There was plenty to be excited about coming into the season for the Celtics, but one potential area of concern was how the team would get to the free-throw line. Last season, despite having a top-5 offense, the Celtics were dead last in the NBA in free-throw attempts per game, with just 18.7.
Even more concerning, that league-worst mark came with Jaylen Brown generating 7.5 free-throw attempts per game all by himself, which was good enough for sixth in the entire league. Of course, Brown was traded in the offseason for Paul George, who took just 3.4 per game last season and is much more of a shooter at this point in his career.
There were major questions about how the Celtics would get to the stripe this season and if they’d be able to get those easy points, especially on nights when the three-point shots weren’t falling, and there was no clear answer.
Celtics are 5th in the NBA in free-throw attempts per game
But so far, through five games, the free-throw shooting has been a major positive, as Boston is fifth in the league, shooting 28.8 shots from the charity stripe on average. Of all the early-season worries, and there are several puzzling ones, rim pressure, attacking, and drawing fouls haven’t been an issue at all.
A big part of the success has simply been Jayson Tatum getting back to being an aggressive force and getting to the line 8.8 times per game, which is good for third in the NBA. That was certainly boosted by a 22-attempt night against the Nets, but it’s clear that he’s driving with force and attacking the rim consistently, which is a welcome sight.
Payton Pritchard has also upped his output in a major way, as he’s getting to the line for four attempts per game after never reaching 2 per game in any season of his career. And Neemias Queta has been an aggressive force around the basket, making it a point of emphasis to try to finish whenever he gets the ball near the cup, as he’s up to 5 free-throw attempts per game this year.
Celtics' renewed rim pressure is no fluke
But it's more about the style of offense and the way the team is playing than the individuals. Boston is aggressively screening and cutting off the ball, and their excellent ball movement is creating opportunities to get to the basket. Not all rim pressure is created equally, and this Celtics offense is living proof of that concept.
I don’t necessarily expect a lot of these numbers to hold up over the entire season, and I know this is a very small sample size. If Boston finishes in the top-5 for free-throw attempts, that would be a shocking but encouraging development. Instead, I’m sure things will tail off a bit, but if they can keep themselves near the middle of the pack as their threes and turnover suppression hopefully bounce back in the right direction, this offense could be even more lethal than anyone imagined.
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