Their defensive rating, which is a measure of points allowed per possession, ranked 14th in the league entering Tuesday. But over their past eight games, the Celtics have produced a top-10 defense — a sign of growth as they lean into Mazzulla’s up-tempo style while compensating for the injury absence of Robert Williams III, their starting center. “Our offense is so good that it hides some of our defensive flaws,” Marcus Smart, the team’s starting point guard, said in an interview. “But we’re continuously out here working, and it’s only going to get better with time.”
In any case, the Celtics have essentially been daring opponents to keep up with them. Sometimes, Smart said, that may mean that the Celtics give up an extra offensive rebound or two as they look to break out and run. “When you’re not really boxing out as much and having as many guys stay back, your defense is going to take a hit,” Smart said. “But we’re going to get it together.” For his part, Tatum has clearly taken another step as a defender by averaging a career-best 1.2 blocks a game. He recently described himself and Brown as “two of the best two-way players in the league.” – via Scott Cacciola @ New York Times
You can see this developing. They are not playing that high level defense all the time, but at times, the defense has been better. They are playing more up tempo, more possessions, more overall scoring, so the raw defensive numbers are not going to be top of the league likely, but I am not necessarily concerned about that.
We have a team of really good individual defenders: Smart, Brown, Tatum, Horford, RWill, all top notch. Without RWill, we have to slot in Grant or White who are both decent but a notch down from the main guys. Brogdon, Pritchard, Hauser, Kornet are all nothing special defensively, but that is OK. Our defense have been sufficient so far, has been improving, and will get a big boost when RWill is back. I am not concerned.
And it is like Smart says. If you keep everyone in to defensive rebound, you get fewer fast break opportunities. If you commit too much to offensive rebounds, the other team can get easy fast break chances. You have to find that balance and that balance is a little different depending who you have on the court. That is the nuance of not having RWill and replacing him with Grant or Brogdon or White. We have to adjust and play it differently in subtle and not so subtle ways without RWill.
Topic: Celtics Regular Season News (Read 89954 times)