The Boston Celtics are selling themselves short at the free throw line
The Boston Celtics have been surprising in a lot of ways this season. The crazy run through injuries is the story of the season so far, and a lot of what happened on that streak and since then could never have been predicted this season. The Celtics are the best defense in the league, with an offense that has struggled at times, and most people would have guessed it would have been the opposite going into this season.
Losing Gordon Hayward did irreparable damage to the offense, but they have been playing a lot differently than last season too. The passing is down, and the second unit has absolutely no shooting whatsoever. They are winning with a great interior presence, and players that can create a lot of offense.
One of the strangest parts of this offense, however, is the free throw shooting. The Celtics do not have single player who is a real liability at the free throw line, and they have a lot of players that can be incredibly effective at getting there.
The problem is that the Celtics are only hitting 76.8 percent of their free throws. Now, it could be a lot worse, but the Celtics are missing out on points in every game because of uncharacteristic misses at the time. The Celtics are also 10th in the league with 23.7 free throw attempts per game.
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The Celtics have the players to be one of the deadliest teams at the line, and they will inevitably sell themselves short if they do not get that percentage up to where it needs to be. The Celtics have phenomenal shooters that can’t seem to get the consistency at the free throw line, but that makes it a problem that can easily be fixed.
Kyrie Irving and Al Horford are not the ones that need to be looked at. Irving is just below 90 percent from the line, and he has not been the one dragging them down at all this season. Horford shoots just over 80 percent from the line, and having your starting center improve your free throw percentage is a privilege most teams do not get.
Jayson Tatum has also been great from the line. It may be unfair to him, but it actually feels like he can improve his 84.5 percent. Seems a but ridiculous to expect anyone to be around 90 percent, but Tatum has shown that he has that ability. He never misses his open shots, and with shooting splits of 49/48, the free throw line has been his weakest spot by far.
Jaylen Brown is the hardest to understand at the line. He has made tremendous strides this season, shooting over 45 percent overall and over 40 percent from three. His free throw percentage, on the other hand, has plummeted to 59 percent, and it might be the most frustrating part of this team.
Brown might be the most physically dominant player on the Celtics, and he is remarkable at taking and hitting any good opportunities presented to him. There is absolutely no reason what so ever that Brown should be anywhere near that free throw percentage. When you take into account his ability to get to the line and finish through contact, you realize there are a lot of points being lost here.
Brown can kill teams with his ability to get to the line, but that will never look like a great option as long as he is missing them at this rate. Brown is the biggest place where the Celtics can improve their free throw shooting, and it should be a top priority the rest of the way.
The Celtics have incredible talent on offense, and we are staring to see it come together a lot better for the Celtics. Right now, the free throw line is an area where they can clearly get better. There may be more important priorities, but there is no reason the Celtics shouldn’t be one of the best free throw shooting teams in the league, instead of hovering around the middle of the league.
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Free throw shooting is something any team would have to improve collectively, but it has to start with the top offensive players. If the Celtics get the free throw shooting that they should out of those top four, then this problem will be long gone.