What Is Going On With The Boston Celtics?

This article was written before yesterday's loss to Dallas.


http://thesportsquotient.com/nba/2015/11/18/what-is-going-on-with-the-boston-celtics



What Is Going On With The Boston Celtics?


by Will Kelley

18 November 2015, 12:20 PM


A look at how a record-setting defense and fast-paced offense are propelling Celtics to new heights.


With three wins in a row, all by 13 +points, against the Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets, there is some justifiable buzz surrounding the Boston Celtics.  One could easily point to the heart and hustle that the Celtics pride themselves on and how it is an outlier of style in today’s NBA.  However, once one scratches beyond the surface, it’s easy to see why this Celtics team is succeeding.


Defense

The Celtics currently are third in the NBA with a Defensive Rating of 96.8.  This is an impressive start for a defense that had high expectations coming into the season, but even more so considering the Celtics have already played five teams ranked in the top 11 in Offensive Rating.  The defensive numbers are in large part due to their aggressive approach, as Boston is second in the NBA with 11.8 steals per game. Also Jay King notes that they are forcing turnovers at the highest rate the NBA has seen since 1997.

The Celtic’s opponents this year have a TOV% (turnovers per 100 posessions) of 17.5, while their opponents during the 2007-2008 campaign had a TOV% of 15.2.  To put that into perspective, the 07-08 Celtics championship run was largely attributed to their defense, and they are smashing those defensive stats. The Celtics turnover-centered defense is led by constant pressure from perimeter defenders Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, and Marcus Smart, which is represented well here with Bradleys on-ball pressure and steal.

https://vine.co/v/iB3HWdra5Uq

However, what has separated the Celtics has been their movement and aggressiveness to chase passes as a team (this led to a steal by Evan Turner and a dunk).

https://vine.co/v/iuAEWZ3FEAD

This defense that is predicated on aggressiveness has also gained confidence in their abilities as a team. They have the individual talent, but now are slowly proving to themselves and the league that they can consistently put five guys on the court that will create chaos and disrupt opposing offenses.  


Offense

The Celtics Offensive Rating is 103.4, good enough for 14th in the league. They are shooting at a clip of 42%, which ranks 24th best in the league. These shooting woes are not helping them, but the defense has been able to combat this problem. The defense and the run outs that follow have allowed the Celtics to have the fifth best pace of play number of possessions per 48 minutes) in the league at 99.1, indicating their focus on pushing the tempo. The increased tempo allows the Celtics to find easy buckets like this when the shots aren’t falling.

https://vine.co/v/iBMx0VixZ2U

For anyone who has watched the Celtics, it’s clear that the offense will by catalyzed all season by the motor of Isaiah Thomas, but at the same time will be reliant on a well- spaced offense driven by ball movement.



This ball movement is a thing of beauty for any young team and it shows glimpses of this team’s potential on the offensive end. Their defense has proven to be Boston’s strength, indicating that an average or even slightly above average offense is all this team needs.
Beyond this though, there are some players on the Celtics who are responsible in large part for the team’s success, and they might not be who you’d expect.  Evan Turner and  Kelly Olynyk have been two unlikely heroes so far this season, posting ridiculous splits that are the best on the team aside from the very small sample size of Jordan Mickey.  

Kelly Olynyk


-------------------OffRtg-----Opponent OffRtg-----NetRtg

On Court---------102---------86.5-------------------15.6
Off Court---------103.5------101.9------------------1.7
On - Off.............-1.5.........-15.4.....................13.9


Evan Turner

On Court---------108.3-------90.8-------------------17.6
Off Court----------97.6-------102.2....................-4.7
On - Off-----------10.7.........-11.4-----------------22.3

On the glass, Jared Sullinger has been a monster, which is impressive considering that he is 6’ 9”. Sullinger has a Total Rebound Percentage of 19.65 (estimate of percentage of available rebounds a player grabbed while on court), which ranks 12th in the NBA.  

These players and their contributions to the team don’t paint the whole picture, but provide insight as to what is leading this Celtics team to initial success. However, nothing represents this team and their mold this season better than Marcus Smart‘s stat-line from last night against the Rockets:
1-11 shooting, 0-6 from beyond the arc, five turnovers and……the best +/- of anyone on the Celtics with +30.  

The way this team get’s it done certainly isn’t conventional and rarely is it flashy, but it looks like it might just work.

All statistics courtesy of NBA.com/stats and Basketball-Reference.com.



bob



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