BOSTON — The Boston Celtics take a ton of threes. There’s no secret there. It doesn’t take a magnifying glass to identify one of the main focal points of Boston’s offensive attack. They are attempting more triples than any team in league history, and the discourse surrounding that plan has run rampant this season. But Joe Mazzulla has measures in place to hedge his bets.
“I just think, regardless of how you go about it, you have to try to fight for extra possessions and win the shot margin, and offensive rebounding is one way of doing that,” Mazzulla said after the Celtics’ win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. “And you have to commit to that. So, we're continuing to work to be better at that.”
The Celtics rank 15th in the NBA in offensive rebounds (11.0 per game). But their specialty is more niche than that.
For Boston, it’s all about corner crashing.
Corner crashing helps Celtics mitigate three-point variance
Since their offense is largely predicated on shooters spacing the floor, that means they almost always have guys in the corners. And since they take a ton of above-the-break threes (their 38.3 above-the-break threes per game is almost six more than any other team), the corner occupants are often left dilly-dallying.
So, when the shot goes up, they immediately turn their attention to the paint. And against the 76ers, Torrey Craig provided the perfect example.
Almost every time the Celtics took a shot when Craig was standing in the corner, he immediately rushed into the painted area. He tracked the ball in the air, found a lane to get into an ideal position, and rose up for a board. Four offensive rebounds were Craig's final tally, but the ability to cause havoc and disrupt the Sixers’ transition attack shined through, too.
“He did a great job,” Mazzulla said of Craig. “He came in at the start of the quarter and played the whole second quarter. And then starting him there in the third, I just thought his physicality, we felt that on both ends of the floor. He's a great screener. But those plays are huge.
“When you're playing against the team here, we got to generate momentum and extra possessions. So, he's been great in that so far.”
Boston grabbed 16 offensive rebounds and tallied 21 second-chance points in their 123-105 win over the Sixers.
Missed threes can lead to transition opportunities for other teams. And even outside of that, when Boston misses a bunch, the criticism for their offensive game plan always intensifies.
But by constantly crashing from the corner, they are effectively implementing a failsafe to their three-heavy offense. They always have guys running amok, battling to earn them extra possessions.
Watching the game, it’s no secret. Just look closely at the guys in the corner. But the widespread impact this small detail provides is wildly underappreciated. And in an era where three-point numbers are going up, and up, and up, corner crashing should be doing the same.