Inside scoring viewed as ‘biggest concern’ for Boston Celtics in playoffs

The Boston Celtics just recently evened their best-of-seven Semifinals series against the Milwaukee Bucks at one game apiece Tuesday night, but this is not to say that all things will be smooth sailing for the franchise from this point on.

As we’ve seen from their first few bouts against the defending champions and, frankly, throughout the regular season as a whole, the C’s have struggled mightily with their offensive production, specifically in the interior, and, because of this, the folks at Bleacher Report view this as perhaps the ‘biggest concern’ for the ball club moving forward in this year’s postseason.

Citing their incredibly putrid shooting woes inside right from the jump in round two, writer, Grant Hughes, sees this aspect of the game as being an area that could ultimately end up holding Boston back:

"The Celtics ranked 17th in paint points per game during the year, averaging 46.5 per contest. Watching them struggle against Milwaukee’s length en route to just 20 points in the paint on Sunday, it was clear this series will depend on whether Boston can find ways to get something going at the rim.It’s likely the Celtics will win a game or two from beyond the arc if the Bucks don’t change anything. Milwaukee allowed the Celtics to jack up 50 threes in Game 1. They made a solid 18 of them for a 36 percent knockdown rate. Surrender that many attempts, and every so often, the team shooting them will run hot enough to win.Still, the Bucks established overwhelming dominance inside during Game 1—to the extent that Boston’s impressive defensive performance wasn’t nearly enough.For the Celtics to retake control of the series, they have to score inside."

Now, this piece came out just hours before Game 2 tipped off, and, though the Boston Celtics did manage to scrape out a victory, they did so in the exact fashion that Hughes alluded to in the excerpt above–they hoisted a bevy of 3-pointers and wound up running “hot enough to win.”

Shooting more attempts from distance (43) than within 2-point range (37), the C’s were able to catch fire and convert at an incredible rate of 46.5 percent while holding the Bucks to just 16.7 percent shooting from 3-point range which, in turn, led to a dominating 109-86 win for the home team.

Unfortunately, however, their interior struggles played a sizeable part in Milwaukee’s second-half run that, though did not ultimately surmount to much, saw them chip away at Boston’s monstrous lead, bringing the score to within 15 at one point and, as a result, had some spectators somewhat concerned.

Moving forward in this series, the Boston Celtics need to figure out how to get cleaner and more consistent looks at and around the rim, for trying to live and die by the 3-point ball should not be seen as a recipe for success.

Not for this team, at least.