Defend without fouling (a lot): A game-to-game challenge for Celtics

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/defend-without-fouling-lot-game-201040964.html



Defend without fouling (a lot): A game-to-game challenge for Celtics




A. Sherrod Blakely, NBC Sports Boston

20 hours ago



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BOSTON - The Boston Celtics were minutes removed from their first road win of the season, a resounding 118-95 blowout victory over the New York Knicks.

It was a good win, one that Jaylen Brown and the rest of his Celtics cohorts could feel good about. But it was a bittersweet victory for Brown, who spent more time than he would prefer on the bench due to foul trouble.

"I want to be on the floor as much as possible," Brown told NBC Sports Boston.

So do the rest of the Celtics, who like Brown, seem to be racking up the fouls at a much higher rate than we've seen in recent years.

Boston comes into Wednesday's game against Milwaukee averaging 25.0 fouls committed per game, which ranks 20th in the NBA.

To put that in perspective, consider this: Boston has five players currently averaging at least three personal fouls committed per game, led by Brown and Robert Williams III, who are averaging 3.7 fouls per game.

Last season when the Celtics committed 20.4 personal fouls per game (which ranked 12th in the league), they had just one player who averaged three or more personal fouls.

And you know who it was?

It was R.J. Hunter, who played in just one game for Boston, a game in which he committed a total of - you got it - three personal fouls.

While the season is still in its infancy stage and Boston's fouls per game average is likely to drop, it doesn't diminish the fact that the way the Celtics are built to defend this season will likely render more fouls committed than usual.

Boston's success will hinge in large part on how well their perimeter defenders like Brown hold their own against matchups that likely have them facing bigger, stronger players.

They are averaging 9.7 steals per game, which ranks sixth in the NBA. And Boston's defensive rating (100.0) ranks seventh in the league.

But the collateral damage in being a successful, undersized, ball-pressuring bunch is that a lot of nights key players will be saddled with early fouls.

The way Celtics head coach Brad Stevens sees it, the alternative if they are less aggressive on the perimeter, will still lead to more fouls but fouls closer to the rim.

"We're not going to be a very good defense if we don't play with a little bit of ball pressure," Stevens said. "We're not big enough in the interior, we're not big enough guarding post players at the (power forward) and five (center) if we just let passes go where they want and we let teams operate in comfort zone."

Stevens added, "Our strength lies in our perimeter's ability to move their feet, pressure and be versatile."

Boston's defenders will be challenged on all those levels on Wednesday night when they take on the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the reigning league MVP.

Antetokounmpo is the ultimate challenge to any team defensively, even more so to a team like the Celtics, who will lean heavily on their perimeter players to defend at a high level to try and take away his space and make him as uncomfortable as possible on the offensive end.

"He's the most special guy end-to-end, in the league," Stevens said. "I think ultimately, there's very few people over the course of time in the NBA that can strike fear in you like he does when he's going full court."

Limiting those end-to-end scoring opportunities will be among the challenges for Boston's defenders. And Brown will be among the Celtics leading the charge, knowing the delicate balance he and his teammates will try and strike.

"I'll try to still be aggressive," Brown said. "But at the same time play smart."



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