Defense wins championships, but right now the Celtics aren’t playing much defense.
It’s weird to be writing an article about bad defense for a Brad Stevens‘ coached Boston Celtics team. The Celtics are loaded with defensive specialists on both their starter and reserve lineups. Yet, their defensive statistics continue to go the wrong way. Boston has allowed at least 110 points in five of their past seven games, and at least 100 points in every game since their 102-95 victory over the Detroit Pistons in early February.
To expect the Celtics to allow less than 100 points per game may be a lot to ask, as only six teams in the NBA have done that this season, but holding opponents to under 110 points is not. The Celtics, once a top-10 defense, have fallen down to 15th in opponents points per game this season, allowing 102.2. Boston is allowing more points per game than the New York Knicks and Orlando Magic now.
Most recently, the Milwaukee Bucks scored 107 points on the Celtics, and 112 on them in early February. The Bucks only average 98.7 points per game, 24th in the NBA. The Celtics also gave up 124 points to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who rank 19th in the NBA averaging 100.9 points per game.
If defense wins championships then Boston is in a lot of trouble as five of the six teams with better records than them allow fewer points per game. The one team who doesn’t is the Golden State Warriors, but Stephen Curry makes up for it, obviously.
It’s more strange than anything that a team that features Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley, and Marcus Smart could be on such a downfall defensively. Part of the reason is the lack of size, since the Celtics have the shortest team in the NBA. It’s not new news that the Celtics’ lack size in the post, especially with Kelly Olynyk out. Even when Olynyk is healthy, he isn’t a defensive warrior down low and spends most of his time outside the paint. Tyler Zeller is their only other seven-footer, but his minutes have been inconsistent this season, and his game revolves around offense.
Amir Johnson at 6’9″ is the team’s best interior defender, although, his minutes have dipped in the month of February and he’s not big enough to play center. That still leaves a lot of problems for the Celtics down low, unless they play a zone.
As good as Isaiah Thomas is offensively, he doesn’t always help the Celtics on defense. In the Celtics victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in early February, the Cavaliers were able to exploit the smaller Thomas. While Bradley guarded Kyrie Irving, they fed the ball to J.R. Smith for most of the game. It was clear that Thomas made no impact on Smith’s shot, as he shot 5-10 from three and scored 20 points.
Thomas does average 1.2 steals per game, but that doesn’t take away from his inability to contest shots effectively. It makes it harder on the Celtics as a bigger guard can always shoot over him, especially if they’re a three-point specialist. It takes the biggest toll on Boston late in games when Stevens has to decide when to take Thomas off the court for Smart, but then risking not having Thomas out there to take free-throws.
The Celtics lead the league in shot attempts per game, with the Chicago Bulls and Golden State Warriors following. The Bulls and Warriors also allow their opponents the most shots, while the Celtics are 16th in the NBA, allowing only 84.3 shots a game.
The problem is, the Celtics allow the seventh most offensive rebounds per game, once again attributed to their lack of size. Boston is a solid rebounding team, eighth in the NBA, but they don’t have someone who consistently eats up boards every night. While the lack of a true inside presence is mostly talked about on the offensive end for Boston, it hurts them even more on defense.
Considering the Celtics’ fast-paced offense, it’s not surprising that they allow as many points as they do. The speed of the game is a lot faster which helps their offense, but that means the other team is also running and getting more transition layups.
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However, the Celtics still rank fifth in defensive rating, according to NBA stats, but the increase in points allowed recently is still a point for concern. They’re a quick, scrappy team, but it’s clear that the lack of size hurts them. It definitely raises a lot of questions regarding their chances in the postseason.
A guy like Jordan Mickey could help them, or ruin the team’s chemistry. However, it may be worth giving him a shot as the Celtics may run into trouble come playoff time once the game slows down into a half-court game, rather than the run-and-gun style they play now.
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The defensive potential is there. On the perimeter they have three guys that have the ability to shut down nearly everyone in the NBA, but that hasn’t been the case as of late. Boston has still been winning, but losing some games they should have won. It’s fantastic that they found their rhythm on offense but if they don’t bring back the defensive intensity then they will run into problems sooner than later. You can’t win by trying to outscore your opponent, defense wins championships.