Celtics success rests squarely in their offensive diversity.

[nickagneta]

Defense and rebounding wins championships. I believe that completely deep down into my basketball loving core. The Boston Celtics are currently the best defensive team in the league leading the league in points allowed per game and defensive efficiency. That is going to take the Celtics a long way towards winning the NBA championship this June. At this point in the season they are a pretty mediocre rebounding team. They can get better there.

But I think if the Celtics win their 18th banner this year it might just be because of their offensive diversity and efficiency. Why? Because if the first 25% of the season has shown us anything, its that there really is only one team that can shut down the offense of the Celtics, that being the Celtics themselves.

This Celtics team, the starting five in particular, is so unselfish, divergent, and multi-layered as to be nearly unstoppable over a 48 minute game. Want inside post work, give the ball to Perk, KG and Wallace. Want three point shooters, take House, Pierce, Wallace, and Ray. Want mid range shooters, how about KG, Davis, Pierce, Allen, and Daniels. Want drivers to the basket, there's Rondo, Ray, Pierce, Daniels and Tony. Want great passers, look now further than just about any of the top 8 players in the rotation.

This Celtics team, unlike any other NBA team going back all the way to the 1986 Celtics, has no clear cut player that if you double will cause their team offense to disintegrate. Double anyone regularly and this group is smart enough to recognize it and make you pay by sending the ball to the open man.

Clog the lane to cut off penetration and the Celtics will play the inside out game, hit the open jumpers and force you out of that defense. Play tight perimeter defense and run them of the three point line and this team will penetrate you to death. Play a strict zone and this team will kill it with tremendous perimeter passing, alley oops, back doors and outside shooting.

Seldom have I ever seen five players sacrifice so much of their total offensive game to create a total offense that is nearly unstoppable from any direction. Every player on this team's starting five is capable of going for 25-30 points on a given night and carrying the team. But what is more likely is seeing games where all five starters score 15-20 points. It is now happening with a scary constant regularity that must be giving opposing coaches major headaches.

Defense and rebounding wins championships. But when you have a fine tuned offensive machine that can score in so many different ways as well as a great defense and good rebounding, like these Celtics do, winning championships look like a foregone conclusion.

[Who]

But I think if the Celtics win their 18th banner this year it might just be because of their offensive diversity and efficiency. Why? Because if the first 25% of the season has shown us anything, its that there really is only one team that can shut down the offense of the Celtics, that being the Celtics themselves.

Orlando have done an excellent job of shutting down the Celtics offense. I'm concerned about how effective their defense is against the C's. Mainly due to how well they defend Rondo + Ray.

The Lakers are a wait and see proposition. They might be able to do similar damage now that they have Ron Artest.

Outside of those two teams, I don't think there's any contender capable of derailing the Celtics offense (largely due to all the reasons already mentioned).

[nickagneta]

But I think if the Celtics win their 18th banner this year it might just be because of their offensive diversity and efficiency. Why? Because if the first 25% of the season has shown us anything, its that there really is only one team that can shut down the offense of the Celtics, that being the Celtics themselves.

Orlando have done an excellent job of shutting down the Celtics offense. I'm concerned about how effective their defense is against the C's. Mainly due to how well they defend Rondo + Ray.

The Lakers are a wait and see proposition. They might be able to do similar damage now that they have Ron Artest.

Outside of those two teams, I don't think there's any contender capable of derailing the Celtics offense (largely due to all the reasons already mentioned).

By the same token it can be argued that the Celtics were playing their worse offensive basketball of the season during that stretch where they played Orlando. The whole team was in a shooting slump at the time.

I am still in a waiting mode with Orlando. If when we play them again we have been playing even decent offensively going into the game, then I will judge that game if they can stop the C's. As far as I am concerned, the Celtics stopped the Celtics during that Orlando game. 2-19 from three. 35% shooting overall. The Magic played decent defense that game but the Celtics missed tons of open looks through the first three quarters.

[Donoghus]

The scoring distribution for the Celtics during this latest win streak has been nothing short of amazing.  All 5 starters in double digits as well as 1 or 2 bench players.  The scoring load is being shared by everything and it's such a blessing to realize you're rooting for a team that doesn't need someone to drop 25+ to have a chance of winning.  

When this team is making the extra passes and moving away from the ball, they are nearly unstoppable on the offensive end.  Everyone from the guards to the big men are making solid passes.  It's quite the thing to see.  

Of course everything is not perfect.  My criticisms (some may call them nitpicks) come in those instances where the offense seems to break down and becomes iso-related.  Usually, you'll see someone (Pierce or Rondo) sitting at the top of the key, dribbling down the shotclock to under 10 seconds while you see absolutely no movement from the other 4 guys on the court.  More often than not, this is leading to poor shot selection and it's frustrating to watch.  

My other criticism (or nitpick) of this offense is the tendency to rely too heavily on the outside jumper rather than pound it inside.  This seems to rear its ugly head in those instances where we are slowly pulling away (8+ pt lead) and the team tends to settle for going for the "dagger" leading to some ill-advised 3 point shots or 15+ foot outside jumpers.  Too often, I've seen the opponent crawl back into the game because they're capitalizing off these ill-advised Celtic scoring opportunities.

[nickagneta]

The scoring distribution for the Celtics during this latest win streak has been nothing short of amazing.  All 5 starters in double digits as well as 1 or 2 bench players.  The scoring load is being shared by everything and it's such a blessing to realize you're rooting for a team that doesn't need someone to drop 25+ to have a chance of winning.  

When this team is making the extra passes and moving away from the ball, they are nearly unstoppable on the offensive end.  Everyone from the guards to the big men are making solid passes.  It's quite the thing to see.  

Of course everything is not perfect.  My criticisms (some may call them nitpicks) come in those instances where the offense seems to break down and becomes iso-related.  Usually, you'll see someone (Pierce or Rondo) sitting at the top of the key, dribbling down the shotclock to under 10 seconds while you see absolutely no movement from the other 4 guys on the court.  More often than not, this is leading to poor shot selection and it's frustrating to watch.  

My other criticism (or nitpick) of this offense is the tendency to rely too heavily on the outside jumper rather than pound it inside.  This seems to rear its ugly head in those instances where we are slowly pulling away (8+ pt lead) and the team tends to settle for going for the "dagger" leading to some ill-advised 3 point shots or 15+ foot outside jumpers.  Too often, I've seen the opponent crawl back into the game because they're capitalizing off these ill-advised Celtic scoring opportunities.

Extremely valid criticisms.

I like what KG and Doc said about Rondo recently and his offensive leadership and intelligence. Both commented on the fact that when the team goes a couple of possessions without running a set play and they start going individually, Rondo is now yelling at everyone about what the are going to do(run a set play), where they belong and what has to be done. This type of leadership is essential to keeping this team into falling into the traps that occur mentally when the start playing lazy or superstar basketball, which is the type of offense that I think you are nitpicking about(and rightfully so).

The ball movement, extra passing, spread out scoring and unselfishness of the offense is something that takes me back to 1980's basketball of the Lakers, Celtics, Sixers, Bucks, and Pistons and the way they ran their offense with the ability for really anyone on the court to score and everyone on the court scoring regularly.

[Edgar]

The scoring distribution for the Celtics during this latest win streak has been nothing short of amazing.  All 5 starters in double digits as well as 1 or 2 bench players.  The scoring load is being shared by everything and it's such a blessing to realize you're rooting for a team that doesn't need someone to drop 25+ to have a chance of winning.  

When this team is making the extra passes and moving away from the ball, they are nearly unstoppable on the offensive end.  Everyone from the guards to the big men are making solid passes.  It's quite the thing to see.  

Of course everything is not perfect.  My criticisms (some may call them nitpicks) come in those instances where the offense seems to break down and becomes iso-related.  Usually, you'll see someone (Pierce or Rondo) sitting at the top of the key, dribbling down the shotclock to under 10 seconds while you see absolutely no movement from the other 4 guys on the court.  More often than not, this is leading to poor shot selection and it's frustrating to watch.  

My other criticism (or nitpick) of this offense is the tendency to rely too heavily on the outside jumper rather than pound it inside.  This seems to rear its ugly head in those instances where we are slowly pulling away (8+ pt lead) and the team tends to settle for going for the "dagger" leading to some ill-advised 3 point shots or 15+ foot outside jumpers.  Too often, I've seen the opponent crawl back into the game because they're capitalizing off these ill-advised Celtic scoring opportunities.

Extremely valid criticisms.

I like what KG and Doc said about Rondo recently and his offensive leadership and intelligence. Both commented on the fact that when the team goes a couple of possessions without running a set play and they start going individually, Rondo is now yelling at everyone about what the are going to do(run a set play), where they belong and what has to be done. This type of leadership is essential to keeping this team into falling into the traps that occur mentally when the start playing lazy or superstar basketball, which is the type of offense that I think you are nitpicking about(and rightfully so).

The ball movement, extra passing, spread out scoring and unselfishness of the offense is something that takes me back to 1980's basketball of the Lakers, Celtics, Sixers, Bucks, and Pistons and the way they ran their offense with the ability for really anyone on the court to score and everyone on the court scoring regularly.

It helps that Rondo is being a little more incisive
and more true pg time in this team
Rondo is young and can handle that ammount of time
but I hope we get a true pg as backup soon.