There isn’t much the Boston Celtics can’t do. They are one of the best teams in basketball for a reason, even if their brand of hoops doesn’t appeal to the casual fan too much. Three-point shooting is leading the way, and even though their defensive ranking has declined, they still have a similar defensive rating to last year.
That said, the one area where the Celtics could stand to improve is their interior defense. Multiple players have hurt them inside this year, namely, Jakob Poeltl and Jaren Jackson Jr. Both of those guys put up big-time scoring numbers inside against Boston.
But there’s a reason for that.
Players hurting Celtics inside is a product of intentional choices
Boston’s decision to give up some of those shots was partially intentional, as they don’t want to allow even better looks in those situations. At the same time, however, Joe Mazzulla said that they always need to continue to work on their individual defense.
“I mean, I think just individual defense, in general, you want to get better at,” Mazzulla said at practice on Wednesday. “I think everything with that is time and score and situational. Or, you go back to when there's times if you have a lead, you want to protect it. You don't want to give up that catch-and-shoot or those over-help opportunities. If not, you have to be a little bit more aggressive.
“So, I think it's just a little bit of a time-and-score thing. But at the same time, obviously, we have to get better at our individual defense every day.”
When Poeltl was in town, he destroyed the Celtics with floaters. He finished the game with a career-high 35 points while shooting 16-of-19 from the floor. The Celtics still won the game, but it took a Jayson Tatum buzzer-beater in overtime to get the job done.
As for Jackson Jr., he took things a step further. The Grizzlies actually beat the Celtics. Jackson Jr. put up 27 points on 11-of-19 shooting, including a fourth quarter where he shot 5-of-8 from inside the arc.
Giving up shots around the rim obviously doesn’t seem ideal, but based on the positions the Celtics were in, giving up other shots could have been worse. Memphis was hot from three all night, and Boston was prioritizing other defensive points when they were trying to make a comeback.
Regardless, while the Celtics’ individual defense could always use some fine-tuning, whenever they are allowing a bunch of buckets in certain areas, there’s usually a reason why. And in this case, Mazzulla knows what he’s trying to do.