Can Boston emulate Atlanta's defense?

[Alleyoopster]

Last summer I re-watched some of the Spurs-Miami NBA Finals series.  Came away with the feeling that the Celtics were years, if ever, away from matching San Antonio's offensive panache.  And, trying to copy a similar style of play could end up proving to be a hopeless dream.

Fast forward to last night's Atlanta game.  Atlanta is now one of the hottest teams in the NBA.  They handled the Celtics fairly easily even without Korver and Horford.  But, the Celtics stayed close. What I found most intriguing was Atlanta's defensive tenacity.  They swarm like few teams I've seen in the past.  There always seemed to at least one man closely guarding their opponent  and often multiple other hands helping out when the ball entered the key.     

I came away feeling maybe Atlanta's defense is one aspect the Celtics could or should try to emulate in their rebuilding efforts.  My feeling is it wouldn't require superstar talent to follow this path.  But, would take athleticism, quickness and a new way of operating on defense. 

Could or should the Celtics be looking at rebuilding using the Atlanta model or something more similar to the Spurs model?   

 

[Chris22]

Most teams in the NBA don't play defense until the fourth quarter.

[Celtics4ever]

Some of our guys are horrible at defense, so I am guessing no.  Our Swarm would be more like pondwater dripping in movement.

[LooseCannon]

I came away feeling maybe Atlanta's defense is one aspect the Celtics could or should try to emulate in their rebuilding efforts.  My feeling is it wouldn't require superstar talent to follow this path.  But, would take athleticism, quickness and a new way of operating on defense. 

And that's why I think Jae Crowder would be a better choice than James Young for next season's starting SF.