36 Assists on 42 Made Baskets

I know there will be a post-game thread, which I'm looking forward to reading.  But there's one statistic that's my favorite, and I can't resist the urge to do a little crowing about it.  

36 assists on 42 made buckets.  When does any NBA team do that?  Too say nothing of a makeshift team with combinations that haven't played together a lot.  36/42.  That's 86% over the course of an entire game!

All 11 Celtics who played had at least one assist, and no one had more than Phil Pressey's 7 assists.  That's a sign of a team that's always looking for better shots and is willing to make the extra pass to get those better shots.

I'm sure a lot of people will call this a garbage game.  But, at the very least, it served as a solid tuneup for the playoffs for some guys who will play a lot, others whose jobs will be primarily to be ready if called upon, and even Brad, who had an opportunity to exercise his in-game skills with a somewhat depleted roster.

Go Celtics!

Sam

The assists are a byproduct of the motion offense. Four of the top five teams in assists per game run a motion offense -- Warriors (1st, 27.4), Hawks (2nd, 25.9), Celtics (4th, 24.3), and Spurs (5th, 24.3).

Sam

A very impressive stat.

I think we tend to focus on chemistry and that is obviously an important aspect of how a team plays together but what I am seeing now goes beyond chemistry. The group last night played well together because of the SYSTEM. The style of Celtics basketball today. This is looking more and more like a plug and play phenomena.

I think that the Patriots are the template model for success. There is a system in place that works regardless of who is in the game. Some players are more skilled than others but the system is designed to maximize their ability to win games.

The Celtics are now a team that relies more on a style of play to derive positive results.

dboss

The motion offense does not lead to more assists than other offensive patterns in my opinion although it does give many more players a chance to touch the ball. The players playing unselfishly and for the good of the team is much more the reason for the 36 assists on 42 baskets.

This type of unselfishness started when Crowder arrived and it is probably the reason that this team has been so much fun to watch this season. This is all tied to the change of culture on this team after Rondo was traded, and the best is yet to be when a little more talent is obtained.

I really don't know what to say about assist numbers.
Yes, I agree that the higher the assist numbers are, the more it seems like they play better team basketball.
But does that equate to success?
Are high assist numbers by teams because of the system that's designed for them or because they don't have great individual scorers who can score often going one on one versus a defender?
Boston had 36 assists last night which is awesome.
Only one time in 6 games in the 1998 Finals did Chicago have 20 assists in a game.
In the 7 games of 2010 Finals, the Lakers didn't have 20 assists in a game one time.

So, as sexy as assist numbers are, I do not think they always lead to team success.

What other alternative do we have?

We don't have anyone that can create their own shot.

Virtually every outside shot we make is assisted on, so if we are shooting reasonably well we are going to pile up assists...and they will be spread out among several players.

Yes we do have people whom drive to the basket given the chance, but finishing is secondary to dumping it to an open person a good chunk of the time.

What we are doing as has been pointed out is being unselfish and if a team mate has a better look getting the ball to him.

beat

wide clyde wrote:The motion offense does not lead to more assists than other offensive patterns in my opinion although it does give many more players a chance to touch the ball.   The players playing unselfishly and for the good of the team is much more the reason for the 36 assists on 42 baskets.

A motion offense leads to more assists because it relies on more passes per possession. The definition of an assist is a pass that leads to a made basket, and if you have more passing, you'll tend to have more assists. An offense that relies on players creating shots off the dribble will tend to have fewer assists.

That's not to say that a motion offense is the only one that can have a high rate of assists. The Clippers are third in assists per game using an offense that relies on a lot of shots that come directly from passes -- lobs to Jordan or Griffin; Redick, Crawford, and Barnes making catch-and-shoot threes; Griffin making catch-and-shoot midrange shots; Chris Paul penetrating and kicking. But a motion offense, which by its very design has more player movement and ball movement, will naturally tend to have a higher rate of assists.