Boston Celtics Realizing Defense is their Identity

It is easy to see how important defense is if the Boston Celtics want to hold onto that number one seed

The Boston Celtics are around their mid point in the season, and have gone through all kinds of extremes. They had to deal with the trauma of losing prized top free agent in the first game, in addition to the fact that only four players returned, on what is now one of the youngest cores in the NBA.

You still feel as though the Celtics have a lot of work to do before this roster they are playing with is at their best. We have seen all kinds of flashes of brilliance, but there have been major consistency problems and, despite holding onto that top seed in the East, they have not looked stable all season long.

At the beginning, the Celtics went on what is still the most remarkable streak of the season. They won 16 straight games, while dealing with injuries to pretty much every significant player on the team. They were also able to get the signature victories, as the Warriors were one of their victims on that stretch.

The Celtics were able to establish a defense that made up for any issues they had, and unmatched clutch play made sure that streak was able to stay alive. The Celtics did a great job pulling through with those 16 victories, but do not let that fool you into thinking they were playing flawless basketball.

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In fact, their offense was just plain bad for much of that stretch. The bench was going through an unimaginable drought, and the rest of the offensive identity had not been established yet. It really did not matter, however, because the defense made sure the offense would have to do as little as possible, maintaining the high point of the season for an extended period.

Then they hit that brutal stretch in December, and it looked like everything was falling apart. The Celtics saw their offense surge. Kyrie Irving, Al Horford and Jayson Tatum were brilliant on a nightly basis, and the Celtics were showing that they could score with anyone in the league.

The problem is that their surging offense could not make up for their faltering defense, the way their defense made up for their offense during the winning streak. When you look at the roster, it feels like there is a lot more offensive potential than potential on defense, but that does not change the fact that defense is far more important when it comes to winning games.

It is maddening that the Celtics have not put together an extended stretch where they have been at their best on both ends, but that lack of balance has emphasized how much more important defense is for them.

The Celtics were one of the worst rebounding teams during that stretch in December, and they were leaning on their offense to win. Don’t get me wrong, the Celtics should be able to win games with offense alone. They have so much talent there, and when everything is functioning properly on offense, that alone makes them tough to beat.

The problem is that this roster is still not at a point where they can expect every player on the court to be having a real impact on offense, and they have a lot of streaky shooters. On defense, however, it feels like every player who touches the court is contributing when they are winning.

The Celtics are back on a six game winning streak, and that is despite having two of their worst offensive games of the season. Clearly, the offense is going to have a lot of ups and downs, and it is going to be key the rest of the season to make sure that the defense takes as much pressure off the offense as possible.

When the defense is playing at a level where Irving no longer feels like he has to make a difficult play on every possession on offense, everything seems to function better. When you look at their wins and loses, the most obvious thing you see is how important defense is to winning for them.

The Celtics have to put in more work to improve their offense the rest of the season, but is it clear that defense is going to be the way to holding onto that number one seed, and how much playoff success they have will then be about whether or not their offense can reach the level of their defense.

The Celtics have proven that they can be the best team in the league when it comes to disrupting what their opponents want to do. They have also proven that their defense can allow one individual to go crazy, while containing the rest of the team in a brilliant way. There is not a single team in the league that they look at and think there is nothing their defense can do to slow them down, and that is the advantage that will carry them the furthest this season.

The most frustrating part for opponents will be their ability to play this way in small ball situations. The Celtics are showing that they can afford to have their best overall defenders at every position, because there is no better set of guards and wings when it comes to making up for front court rebounding.

The Celtics have all kinds of undersized options that have been standout defenders, and when you are plugging them into the holes around defenders like Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Horford, teams are always forced to adjust.

When the Celtics are able to defend and rebound as good as anyone in the league in their small ball situations, they are going to be the comfortable team and that is the kind of advantage that allows their offense to struggle in wins.

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We are still waiting to see the extent of how good this offense can be, but if we can take one thing away from this first half of the season, it is that this team is going to win games because of their defense and they cannot afford to struggle on that end if they want to string together long stretches of winning.

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