Boston Celtics: Arguments for & against Cs at No. 2 in NBA power rankings
Boston Celtics: Arguments against Cs being No. 2 in B/R’s power rankings
Tough road ahead
The Boston Celtics had a difficult start to their season when they faced the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets, and Indiana Pacers in their first four games of the season.
It’s no wonder, then, that Boston began the season 2-2 with close wins over the Bucks and Pacers and a blowout loss to the Nets, and then a one-point loss to Indiana.
Over the last couple weeks, things have been a little easier for Boston, though.
With the exception of the Miami Heat, Boston’s schedule has softened up over the last 14 days.
They have faced off against a shorthanded Memphis Grizzlies, played a woeful Detroit Pistons team twice, and have faced the lowly Raptors and Wizards.
Things are about to get tougher for Boston in the near future, however. Assuming the league doesn’t get paused due to COVID soon, of course.
They will be facing an Orlando Magic team on Friday that has impressed to start the year — though they will be without Markelle Fultz for the remainder of the season now.
After that, they host a Knicks squad that has been surprisingly not terrible thus far, then they play a back-to-back against the 76ers next week.
Follow that up with a road trip to San Antonio to take on the Spurs and a highly-anticipated game against the Lakers to end the month of January, and things are about to really heat up for the Cs.
Right now, you can argue they are deserving of being the No. 2 team in the power rankings.
However, is that just due to a hot start, or can the Boston Celtics weather this upcoming storm and prove the rankings right?
Defense could hold C’s back
While Boston’s offense has looked stellar at times this season, the same can’t be said for their defense — that could get them in trouble in the long run.
The Celtics had built up a reputation of being a good defensive team under Brad Stevens, but that hasn’t been the case so far this year. They are giving up 111.2 points a game to opponents, and teams are connecting on 46.8 percent of their field goals against them this season.
That’s near the bottom of the league, with only 10 teams giving up a worse percentage so far this year.
When you look ahead to Boston’s upcoming schedule and see teams like the Lakers, 76ers, Bulls, Spurs, and Warriors — all teams averaging 111 points or better per game — in the coming weeks, then there’s cause for concern about the team’s winning ways continuing.
Right now, Boston’s field goal percentage defense is on pace to be the worst of the Brad Stevens era and the worst for any Cs team since the 2006-07 squad that also allowed teams to shoot 46.8 percent from the floor.
It’s not all been on Boston’s defense, though; they have been turning the ball over at a high rate this year as well, which has led to easy opportunities for opponents on the other end.
Boston is averaging 15.7 turnovers a contest so far this season, the eighth-worst rate in the league.
As good as their offense has been, their defense has been just as bad in many instances. That won’t cut it in the long haul, especially in the postseason.