3 problems the Boston Celtics must fix if they wish to win an NBA title
By Mark Nilon
Boston Celtics problem No. 2) Interior defense without Robert Williams
All season long the Boston Celtics have been one of the most ferocious defensive units in all of basketball and, to this date, they find themselves sporting the best defensive rating in the league of 105.9.
Of course, while the C’s as a collective have been unbelievably in synch and sound on this side of the ball, perhaps no other player has been more impactful for them in regard to their defensive play than fourth-year big man, Robert Williams III, who sports a 103.4 defensive rating, good enough for seventh-best in the NBA.
Unfortunately, however, due to the fact that we saw the 24-year-old recently go down with a meniscus tear in his left knee, Boston is expected to be without their rising star center for four to six weeks and, already in the two games sans Time Lord, the team is struggling to have the same impact they’ve had on the less glamorous side of the floor, particularly when at the rim.
Throughout the first five months of action, the shamrocks proved to be one of the top rim-protecting teams in 2021-22, rejecting shots at the second-highest rate (6.6 blocks per game) while also boasting the fifth-best defensive field-goal percentage (61 percent) when within five feet of the rim.
Since Williams has been out with his knee ailment, the Celtics have dropped to 14th in blocks (4.0) while also letting up nearly 70 percent of the field goals their opponents have attempted within the five-foot range, placing them 15th at 68.9 percent.
Now, granted, these numbers are based on a rather small sample size, but the decline in interior defense based on the eye test alone was rather evident during both their bouts against the Raptors and the Heat, and the statistics only back this up.
Heading into the playoffs, should they wish to get past teams such as Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Miami (three teams that thrive on their in-the-paint offense), they’ll need to shore up their interior defense without Robert Williams in the mix.