ORLANDO — Fast was a buzzword for the Boston Celtics during training camp. A fast-paced offense. Fast rotations on defense. After two years of meticulous, risk-averse basketball, their offseason of change sparked a system switch. But through the first 10 games of the regular season, Boston is losing the pace battle.
Not in the sense that they haven’t fulfilled their own goals. Despite being ranked last in the NBA’s PACE stat, Joe Mazzulla is fine with their efforts based on the team’s internal markers. “It just depends on what pace stat you look at,” he said. “It's such a widely defined term.”
The real issue is when other teams run against the Celtics.
When teams run against the Celtics, the floodgates open
Boston gives up the eighth-fewest transition possessions per game, per NBA.com.
However, the Celtics give up the sixth-most points per possession in transition (1.23), allow the seventh-best effective field goal percentage (66.6%), give up free throws on a league-worst (tied) 19.7% of transition possessions, commit a shooting foul on a league-worst 18.2%, and give up an and-one on a league-worst 8.4% (next-highest is 6.7%).
But much like the league’s PACE stat, literal transition statistics are only helpful for part of the story.
On top of the actual transition opportunities teams have gotten against Boston, they’ve also managed to pick on them by taking the ball out quickly after a make. The Orlando Magic succeeded in that regard on Friday night.
“There were definitely five or six positions tonight where we gave up a layup regardless of our offensive result, and we have to clean those up, for sure,” Mazzulla said post-game.
On Friday, Orlando caught Boston flat-footed in transition all night. And it began at the very start of the game.
“There was both, right? It was transition,” Mazzulla said on Saturday morning. “So, I think, in the first quarter, we gave up, on the first play of the game, we got a shot blocked and gave up a transition to Wendell Carter. And then off a jump ball, we give up a transition. We give up transition there, and then we give up a back cut to Bitadze on our transition.”
A red-hot start from long range helped the Magic build their lead. They shot 7-of-12 from deep in the first quarter. But as the night went on, their ability to run gave them a leg up. Whether it was the Celtics’ rebounding mistakes or lack of matching up on the break, they consistently found themselves on the wrong end of run-out opportunities.
It wasn’t the first instance of that lapse. In Boston’s loss to the Utah Jazz, a lopsided third quarter was ignited by missed shots and ensuing defensive miscues.
“We got to match up better,” Pritchard said after the loss in Orlando. “It's a matchup thing. I mean, we're gonna obviously try to pick up. Against a team like that, they tried to start pushing, you don't really have a man. You just got to get back.
“Now, Franz [Wagner] did hit a tough and-one. I don't know how he made that, but. Over three people, but. It's stuff like that. We got it back to a tie game, and he comes back, and-one. So, those are the momentum plays we got to clean up.”
The Celtics didn't lose to the Jazz because they missed shots - they lost because of what happened next pic.twitter.com/p44j3SXxdn
— Jack Simone (@JackSimoneNBA) November 4, 2025
The Celtics have implemented a rotation-heavy defensive style this season. In the half-court, it’s been a leading factor in their elite first-shot defense. But when they have to defend on the run, they can’t get to the matchups they want.
Against the Jazz, it led to miscommunications and frantic rotations, which allowed easy Utah buckets. Orlando deliberately picked on those problems.
“Honestly, it's more about communication than anything, too,” said Neemias Queta. “If you declare the ball early, you get back, be be telling guys where they're supposed to be, or who I got. It's all about communication. We got to be on the same page, and I think it's a work in progress.”
Boston’s new crashing philosophies haven’t helped, either. They’re grabbing the eighth-most offensive rebounds per game (12.8). “There’s no thinking when it comes to crashing,” Minott said before the season began. “There’s not really ever a ‘Do I crash?’ It’s just, we’re crashing every time.” As a result, the Celtics rank fourth in second-chance points per game (18.1).
But their eagerness to send bodies toward the paint after shots has gotten in the way of their transition defense, especially after missed layups.
If a layup or paint shot doesn’t fall, and Queta or Minott or anyone else goes for the rebound but misses, that’s two Celtics players in danger of being behind the play. “If you get the offensive rebound, you're in a great place,” Queta said when asked about the effect it has on transition defense. “That's why we crash. We're trying to get offensive rebounds.
That’s why crash angles are more important than ever for the Celtics.
“Crashing lanes,” Pritchard said. “It just means, when you're crashing, go through the free-throw line. Don't like take a—I sometimes even do it. I take a little baseline cut, get behind my man, and then he leaks and has a beat. So, you got to crash through the, we call it crashing through the nail. So, that will help with it.”
Every little decision the Celtics make affects their ability to defend in transition. From their crashing to their matchups to the type of shot they get on offense.
Boston is willing to take more risks this season, and with that, fouls are inevitable. But in transition, when there isn’t a flock of teammates ready to shift over and help, the difference between risk-oriented fouls and out-of-position fouls becomes far more prevalent.
And as teams adapt, running on the Celtics could become far more common. From there, it will be up to Boston to adjust.