Boston Celtics: Defense Leads to Ugly Win

The Boston Celtics continue to prove how much they can overcome with great defense

The Boston Celtics are on a six game winning streak which includes two of their best victories of the season against the Rockets and Cavaliers. They have looked like a different team since getting some much needed rest, and this has been the best stretch of basketball for them all season. That being said, it is still far from perfect, and those pesky Brooklyn Nets keep finding a way to play the Celtics tough.

They escaped with a victory, but it is starting to get a little worrisome that the Celtics are never able to bury the Nets. They do not have the incentive to tank, but their ability to play the Celtics tough almost every single time is frustrating.

The Celtics had a major problem of playing down to their competition during that bad stretch. They expected their talent to carry them as far as they needed, and they got burned multiple times because of it. When you look back at the multiple loses to far inferior teams during that stretch, you see 108 points given up to the Bulls, 107 to the Jazz, 102 to the Knicks and 111 to Washington.

Those are all teams that the Celtics know they are capable of beating, but also know they cannot take for granted when they are playing poorly. During that December stretch, the biggest struggles the Celtics were having were on defense, and that is why they were not able to escape the weaker teams in poorly played games.

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Against the Nets, they were against a much worse team and were playing terribly. The difference, however, is that they did not struggle on defense. The Celtics know that they are not always going to be playing their best, but you need to be able to win games you struggle in to get that home court advantage.

When the Celtics are playing defense like they are right now, they can afford to struggle in many other areas of the game, and still take down a team like the Nets. In fact, we have already seen them do plenty of that during the 16 game winning streak. The Celtics were winning games consistently, but their play on the court was far from that.

When the Celtics are putting the best defense in the league on the court, they are better than any other team in the league at finding what is needed to get that victory. The defense is where the Celtics cannot afford to struggle and still get their win.

Right now, the Celtics have held three straight opponents under 90 points, and no team in the league can beat that stretch right now. Obviously, they want to be scoring more than 87 and 91 points in consecutive games, but no other team has as much experience winning those ugly games.

During Boston’s 16 game winning streak, they had five games where they scored under 100 points, and they won all of them. Including victories against the Raptors, the Bucks and the Warriors. The Celtics also only needed to score over 100 points four times to get a win during that stretch, and one of them was in overtime.

When the Celtics defense is on point, they can bring any team down to whatever level they are playing at, and none of these teams are as comfortable as the Celtics in that kind of situation.

The Celtics realize that they still have a lot of work to do, and cannot expect great and consistent play in every single game. They have struggled enough this season to get an idea of how they can overcome those struggles, and how those struggles can bury them.

A lot of different factors can come into play and change in a particular situation, but the one consistent thing is that when the Celtics are playing defense they are going to be tough to beat no matter what else they are doing. No matter which players are hot and how successful they are at their game plan, their defense is able to overcome any of it.

The clutch play is also crucial. The defense keeps the Celtics alive and well in these games, but they still need some clutch play. The difference is that when their defense is playing well, it is a lot harder for their opponent to match them in the clutch. Everything the Celtics have to do in those most important minutes become a lot easier when they are playing defense well. The Celtics need less in those timely moments when the defense is making it impossible for their opponent to get the edge they need.

Next: Celtics playing best basketball of the year

Last night it was Jayson Tatum, with a great dunk and dagger three pointer that sent the Nets packing. The Celtics feel great about pulling out in the clutch when their defense plays well because of how many players have come through in the clutch. Kyrie Irving is leading the way, but there might not be another team with more options that has established great play in the clutch this season.

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