What happened to the Celtics’ lockdown defense?
Defense was never supposed to be an issue for the 2015-16 Boston Celtics. With Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and Marcus Smart providing perimeter defense and Amir Johnson helping protect the paint, strong play on the defensive end was expected to enable the Celtics to win games most nights.
Before the NBA All-Star break, that expectation was largely met. Boston had the NBA’s second-best defensive rating (99.2) through the first week of February, a number made possible by the team’s ability to create turnovers (fourth in league) and force tough shots (fourth in opponents’ field-goal efficiency).
Under head coach Brad Stevens’ guidance, defense kept the Celtics in most contests and allowed the team to overcome its flaws, including poor defensive rebounding and a penchant for sending opponents to the free-throw line too often.
Things have started to change drastically in the month of February on that front. Teams seem to be shooting the ball better against Boston, especially from beyond the arc (36 percent). Turnovers created are down, while free throws (33.3 per game) taken by opponents are the highest averaged by any team in the league.
“It’s very concerning when it’s the better part of three weeks, or four weeks,’’ Stevens said Wednesday after seeing his team drop three of its last five games. “There are a lot of teams that have that type of slippage at this time of the year, but we’ve said this before: we severely limit our margin of error if we don’t defend at a high level.’’
In their past 10 games, the Celtics are giving up 113.1 points per game, a number that stands out as the second-highest in the league during that span. Boston’s defensive rating over that stretch is 107.5, putting them among the league’s 10 worst teams during that span.
“In the past, we really hurt ourselves because we didn’t score it at all,’’ Stevens said. “Now we’re scoring it well, but not good enough to win consistently with the level we’ve defended in the last three weeks or so.’’
The Celtics have been able to avoid a sharp hit to their win-loss record in the midst of these struggles thanks to some improved offensive production. A shift to small ball and improved 3-point shooting has helped produce a 108.2 offensive rating in the month of February, a mark a full five points better than their season average.
“You get caught up in trying to outscore teams,’’ Bradley said, via ESPN.com. “Maybe that is what can happen. Everything is going well in the offensive end and you forget to play defense. That’s where we have to hold each other accountable.’’
The Celtics will have the opportunity to get back to basics during a five-game homestand over the next two weeks that will allow for plenty of practice time.
“We’re just not playing together on a string,’’ Crowder told reporters after Monday’s loss to Minnesota. “Some of our greater possessions that we’ve watched here in the past few days was just all five guys were so engaged. As of lately it’s just been maybe four guys engaged and one not, or three guys engaged and two not. So we’ve got to get back to playing together.’’
Smart made similar comments at practice on Wednesday.
“Everybody has got to play together,’’ Smart said. “Everybody has got to be on a string — all five guys. When one guy moves, the whole team has to move. We can’t have two or three guys doing their own thing and have the rest of the team doing something else.’’
With the Celtics battling for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference with less than two months remaining in the regular season, there’s little margin for error. Even a slight drop in the standings could be the difference between a deep playoff run and a first-round exit.
“The good and the bad news about our team is I feel like our guys really feel like they’re a good team, and they can beat all of the good teams,’’ Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said on the Toucher and Rich radio show on Thursday. “But sometimes I feel like they think they’re better than they are, and they don’t show up to play with the same kind of intensity on the defensive end.’’
*All statistical information from NBA.com unless otherwise noted.
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