In need of a victory to shorten the gap in the Eastern Conference standings, the Boston Celtics managed to take down the Charlotte Hornets on Monday with 113-107 being the final score. Now, there is just a half-game separating the two teams as they compete for the top play-in spot. Now, as the NBA trade deadline approaches, the C’s are clicking at a high-level.
LaMelo Ball (38) and Terry Rozier (23) put together highly impressive performances in their loss to the Celtics—accounting for 57% of the Hornets’ points. Boston held the rest of the roster in check.
After going 2-5 after losing 117-113 to the Milwaukee Bucks on Christmas Day, the Celtics held just a 18-21 record through 39 games. It was a low-point of the 2021-22 NBA season for a team that held high expectations. There was even some speculation from some that trading Jaylen Brown could bring a needed shake-up.
Since that point, the Celtics have gone 10-4 and have arguably been the NBA’s most effective team—posting a league-best 101.8 defensive rating and 11.1 net rating during that stretch. Grinding it out on defense with energy and sharp execution has set the tone.
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The Boston Celtics’ matchup against the Hornets displayed their defensive versatility, particularly down the stretch. As seen in the breakdown below, Boston has Al Horford to handle the opposition’s center with length and quick hands at other spots in the unit, so if a team has a non-shooting big man on the floor, the Celtics have the necessary tools to make operating in the paint a real challenge.
In the later stages of that breakdown in the tweet above, the Hornets opted to go with P.J. Washington at the center position down the stretch to open up the floor for Terry Rozier and LaMelo Ball to attack. It worked initially since as seen in the third clip, Robert Williams III had to stay home on Washington in favor of helping against Rozier’s drive—resulting in an easy layup.
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“Everybody is holding their own and helping each other at all times. I think that’s the biggest thing we’re doing,” Williams III said about the Celtics’ defense, via the team’s official website. “Even when we individually have slip-ups on defense, I feel like the second line is doing a great job of having each other’s back.”
Now, where things get interesting is in the fact that Williams III has the athletic tools and awareness to be able to not only adjust enough on that pivotal possession in the fifth clip to get a solid contest on Washington’s three-pointer when identifying the off-ball screen action, he comes up outright with a blocked shot.
The Boston Celtics essentially can play high-level defense when matching a team that goes big with Horford on the floor by surrounding him with long, pesky defenders, or they can slide over Williams III to the five spot to match small ball. The impact that Brown makes defensively on a routine basis should not be understated and has been pivotal to the Celtics’ overall success.
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Down the stretch against the Hornets, he did a little bit of everything to make life harder on LaMelo Ball between containing a drive off a slip screen ending in a contest pull-up to drawing a charge on a rim-roll. Most importantly, his tight contest on Ball’s pull-up from deep while holding four-points with roughly 11 seconds left helped seal the victory.
The lineup with Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams III, and Al Horford has been an elite group defensively but it hasn’t been limited to just that side of things. The group has logged 225 minutes on the season and has recorded a staggering 116.4 offensive rating, 90.6 defensive rating, and 25.9 net rating. No lineup that has logged 100 minutes in the NBA has been better than this group.
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“There’s familiarity between those guys that have been here for a while,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said about the lineup. “Obviously, the physicality is up with a strong point guard, big wings, and two bigs out there. We have a size advantage. I like our versatility, physicality, connectivity.”
On offense, the Celtics have continued to rely heavily on Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to shoulder the load. Both players have combined to average 50.5 points per game over the last 14 games with Tatum (26.4) and Brown (24.1) each being above the 24 points per game threshold. However, the team as a whole converting at a 36.2% clip from three-point range after being at 33.3% prior has opened things up inside.
Tatum has continued to struggle in his search of finding a consistent rhythm from beyond the arc, whether on catch-and-shoot looks of on tougher shot creation sequences. For reference, he’s shooting just 31.0% from deep over this successful 14-game stretch for the Celtics. When excluding his production, Boston has been shooting 37.7% from three-point range—offering plenty of floor spacing around him.
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Granted, the Boston Celtics have been playing quite a few underwhelming defenses that lack much for a rim protection presence, but regardless, it’s encouraging to see Tatum punish those matchups. There’s little point in settling for tough shots often when he often has a size advantage and is crafty at getting downhill and finishing when he actually gets to the rim.
Where Tatum has ramped up his production has been his efficiency at the rim. During that stretch, he is shooting a staggering 65.7% in the restricted area—accounting for 38.0% of his shot attempts. With a clear focus to get to the rim with force paired with teammates knocking shots down and him making kickouts, the floor stays open more often for he and Brown.
“The game plan that everybody has is to make the Jays pass the ball,” Marcus Smart said. “They have to do a good job at it, and they’ve been doing a phenomenal job at it. By doing that, it’s just going to open the floor for them down the stretch when it’s time to take over and it makes it hard for defenses to load up when you have guys shooting the ball, making shots, and making the right play.”
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The Celtics have continually received strong production from Brown in the catch-and-shoot department as he’s converting at a 41.8% clip from deep during this 14-game stretch. He’s remained steady in many other key areas in the scoring department and that’s all Boston needs given he raises the floor of the half-court offense. With the team firing on all cylinders on defense, it’s easy to why they’re winning games.
The future of the Boston Celtics clearly revolves around Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown thriving as a tandem with the unit as a whole playing elite defense. When all of that is taking place, the team will win games and have a foundation to build on in pursuit of emerging as a real title threat once again.
