The Boston Celtics defense has held up in a huge way against top-10 offenses

by **bobheckler** Fri Jan 12, 2018 6:06 pm

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2018/01/kyrie_irving_tries_to_explain.html

The Boston Celtics defense has held up in a huge way against top-10 offenses

Updated 9:12 AM; Posted 9:15 AM

The Boston Celtics defense has held up in a huge way against top-10 offenses Brad-stevens-e9f598f5f0a61610

Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens is excited about how Marcus Morris will fit in with his new team. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

By Jay Kingmjking@masslive.com

The Boston Celtics' top-ranked defense has been so good that they have ripped of seven straight games with one of the NBA's worst offenses during that time. And they're not just flexing their defensive muscles against subpar opponents.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves all own top-five offenses, but those offenses went to Boston to die. It's obvious the Celtics' defense has held up against the NBA's top competition, but the following chart from NBA.com's Jon Schuhmann paints the picture well:

John Schuhmann

@johnschuhmann
In games played against the league's top 10 offenses, the Celtics have had the best defense by a wide margin.
8:28 AM - Jan 12, 2018
5 5 Replies 65 65 Retweets 117 117 likes

How impressive has the Celtics defense performed against top-10 offenses? If you only counted those games, the Celtics would still lead the league in defensive efficiency. According to Basketball-Reference.com, they held the Cavaliers and Timberwolves to their worst single-game offensive ratings of the season. The Golden State Warriors had their second-worst offensive showing against Boston and the Houston Rockets had their third-worst.

After slipping defensively during a hectic December schedule, the Celtics have bounced back to allow just 92.4 points per 100 possessions since a Christmas Day loss to the Washington Wizards. How impressive is that? It's 8.3 points better than the Timberwolves, who have the second-best defense during that stretch. That's the same gap that exists between the Timberwolves and the 19th-ranked Utah Jazz. And, again, the Celtics have played the Cavaliers, Rockets and Timberwolves during that stretch. They're not just manhandling cupcakes.

bob

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