C's Address Defensive Struggles in Lengthy Practice

http://www.nba.com/celtics/news/sidebar/prac-022416-Celtics-address-defensive-struggles-lengthy-practice



C's Address Defensive Struggles in Lengthy Practice



Posted: Feb 24, 2016


By Taylor C. Snow |  @Celtics
Celtics.com


February 24, 2016



WALTHAM, Mass. – The Boston Celtics pride themselves on the defensive end, but they’ve been severely lacking in that department over the last month.

Since Jan. 12, Boston has surrendered 107.7 points per game. The only Eastern Conference team that has allowed more during that span is the last-place Philadelphia 76ers, with an average of 109.5 points allowed per game.

Boston’s defensive woes have only worsened lately. During the last six contests, the C’s have surrendered an astronomical 116.8 points per game, including a 124-122 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves Monday night.

The team is concerned about the ongoing trend and acknowledged after Wednesday’s practice that it has to change immediately.

“We’ve put guys on islands and put so much stress on one guy stopping the opposing team and that’s hurt us,” said Isaiah Thomas. “We’ve gotta show five guys, we’ve gotta give everybody help and get back to defending the way we know how.”

Boston was regarded as one of the best defensive teams in the league entering the New Year, and coach Brad Stevens says his goal is to get back to that point. He admitted that it’s realistic to have defensive slippage at times throughout the season, but added, “It’s very concerning when it’s the better part of three or four weeks.”

Stevens turned back the tape before taking on Denver Sunday afternoon and showed film of some of Boston’s better defensive possessions earlier in the season. The team understood what it needed to do to get back to that level of defense, but the study session ultimately did not translate to the court, as evidenced by Minnesota’s 124-point outpour.

The team went back to the basics Wednesday afternoon, further addressing its defensive issues with a very lengthy practice session.

“Today we spent a lot of time talking,” said Stevens. “We spent a lot of time on body position, we spent a lot of time on doing little things to help give us a better chance.”

In order to have a better chance on the defensive end, Marcus Smart explains that the C’s must put less of an emphasis on isolation defense, and more emphasis on team defense.

“Everybody’s gotta be on a string – all five guys,” said the defensive extraordinaire. “When one guy moves, the whole team has to move. We can't have two or three guys doing their own thing and the rest of the team doing something else.”

Smart and the rest of the C’s know they’ll have to wake up at the defensive end Thursday night when they host a Bucks team that has won four of its last five. That stretch began with a 112-111 win against the C’s on Feb. 9.

“[Milwaukee is] one of the hottest teams in the East,” said Stevens. "(Jabari) Parker is playing at a really high level right now. (Khris) Middleton, (Michael) Carter-Williams, (O.J.) Mayo, Giannis (Antetokounpo) … Those guys have all really burned us in the past, and what (Greg) Monroe did to us last time (29 points, 12 rebounds) was as good of an individual performance as we’ve faced in the last four weeks, and we’ve had some awfully good ones against us.”

In order to avoid being burned again by Milwaukee (it outscored the C’s 40-20 during the third quarter of the last matchup), the C’s must rediscover their elite-level defense that stymied opposing teams for the better part of this season.

As long as they play as a single unit on the defensive end and avoid as many one-on-one situations as possible, that should be achievable Thursday night and beyond.



bob


.

Is it possible that part of the problem is that now teams have lots of video of this Celtics team, and thus are better prepared to crack Stevens' schemes?

possibly too many teams were trying the space and 3's, now they figure just pound them down low and shoot over them, make them double in the post and move the ball

cowens/oldschool wrote:possibly too many teams were trying the space and 3's, now they figure just pound them down low and shoot over them, make them double in the post and move the ball

Milwaukee had 68 points in the paint last night vs 52 for us. They also had more blocks than us, 7-3. On the other hand, our miniscule little front court you like to make fun of outrebounded them 42-35, including offensive rebounds where we had 9 vs their 7. We had Sully with 10 boards and 3 other players with 8. Their top rebounder was Monroe with 8 and then it was 7 and 6 and that's about it for rebounding for them. We TEAM rebound. We TEAM defend.

We were also in cruise mode all night except for a bit, in total control of the game all the way through. Against a team with the always dangerous inside player Greg Monroe, bull-in-a-china-shop Plumlee and the 6'11" Freak. Against a team that just beat us a week or so ago. Are you saying they hadn't scouted us before playing us last night? And before you say they're not a good team, they are NOW 4-1 post All-Star game. They WERE 4-0 until last night. They might have sucked early in the year but they are playing well and are hot now.

We are 15th out of 30 in fgas <5'. That's not great, but it doesn't suck neither. How bad at interior defense can we be when fully half of the league allows more shots at the rim than us? If they are pounding us inside how come we're not 25th instead of 15th at fga <5'? The Bucks, Warriors, Rockets, Indiana (with Turner) and Clippers (with Jordan) all give up MORE fgas <5' than us. We are 5th in the league in fg% allowed 5'-9'. 5th. There are only 4 teams whose defenses are harder to score against 5'-9' than us. How is all this evidence of poor interior defense? Shooting against us at the rim isn't a gimme and hitting a shot from the rim out to the dotted line is a rarity? We have the 7th best offense/defense +/- in the league (our average points scored - our average points given up). San Antonio and GSW are way ahead of everybody, OKC and Cleveland are the 2nd tier and then Toronto, Clippers and us are the 3rd tier. That's pretty good company. Notice, Utah isn't one of them.

A single victory or a single loss aren't big deals unless it's the playoffs, it's how we do against a broad range of different rosters over the year that tell you what we are and can do. You see losses to Milwaukee and say "Aha!! I knew it!! Our bigs suck!". But over the course of the season, against a broad range of different rosters, talents and defensive and offensive schemes, we have an elite defense. What you are claiming is that opposing coaching and scouting staffs don't know who our front court is, like they all just showed up with the last drop of rain. That's ridiculous. We do not have one single rookie playing rotation minutes on our roster. Every single player another team is likely to see has played for at least one year and has been scouted thoroughly. Other coaching staffs sit down with buckets of popcorn and watch film of Brad's plays like we go to the movies to see an action flick. You think we're getting scouted just now?

We are now 34-25 with 23 more to go. If we just go .500 the rest of the way, and that is below the .576 we are at now, we'll still end up with 45-46 wins. That's 5-6 wins more than we had last year, in a conference that has gotten much more competitive and with no major upgrade in talent. If we finish the year as we have done so far we'll end up with 47 wins. That's almost a 20% improvement with almost no imported upgrade in talent.


bob


.

bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:possibly too many teams were trying the space and 3's, now they figure just pound them down low and shoot over them, make them double in the post and move the ball

Milwaukee had 68 points in the paint last night vs 52 for us.  They also had more blocks than us, 7-3.  On the other hand, our miniscule little front court you like to make fun of outrebounded them 42-35, including offensive rebounds where we had 9 vs their 7.  We had Sully with 10 boards and 3 other players with 8.  Their top rebounder was Monroe with 8 and then it was 7 and 6 and that's about it for rebounding for them.  We TEAM rebound.  We TEAM defend.

We were also in cruise mode all night except for a bit, in total control of the game all the way through.  Against a team with the always dangerous inside player Greg Monroe, bull-in-a-china-shop Plumlee and the 6'11" Freak.  Against a team that just beat us a week or so ago.  Are you saying they hadn't scouted us before playing us last night?  And before you say they're not a good team, they are NOW 4-1 post All-Star game.  They WERE 4-0 until last night.  They might have sucked early in the year but they are playing well and are hot now.

We are 15th out of 30 in fgas <5'.  That's not great, but it doesn't suck neither.  How bad at interior defense can we be when fully half of the league allows more shots at the rim than us?  If they are pounding us inside how come we're not 25th instead of 15th at fga <5'?  The Bucks, Warriors, Rockets, Indiana (with Turner) and Clippers (with Jordan) all give up MORE fgas <5' than us.  We are 5th in the league in fg% allowed 5'-9'.  5th.  There are only 4 teams whose defenses are harder to score against 5'-9' than us.  How is all this evidence of poor interior defense?  Shooting against us at the rim isn't a gimme and hitting a shot from the rim out to the dotted line is a rarity?  We have the 7th best offense/defense +/- in the league (our average points scored - our average points given up).  San Antonio and GSW are way ahead of everybody, OKC and Cleveland are the 2nd tier and then Toronto, Clippers and us are the 3rd tier.  That's pretty good company.  Notice, Utah isn't one of them.

A single victory or a single loss aren't big deals unless it's the playoffs, it's how we do against a broad range of different rosters over the year that tell you what we are and can do.  You see losses to Milwaukee and say "Aha!!  I knew it!! Our bigs suck!".  But over the course of the season, against a broad range of different rosters, talents and defensive and offensive schemes, we have an elite defense.  What you are claiming is that opposing coaching and scouting staffs don't know who our front court is, like they all just showed up with the last drop of rain.  That's ridiculous.  We do not have one single rookie playing rotation minutes on our roster.  Every single player another team is likely to see has played for at least one year and has been scouted thoroughly.  Other coaching staffs sit down with buckets of popcorn and watch film of Brad's plays like we go to the movies to see an action flick.  You think we're getting scouted just now?

We are now 34-25 with 23 more to go.  If we just go .500 the rest of the way, and that is below the .576 we are at now, we'll still end up with 45-46 wins.  That's 5-6 wins more than we had last year, in a conference that has gotten much more competitive and with no major upgrade in talent.  If we finish the year as we have done so far we'll end up with 47 wins.  That's almost a 20% improvement with almost no imported upgrade in talent.


bob


.

okay dude, so whats your point? are you saying we are so good we don't need more help? what are you saying, a team can achieve a winning record and still mask weaknesses, its called adjustments and good coaching. In 79-80 we had a team that had the best record in the East and was favored to go to the Finals in Birds storybook rookie year, well in the ECF's we got spanked by Philly 4-1, so Red made some changes. In 02 and 03 the young Pierce/Walker Celtics got fairly deep runs in the playoffs, then Danny Ainge came in, started shipping players out and said this franchise is not about playoff appearances, were about rings and to get there we need major upgrades in talent....I think you know the rest. I think I'm more a historian than a stat guy, I don't go looking up stats, but I read somewhere you said we were #1 in FGA and perimeter defensive stats, so I believe you, you quoting this other rim distance stuff, okay whats your point? were ahead of so many other teams, you don't want an upgrade? your happy with Sully and Amir and Zeller and KO? Okay whatever, I'm glad were winning, but this is not the 80's NBA either, look at Denver, Philly, Nets, Orlando, Lakers rosters, there are alot of pathetically weak teams in this league and were no where near so good that a big team like the Timberwolves or Jazz can't spank us and beat us and best us up inside the paint, and those 2 teams aren't even very good in a really good sense, but either are we. Anybody think this team doesn't need a few more pieces or is ready to make a deep run is well a diehard Celtic fan. I just think this team plays well together and plays in a way that can win in this era, but still has alot of rebuilding left to do also.

cowens/oldschool wrote:

bobheckler wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:possibly too many teams were trying the space and 3's, now they figure just pound them down low and shoot over them, make them double in the post and move the ball

Milwaukee had 68 points in the paint last night vs 52 for us.  They also had more blocks than us, 7-3.  On the other hand, our miniscule little front court you like to make fun of outrebounded them 42-35, including offensive rebounds where we had 9 vs their 7.  We had Sully with 10 boards and 3 other players with 8.  Their top rebounder was Monroe with 8 and then it was 7 and 6 and that's about it for rebounding for them.  We TEAM rebound.  We TEAM defend.

We were also in cruise mode all night except for a bit, in total control of the game all the way through.  Against a team with the always dangerous inside player Greg Monroe, bull-in-a-china-shop Plumlee and the 6'11" Freak.  Against a team that just beat us a week or so ago.  Are you saying they hadn't scouted us before playing us last night?  And before you say they're not a good team, they are NOW 4-1 post All-Star game.  They WERE 4-0 until last night.  They might have sucked early in the year but they are playing well and are hot now.

We are 15th out of 30 in fgas <5'.  That's not great, but it doesn't suck neither.  How bad at interior defense can we be when fully half of the league allows more shots at the rim than us?  If they are pounding us inside how come we're not 25th instead of 15th at fga <5'?  The Bucks, Warriors, Rockets, Indiana (with Turner) and Clippers (with Jordan) all give up MORE fgas <5' than us.  We are 5th in the league in fg% allowed 5'-9'.  5th.  There are only 4 teams whose defenses are harder to score against 5'-9' than us.  How is all this evidence of poor interior defense?  Shooting against us at the rim isn't a gimme and hitting a shot from the rim out to the dotted line is a rarity?  We have the 7th best offense/defense +/- in the league (our average points scored - our average points given up).  San Antonio and GSW are way ahead of everybody, OKC and Cleveland are the 2nd tier and then Toronto, Clippers and us are the 3rd tier.  That's pretty good company.  Notice, Utah isn't one of them.

A single victory or a single loss aren't big deals unless it's the playoffs, it's how we do against a broad range of different rosters over the year that tell you what we are and can do.  You see losses to Milwaukee and say "Aha!!  I knew it!! Our bigs suck!".  But over the course of the season, against a broad range of different rosters, talents and defensive and offensive schemes, we have an elite defense.  What you are claiming is that opposing coaching and scouting staffs don't know who our front court is, like they all just showed up with the last drop of rain.  That's ridiculous.  We do not have one single rookie playing rotation minutes on our roster.  Every single player another team is likely to see has played for at least one year and has been scouted thoroughly.  Other coaching staffs sit down with buckets of popcorn and watch film of Brad's plays like we go to the movies to see an action flick.  You think we're getting scouted just now?

We are now 34-25 with 23 more to go.  If we just go .500 the rest of the way, and that is below the .576 we are at now, we'll still end up with 45-46 wins.  That's 5-6 wins more than we had last year, in a conference that has gotten much more competitive and with no major upgrade in talent.  If we finish the year as we have done so far we'll end up with 47 wins.  That's almost a 20% improvement with almost no imported upgrade in talent.


bob


.

okay dude, so whats your point? are you saying we are so good we don't need more help? what are you saying, a team can achieve a winning record and still mask weaknesses, its called adjustments and good coaching. In 79-80 we had a team that had the best record in the East and was favored to go to the Finals in Birds storybook rookie year, well in the ECF's we got spanked by Philly 4-1, so Red made some changes. In 02 and 03 the young Pierce/Walker Celtics got fairly deep runs in the playoffs, then Danny Ainge came in, started shipping players out and said this franchise is not about playoff appearances, were about rings and to get there we need major upgrades in talent....I think you know the rest. I think I'm more a historian than a stat guy, I don't go looking up stats, but I read somewhere you said we were #1 in FGA and perimeter defensive stats, so I believe you, you quoting this other rim distance stuff, okay whats your point? were ahead of so many other teams, you don't want an upgrade? your happy with Sully and Amir and Zeller and KO? Okay whatever, I'm glad were winning, but this is not the 80's NBA either, look at Denver, Philly, Nets, Orlando, Lakers rosters, there are alot of pathetically weak teams in this league and were no where near so good that a big team like the Timberwolves or Jazz can't spank us and beat us and best us up inside the paint, and those 2 teams aren't even very good in a really good sense, but either are we. Anybody think this team doesn't need a few more pieces or is ready to make a deep run is well a diehard Celtic fan. I just think this team plays well together and plays in a way that can win in this era, but still has alot of rebuilding left to do also.

cowens,

OF COURSE we could use upgrades.  Unless you're talking about HOFers at every starting position and superior bench players until you are 10-11 deep you can ALWAYS use an upgrade somewhere.  You just make it sound like our interior defense sucks.  It does not.  It just isn't the traditional "funnel everybody to the shotblocker" type of defense.  Instead, it's a "keep them at the perimeter and, failing that, slow them down in the paint and then swarm them and swipe at the ball" type of defense and it seems to work quite well. Would we be better if we were able to employ this defense AND have a shot blocker?  Of course, that would be one of those upgrades I said we could always use but that doesn't mean we suck as is.  I used the stats to back my point up.  

Our defense has fallen off a bit in the last 2 weeks or so, but it was stellar for the first 3 months of the season.  Say "we were playing over our head" or "Brad is amazing" and maybe you're onto something.  Saying "we hadn't been scouted" is nuts.  Our team is and has been scouted, the individual players have been scouted and recent games had been taped and scouted.  We're not a secret, we're an NBA team.  Any team that plays us and doesn't know what we can do to their offensive sets and how we're likely to do it to them should be fired en masse, the entire coaching staff and every player who doesn't look at film.




bob


.

Myles Turner would have been a great piece for us bob, and had we not acquired Mighty Mouse, he would have been right there for us and we MIGHT have a historical defense or building to it with our already formidable perimeter defenders. I think its easier to acquire a scoring point that can't defend than a two way 5 with a perimeter shot and elite shot blocking ability....thats how we would look if I was GM.

All star game is a pathetic exhibition now, all offense and bad passing and dunks. Avery Bradley is the heart and soul of this team, best Stephon Curry defender in the league and ever improving shot and offense. If it was me he would have been our all star, but since defense is so demphasized, and the game has morphed into a joke, guess it doesn't matter.

Our post defense sucks? Did I use that word bob? I don't think so, but maybe I'm wrong. I like Sully and Amir and Jerebko, Jerebko can really defend well and Amir can have his moments. Sully is like a football player, easily our best rebounder and can have dominant moments, gives us a physical presence, unfortunately at 6'9" without elite jumping and athleticism he has limitations. Zeller and KO I cringe as soon as they get on the court in certain match ups, those guys I will say suck on defense. Were lucky this era does not have the talented bigs from other eras and thank god we do have good schemes and coaching, we don't have all the pieces yet, losing on getting a potential franchise big last year hurt, a few were right there for the taking.