Boston Celtics Are Finding Balance

The Boston Celtics are finding great balance with a much improving offense

When the Boston Celtics started the season, they were winning games in a much different way than most expected. They had the best defense in the league, were one of the best rebounding teams in the league, while struggling to shoot or pass the ball well.

Now that things have started to settle, and we are getting a clearer idea of what this team is actually going to be this season, things are balancing out in a phenomenal way. The Celtics continue to have the best defensive efficiency in the league, even if it is by a much smaller margin than the start.

Their offensive efficiency, which was a big weakness to start the season, has just cracked the top 10, and could continue to rise quickly. The Celtics have turned around the offense by getting back to what makes Stevens offenses so great, passing. The Celtics are creeping up on the top 10 in assists per game, and they know they still have a lot of room to improve.

With that passing, also comes the easier shots, and is allowing the Celtics to shoot much better as a team. Their overall percentage still has a long ways to go, but they rank eight in the league form beyond the arc, and that is always going to be the most important thing for the Celtics.

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The Celtics need to know that they can trust any player other than Aron Baynes to hit their open three pointers, because that floor spacing makes it impossible to have any resistance to Kyrie Irving in the paint.

The Celtics are ninth in the league in three point attempts per game, so they are able to live with the weaker mid range and interior shooting, because they can rely on the three pointer to keep them alive in any game.

It has been clear for a while that the Celtics will be as good as any team on defense this season, and we are starting to see some signs of the same thing on offense. Keep in mind, there is still a lot of work to be done. Offenses like the Warriors and the Rockets are much more polished, but the Celtics could have a chance to grow into that kind of dominant offense this season.

There were too many games on that streak where the Celtics played embarrassing on offense for almost the entire game, relying entirely on their defense to keep in close, and Irving to close it out. The Celtics had to win so many close games because they never had the balance to dominate a team. Too often the Celtics gave their opponent an opening through an advantage, they just happened to close out all of those phenomenally.

With this new found balance, the Celtics are not having to win as many close games, and are punishing their opponents the way most expected when the season started. There will always be the exceptions, like the game against the Suns being far too close than it should have. That being said, the Celtics are understanding how to put more complete performances together, and that is rounding them out to one of the most balanced teams in the NBA.

Stevens is still working out his rotation, and the team still feels like it is in transition. Fortunately, the more we see things settle the better this team looks. Stevens has a lot of things to figure out, but we are seeing how quickly he can find the improvements. The Celtics have a long ways to go in order to be one of the truly elite offenses in the NBA, but it could only be a matter of time before Stevens figures out how to get that out of this roster.

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The defense may have regressed a bit, but nobody is going to be questioning whether or not they can be the best defense on the court against any team in the league. And when you have that combined with the kind of talent the Celtics have, lead by Irving, there is not much to worry about on offense.