Heading into the 2022 NBA All-Star break, the Boston Celtics find themselves producing like one of the hottest teams in the entire league.
Since the New Year, the shamrocks have won 17 out of 24 outings, are currently 11-2 over their last 13 games, and just recently saw a win-streak that managed to reach nine straight.
Though they may have just lost a rather upsetting game to the lowly Detroit Pistons (the game that ultimately ended their highly impressive win streak), this team truly looks to be a legitimate contender in the Eastern Conference race which, in turn, should have fans excited to see what they may have in store during the second half of the season.
Alas, what with the fact that we now have several days separating us from the C’s next game (February 24th), all we are left to do is ponder on the possibilities of what we could wind up seeing from this scorching hot ball club down the final stretch of this year’s campaign.
With this in mind, today we at HH present to you 3 second-half goals the Boston Celtics must look to accomplish:
Boston Celtics second-half goal No. 1) Continue their hot 3-point shooting
The Boston Celtics find themselves on quite a hot streak since the calendar year flipped to 2022, and while their stellar play on both sides of the ball has been equally as impressive and lethal during this stretch, we believe that their improvement from beyond the 3-point line has been the true difference-maker in regard to their recent winning ways.
All season long, even when they found themselves below .500, the C’s defense has been absolutely praised for being one of the toughest and stingiest in the entire league, constantly ranking within the top-5 in defensive rating, and now, as of this writing, are ranked second only to the Golden State Warriors.
Unfortunately, however, for the longest time, Boston’s offense was seemingly incapable of finding its stride, ranking 20th in offensive rating, 23rd in effective field goal percentage, and, worst of all, 24th in 3-point percentage heading into January.
However, since their first outing of the New Year, they’ve gone on to flip a switch in all three of these departments, performing like one of the better offensive ball clubs in the entire league during their incredible run.
From January 2nd on, the Celtics find themselves ranked 11th in offensive rating, seventh in effective field goal percentage, and, to top it all off, eighth in 3-point percentage which, to us, has been the most important part of this offensive renaissance.
In the modern-day NBA, teams tend to find themselves living and dying by the long ball.
Sadly for the Boston Celtics, through the first few months of the campaign, they were ultimately dying in excruciating fashion, as they were hoisting up the 13th most attempts from beyond the arc yet were converting at the seventh-worst rate in the entire league.
Now, throughout these last 24 games, they find themselves not only living by the deep ball on offense, but they are absolutely thriving, as they now place 10th in the league in 3-point attempts and, as specified earlier, eighth in conversion rate, knocking them in at a 36 percent clip during this stretch.
Frankly, it’s just a simple fact that being able to effectively space the floor can only help improve a team’s offensive efficiency and, in the case for the C’s, once they started knocking down their 3-point attempts, their offensive play has significantly reduced the gap present between their defensive play, thus making them a far more well-rounded team.
During this second half of the season, they must look to keep it up.