The Boston Celtics are yielding the fewest points per game in the paint. They're limiting teams to a league-low 35.2 points from one of the most important areas on the floor.
On Wednesday, they rallied for a 22-point win against the Toronto Raptors. It tied for their second-biggest comeback in the Joe Mazzulla era. Their ability to make the paint a no-fly zone was essential.
They held the hosts to 32 points in the second half. They only put 13 on the board in the final frame. Undeterred by the Raptors' red-hot shooting from beyond the arc, Boston stuck to its process. Eventually, players like Ja'Kobe Walter cooled off. As that happened, points in the paint also became harder to come by.
As the visitors clamped down on defense, they went on a 16-0 run. That swung the game. From the second quarter into the third period, they outscored Toronto 29-6. The Celtics packed the paint. They surrounded players like RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, and Collin Murray-Boyles, inducing turnovers, wrong reads, and lower-quality shots. Their pick-and-roll defense was stellar, and Neemias Queta was a dominant defensive anchor.
How the Celtics are keeping teams from scoring in the paint
The Raptors finished with 26 points in the paint in their loss at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday.
Boston didn't have to worry about Scottie Barnes or Kawhi Leonard, but it continued its theme of hounding the most dangerous threats on the floor. The Celtics are limiting how often primary creators are attacking them.
The players at the top of the scouting report are seeing multiple bodies, trying to beat an on-ball defender the likes of Derrick White, Paul George, Jordan Walsh, and Hugo Gonzalez, and running into Queta or Mitchell Robinson when they reach the paint. Luka Garza has also grown as a defender. He spent the offseason working to become more disruptive. His motor allows him to show and recover, and keep pick-and-roll ball handlers from getting to the basket.
And Boston's not just packing the paint. This defense has the length, versatility, and IQ to keep the most dangerous scoring threats from racking up paint touches while steering shots to shooters they'll live with, getting many of the opportunities.
Along with being an incredibly switchy defense, their screen navigation, whether it's blowing up a pick or fighting over it to run a shooter off the three-point line or get a fly-by contest, is another part of this formula. That execution often prevents paint touches or funnels a ball-handler into traffic.
Neemias Queta is the anchor of a dominant Celtics defense
Boston allowed the fewest field goal attempts in the restricted area last season. Within that team effort was a critical part of a breakout year that Queta is working to build on.
In the current campaign, the Celtics rank in the top five in shots allowed inside the restricted area. They're in the top 10 in field-goal attempts from inside the paint but outside the restricted area, per NBA.com.
But when those shots go up, opponents are shooting 21.9 percent worse with Boston's starting center protecting the basket, per Databallr. According to that same site, his 4.4 rim points saved per 100 possessions rank in the 98th percentile.
Queta's a defensive lynchpin. He's an athletic seven-foot center with a high IQ. He can defend the pick-and-roll in multiple ways and is excellent in drop coverage. Keeping him back to patrol the paint is one of the main reasons the Celtics are doing a better job than anyone else at preventing teams from scoring there.
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