Monday night’s home beatdown of the Bulls felt like a bit of a get-right game for the Celtics. Not that they were struggling or anything, but after opening the season with two battles against the Pistons and Knicks, it was nice to face a team that won’t be contending for a title anytime soon and lay the smackdown.
Along with a lot of other things that went well, it was great to see the Celtics finally win the rebounding battle for the first time this season, pulling down 65 boards to the Bulls’ 53. It has been a major point of emphasis all offseason and for the past year, but it didn’t pay off in the first two games of the season.
Celtics won the rebounding battle for first time this season
The Bulls don’t have a lot of size or a particularly imposing front line, so it was good to see Boston commit to the glass, and you could tell it was a total team effort to crash on both ends, as they tallied an impressive 19 offensive rebounds as well.
However, it was still far from perfect, as the Celtics surrendered 14 offensive rebounds to the Bulls as well, a number that’s simply way too high. And a lot of it was just not communicating, not giving enough effort, and standing around instead of boxing out. The Bulls aren’t a great team and don’t have great bigs, but they do have athletes who fly around, and they were racing to the ball after their missed shots.
Luckily, they didn’t shoot well, and the Celtics were destroying them by enough that it didn’t matter, but still, this is definitely something that they can clean up going forward. Last season, Boston was 6th in the NBA with only 10.9 offensive rebounds allowed, while the league worst was the Wizards at 13.1.
Celtics gave up way too many offensive rebounds to the Bulls
So, 14 is just too high a number to give up, especially to a team like the Bulls that isn’t exactly known for battling on the boards. Mitchell Robinson and Neemias Queta both played better, but there’s still room for improvement on the defensive end, and those are guys who should be able to use their size, strength, and athleticism to own the paint on defense. The ability is in there, but we haven’t seen it yet.
It requires a commitment to effort and putting a body on guys, and I know that can be tough when you’re up by 30 points, but this was happening in the first quarter as well. The team is good and has a lot of rebounders, but nobody can just assume the ball will come to them or that someone else will get it. On too many possessions, the Bulls were simply more aggressive in crashing the glass, and that’s what led to so many second chances.
Yes, this is me nitpicking after a 35-point win, but the Celtics have bigger ambitions than blowing out the Bulls in October. It was a great win, but there’s still plenty to work on. They won the rebounding battle, but they should have dominated it. The season is still very young, and there’s plenty of time to improve, but this will be something to keep a close eye on all season if this team wants to raise a banner.
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