Over the last few games, the Boston Celtics have finally hit their first obstacle of the season. It was only a matter of time before some sort of adversity was going to hit this team, and given the way Boston has shot the ball in the first few months of the season, it was only fitting that the Cs began to come back down to earth when it comes to their shooting percentages.
Over the last five games, Boston has shot 41.6%, and netted just under 105 points during those contests — putting them in 28th in the entire NBA during this stretch. In the month of November, the Celtics were second in the whole association in shooting percentage, behind the Nuggets, and possessing the league’s most efficient offense, scoring 123.8 points per game en route to accumulating a 14-2 record. It is pretty remarkable for a team to be as effective as it was in the first few weeks of the season to now have the worst offense in the entire association over the last eight games by a stark margin.
In the post-game press conference, Grant Williams spoke openly about what he felt about where this team is at right now, stating (h/t MassLive):
"“That first month, we were doing a good job of playing freely, getting open looks, and then over the course of a stretch, I think we kind of got back to our old ways, our old habits.”“And then we kind of came back, and now we’re starting to figure ourselves out again. Just because the shots aren’t falling doesn’t mean we’re not playing the right way. And that’s something I’ve been huge on the team, and we’ve been huge on each other, saying that just make sure we create the right advantages and create the right opportunities, and it’ll all work out.”"
The Boston Celtics live and die by the 3-pointer
Some could argue that the Boston Celtics were knocking down shots that could in no way continue to be part of Boston’s potent attack. Joe Mazzulla said that he was content with the performance against the Orlando Magic despite the fact that the team had put up less than 100 points for the second time over the last four contests.
Boston’s offense has been one that lives and dies by the 3-pointer. The Celtics rank third in the league per 100 possessions heading into the Christmas period in three-point attempts per game with 42.5 shots from downtown. Only five clubs around the association during this campaign have attempted over 40 shots from behind the arc.
The Cs have the fewest made three-pointers per game out of all the teams in the top ten of that list. If Boston wants to figure itself out offensively again, the Celtics need to focus on getting into the middle of the defense. It is about giving up the good shot for great ones, and while the Magic are lengthy on the defensive end throughout their entire team, this talented Boston Celtics club should be more than capable of getting itself into the teeth of the defense. Only the Dallas Mavericks have collected fewer of their points from inside the arc so far this season. Boston accumulates 43.9 percent of its points from two-point range and is 28th in the association in its shooting percentage from inside the arc.
Eight players in November were shooting over 50 percent from the field, and when the calendar turned to the final month of 2022, just five players so far have been able to muster up a shooting percentage beyond 50 percent. No player in Boston since the beginning of the six-game road trip against Brooklyn has been able to accumulate a three-point percentage over 40 percent. Overall, the Celtics have shot over 30 percent from beyond the arc just once in the last five games.
It is hard to put into words just how bad this Boston offense has been lately, but should anyone be concerned? Right now, there should be no need to panic when it comes to the Celtics’ offense, and while they have a first-year head coach, this roster has both the experience and intelligence to adjust going forward. The next three contests are against teams that are currently in the playoff picture. It is a perfect chance to make a statement, especially on Christmas when the C’s go to battle with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the team they eliminated in the Eastern Conference semifinals in last season’s playoff campaign.
Mazzulla and Boston have to adjust sometime soon so that they are not so reliant on the three-point shot. The strategy works until it doesn’t. The Boston Celtics’ shooters are now reverting back to the mean, and even though the struggles have been evident over the last week or so, it is going to take a much larger sample size for anyone to be at all concerned with one of the most gifted teams in all the association.