Weakness to "Celtics basketball"/Playoff Matchups

[drza44]

They were interviewing KG the other day, and he was again reiterating that Celtics basketball is about defense before offense and team before individual.  And it got me to thinking...every loss that I could remember this year were against a team that had one individual that was able to break down the Celtics defense by himself.  But there was a kicker...not only did the opponent have 1 transcendent offensive player, but they also had a small and quick and/or perimeter oriented power forward that kept KG out of the paint and away from help defense.

This idea intrigued me enough to go through and look at all 18 losses that the Celts had this year...and in almost every case that formula was met.  The Magic (Howard dominated Perkins, Lewis kept KG out of the paint), the Cavs (LeBron/Gooden), the Pistons (Billups/Sheed), the Bobcats (Richardson/G. Wallace), the Wizards (Butler/Jamison), the Raptors (everyone was on fire, Bargnani), the Jazz (Deron/Okur), etc. 

This Celtics team is predicated on defense, and the defense is predicated on playing each man tough individually but with great help defense when necessary.  And the best help defense comes from KG, especially helping out teammates against players who are just on fire.

So that led me to looking at playoff matchups.  Viewed under that lens, it isn't quite as shocking that the Hawks were able to give the Celtics trouble on the nights when Joe Johnson was on fire and Josh Smith was knocking down perimeter shots.  This also feeds forward, if the Celtics are able to keep winning.  It would be a reason why the Celts might match up better with the Cavs than the Wizards (no perimeter/quick scoring PF on Cleveland) or with the Pistons instead of the Magic (Billups not as dominant as Howard, so KG's help defense not as vital).

Disclaimer: I don't think this is a prohibitive weakness, especially against a team like the Hawks.  If Smith isn't knocking down his jumper (like game 5) KG is freer to roam, and if Smith is knocking it down and camped on the perimeter then Pierce or Posey should guard him and KG should move to Horford which would get him back into the lane.  Adjustments can be made to guard against the weakness, even against the better teams...but I do think it is definitely something that the Celtics should have an eye on and be ready to gameplan for in future instances when it arises.

[Who]

The same thing happened with Houston over the years

[wdleehi]

Every defense has a weakness.


Allowing a few outside shots for PFs or Cs is a weakness that teams have to live with. 

[CelticsWhat35]

Every defense has a weakness.


Allowing a few outside shots for PFs or Cs is a weakness that teams have to live with. 

Yep.  And as good as the Celtics defense was in game 5, I was p---ed when someone (Perk?) tried closing out on Smith in the corner and gave him the baseline for the easy dunk instead.  Those are just mental mistakes that shouldn't be made.  Smith isn't the best jump shooter.  He might have a game here or there when he's on, but he'll always be on if you give him a lane to the basket.