Opponent quantified shot quality: 49.9% (1st)

Defensive efficiency: 95.8                      (1st)

Opponent eFG%: 48%                           (1st)

Rebound Pct: 53%                                (2nd)*

*Ranked 27th last season

5 of the Top 10 player defensive rating in the league as of now are Celtics (Baynes, Brown, Rozier, Tatum, Smart)

Teams are shooting 31.4% from 3 against Jaylen Brown

Irving's Defensive RPM (active plus/minus) has jumped from 69th last season (among PG's) to 14th this season.

Irving has jumped into the top 10 in deflection after never placing higher 36th in his career.

Where is the quantified shot quality metric from? I’m not familiar with that one.

I’ll save my rank about RPM “stats”, other than a stat that incorporates a player’s height into it is garbage. Production is what stats should measure, without incorporating biases.

That aside, the defense has been excellent. The added length add d by JB, Tatum, Kyrie, Baynes and Theis have resulted in a vast improvement.

Rebounding also has a sneaky effect on DRtg, as offensive boards result in a continued possession. Therefore, a team that gives up an easy basket has the same DRtg as a team that forces three misses but fails to secure the rebounds, before finally giving up a basket. Despite only one shot in the first instance and four shots in the latter, the analysis is “1 possession, 2 points allowed”.