Defense will determine Celtics’ fate this season

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/01/01/bulpett-defense-will-determine-celtics-fate-this-season/




Bulpett: Defense will determine Celtics’ fate this season




San Antonio Spurs’ DeMar DeRozan, left, looks to pass as he is defended by Boston Celtics’ Al Horford (42) and Jaylen Brown (7) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Monday, Dec. 31, 2018, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Darren Abate)



By STEVE BULPETT | stephen.bulpett@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald
PUBLISHED: January 1, 2019 at 1:34 pm | UPDATED: January 2, 2019 at 8:20 am




The first months of this Celtic season have generally been consumed with talk about offensive slumps and inconsistencies from young players who’d stepped up with opportunity last year. People struggling with new roles has been blamed for the uneven start, and patience has dwindled.

The offense has shown flashes of brilliance, but then it goes away in a string of ill-timed shots without the ball movement needed to get the best looks and create floor balance.

Through all this talk of a sometimes sputtering attack, Al Horford, both in interviews and more quiet conversations, has repeatedly pointed in a different direction for a Shamrock cure.

“I think it’s more about our defense,” he’ll say at the end of an answer to a question about how the offense didn’t work or needs to change.

It certainly was on this holiday trip. The Celtics’ lone win in the three games came in Memphis when they gave up just 39 points in the second half after surrendering 38 in the second quarter. Two nights later, however, the Spurs hung 46 (yes, 46) on them in the third period.

Let’s face it. Defense will never get its full and proper due in basketball. While Marcus Smart’s steals and charges drawn and Robert Williams’ blocked shots will rouse the Garden for a moment, hoop discussions will almost always trend heavily toward offense. It’s the more evident aspect of the game, for even if we don’t always detect the subtle screens and floor spacing that led to the score, we know who put the ball in the bucket.

But you don’t need a deep analytics dive to see the correlation between defense and Celtic success.

Fifteen times this season, the Celts have given up more than 110 points. They are 4-11 in these games, but three of them were overtime affairs that taint the 110 benchmark. That leaves the C’s 1-11 when giving up more than that number in regulation.

And 17-4 in games they allow fewer.

Even if the Celts don’t always practice what Brad Stevens and his staff are preaching, they know it to be fact.

Smart is well aware that the length and quality of their season will be decided by defense.

“Definitely,” he told the Herald. “I know everybody’s heard the cliche that offense wins games and defense wins championships, but it’s true. It’s one thing to go out there and score the ball, but it’s another to go out there and score the ball and also stop your opponent from scoring and hold them where you want to. It’s hard. It’s not easy. If it was easy, everybody would do it. But that definitely going to be a big key for us.”

Back in September at the Celtics’ charity golf outing, I asked Stevens his biggest concern, fully expecting that, with the returns of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, he’d say something about trying to find playing time for all his established and emerging stars. But Stevens is one prescient dude. He took a few seconds to ponder the question.

“What concerns me?” he said. “Well, I think you always have concerns that, you know, for us, we’ve played two straight seasons eight months all the way ’til late May. It’s not like playing into the Finals, like people talk about, but it’s pretty close.

“And the idea that when you have a team back that was so good defensively that we don’t skip steps. I’d say that’s the No. 1 concern I’ve got. I’ve watched teams before have really good years and then kind of go through the motions on that end of the court. And we can’t do that.”

Sometimes they have, at least when it comes to the collective. As the coach has pointed out on numerous occasions, all five defenders have to be performing in concert for the scheme to work. One or two in the wrong place can lead to a layup or putback jam.

“It’s about being in the right positions and being able to trust that everybody else is, too,” said Horford during a chat on this trip. “If you’re in the right positions, the ball will come to you. We do that at times, but we’re not where we need to be yet.

“It’s what I call being on a string. I think last year even when we made that comeback against Houston at home in Boston, if you look at that film — we looked at some clips — and everybody was working together. So if there was penetration, we were all pulling in and things like that. And what hurt us in this last game against them was, since we weren’t pulling in, the long rebounds came off and the guys on the perimeter weren’t cleaning them up, so their guys were just coming in and getting them. So being on a string, that’s what we need.”

And that’s what they’ve often lacked.



bob



.

Once again the media types and a lot of fans got it all wrong.  Does anybody even bother to look at the numbers?

The Celtics are 13 in the NBA if EFG% but 4th in team defensive efficiency.

Their offense continues to be their biggest issue.  This game is all about buckets.

It will be impossible for Boston to achieve a better offensive EFG because they have no post game as part of their offense.  Our Center cannot score in the post with any degree of regularity.  The offense is below average in setting screens that get guys open lanes to the rim....  just not enough PITP (28th in the NBA)

The Celtics cannot win consistently with a mindless barrage of 3 point shots.  With everybody and anybody wanna be like Larry, the coaching aspect of their deliverance comes into play.  

Their defense is still good enough to win but their offense is not.

Lately, it has been waiting for the the other shoe (3-pt barrages) to drop every game I watch. So much so, I start counting/sorting possessions by PITP, jump shots and 3's. 3's always seem to win...

db

The analytics measure the point production of 3 point FG but they do not tell us the impact of scoring PITP.  And one's, foul penalty situations, getting key guys in foul trouble, keeping the defense honest, opportunities for second chance points.  Diversity in your offense leads to becoming unpredictable and more difficult to defend.  How a team divides up their FGA.  How efficient they are.