are going to be easy.

The first of two games against the Indiana Pacers begins tonight and then the Celtics play three other playoff teams from a season ago in the Milwaukee Bucks, the Washington Wizards and the Atlanta Hawks. It is certainly a good thing that the Celtics get the Pacers twice as they are struggling even worse than the Celtics this year. Although, they may have turned a corner in a big win against the Detroit Pistons last night.

The Pacers similarly have only one win but they should pick it up as soon as Paul George returns to his prime form. George is averaging just 16 points per game this year and is shooting just 33% and then 20% from three point range. Even if George is struggling to begin the season, he remains an incredibly tough matchup.

Fortunately, one of the Celtics’ top defenders will have the assignment of covering George and this game may come down to the performance of Jae Crowder. Crowder is second in the league with 2.67 steals per game and he has a defensive rating of 94 this season, making it the best defensive start to his young career.

Oct 30, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Toronto Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan (10) drives the ball to the basket against Boston Celtics small forward Jae Crowder (99) during the 1st quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Clearly he is not intimidated by the added responsibility by being on the Celtics. In fact, he is flourishing as the man responsible for defending an opposing team’s best player. Crowder is certainly not expected to do better than George on the offensive end but the Celtics will have no chance if George is not disrupted on the offensive end.

While the Celtics have come to expect that their defense will be playing well, they have also proven that it will not be enough if they do not get right on the offensive end. The Celtics are yet to find the flow that propelled them into the playoffs last season and they will need a lot of players to step up in order to beat the Pacers.

Isaiah Thomas has been the most impressive offensive player so far. However, he also has to improve. Thomas is shooting 20% form three point range and that kills the team considering he is taking the second most three point attempts per game on the team. Thomas’ talent is undeniable and it should only be a matter of time before he brings his shooting percentage back up to the normal. The only problem is that the Celtics cannot afford for that to be a slow process. The Celtics depend too greatly on Thomas on the offensive end for them to expect to beat strong teams if he is not shooting well.

Nov 1, 2015; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas (4) shoots the ball against San Antonio Spurs center Boris Diaw (33) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

The good news is that the Pacers have struggled defending the three ball this year. The Pacers rank 22nd giving up a three point shooting percentage of 35.2, which would be a significant upgrade over the Celtics’ 26.6%. The Raptors and the Spurs have not been elite defending the three ball. That being said, they rank 7th and 13th in that area and have been significantly better than the Pacers.

Thomas is not the only one who needs to improve his three point shooting. It may be unrealistic to expect anything out of Evan Turner this year but Kelly Olynyk has struggled even worse than Thomas. Olynyk is shooting 12.5% from three point range and if he is not providing that offensive boost from three, he will be doing more harm than good.

The Celtics can learn a lot about their place in the eastern conference through this stretch. The Hawks are the only ones among the elite but the Bucks, Wizards and Pacers all believe they are playoff teams and the Celtics need to prove that they also belong in that group. It is good that the Celtics play the Pacers twice because they are currently the weakest of the group and are likely to be the closet to the Celtics in the standing.

More from Hardwood Houdini

With how impressive the Raptors have been to start the Celtics cannot afford to drop games against the Pacers if they have any hope of fighting for the division. The Celtics need to come out of this eastern conference trip above .500 because what follows is two games against some of the better teams in the western conference.

Home/Celtics News