Boston Celtics: What Went Wrong on the Road Trip and How to Fix It
By Thomas King
Make Some Open Shots!
Though the defense didn’t hold up in Boston’s five-game road trip, the offense is still dealing with many of the same issues its had since the start of the season: the only ‘good’ shots the Celtics offense is creating in open three-point shots–and they aren’t making them.
As Tom Westerholm of MassLive.com noted in this story, Boston is creating more open and wide-open shots than any other team, per NBA.com/stats.
"Put simply: Open shots aren’t falling for Boston. Entering Sunday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the Celtics were first in the NBA in open shots (closest defender within 4-6 feet) attempted, averaging 28.8 per game. They were also 28th in field-goal percentage on open shots, per the NBA’s stat site. When you expand that to wide open (closest defender more than six feet away), Boston is second in attempts and 14th in percentage. That’s a better number, but still a problem — combine the totals for open and wide open, and the Celtics have still generated the most looks while their field-goal percentage is 25th."
Jaylen Brown is shooting just 27.6 percent from deep so far this season, more than 11 percentage points worse than last season. Al Horford is at 27.5 percent, more than 15 percentage points worse than a season ago. Gordon Hayward is at 31.9 percent, well below his 2016-17 campaign (39.8%) and career average of 36.6 percent.
Those guys are combining to shoot almost 13 three-pointers per game, 12.4 of which are considered open or wide-open by NBA.com’s tracking data. All of Horford’s three-point attempts have been open or wide open.
Kyrie Irving has done such a great job commanding two defenders in the pick-and-roll, dragging them into the paint, and slinging passes back to Horford, bare-naked at the top of the key. If Horford, Hayward, and Brown can start making some of these open shots, the defenses are going to have to adjust, most likely opening more driving lanes for everybody.
Soon enough these shots are going to start falling, and the Boston offense is going to look a lot better. However, the missed open shots are far from the only problem and simply making shots isn’t going to solve everything.