Can the Boston Celtics trust their three point shooting when the playoffs come around?
The Boston Celtics have been an inconsistent offense for the majority of the season, but things have really rounded out in a special way. Brad Stevens and Danny Ainge have invested a lot in getting more three point shooters and more open three point shots. The results have the Celtics as the second best three point shooting team in the league at 38 percent, behind only the Warriors.
The Celtics have embraced the three point revolution as much as anyone, and they finally have the personnel to maintain their offense through that shooting for a season. The real question, however, is how much they can trust this come playoff time, especially if Kyrie Irving is missing any time.
The concerning part about the Celtics is it feels like a lot of players are shooting unsustainable. They have Irving, Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Shane Larkin, Marcus Morris and Terry Rozier all shooting at least 38 percent from three, with Marcus Smart being the only kind of volume shooter that falls below that.
A lot of these players are shooting better than what was expected of them, especially Rozier, Morris and Brown maintaining their efficiency in high volume. It is also a bit odd to see the Celtics rank so high as a three point shooting team, while having an overall shooting percentage that ranks 22nd in the league.
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It feels a bit like the Celtics are shooting over their heads from three point range, and the playoffs are usually where you suffer for that. The Celtics are as good as it gets in terms of generating the open looks, and that is a big reaosn why these shooters have been so successful.
When the playoffs come around teams will close out harder, and the Celtics will not be able to establish their ball movement with as much ease. Whether or not the three point shot kills the Celtics will depend on if they have other ways to win when the shot is not falling, because they will not be hot for an entire playoff run.
The three point shooting gives the Celtics the kind of potential to contend with the best teams in the league, but they need other things in order to sustain a successful offense. Fortunately, the Celtics have done a great job of avoiding a situation where they have to force anything, and while the three is the most prominent, they have players they trust to create offense on all three levels.
The Celtics will need to sustain and trust their three point shooting in order to reach the finals, but they might need a bit of a different approach for the early round, where their best shooter is going to be out with an injury.
The Celtics want to be able to trust their three point shooting, and it will always be a part of their game, but they are going to lose games if they do not figure out how to win when the shots are not falling, and that is where the defense becomes so important.
The Celtics will keep on taking these three point shots, and how many they need to hit will be directly connected to how good their defense is playing. The Celtics can trust their shooting, but only to a certain degree.
They need to play defense in a way that will allow their three point shooting to take over on offense. The Celtics can trust their three point shooting a lot more, when the defense lowers the standard of how good they have to be.
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The Celtics will figure out quickly how good they have to be from three to win a series, and whether or not you can trust them to shoot that well will completely depend on how many misses they are able to make up for with their defense.