{"id":11235,"date":"2016-11-07T15:42:15","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T20:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boston.clientpalette.com\/?p=11235"},"modified":"2016-11-07T15:42:15","modified_gmt":"2016-11-07T20:42:15","slug":"the-celtics-defense-has-been-atrocious-through-six-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/the-celtics-defense-has-been-atrocious-through-six-games\/","title":{"rendered":"The Celtics&#8217; Defense Has Been Atrocious Through Six Games"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_11237\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11237\" style=\"width: 3600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11237 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/GettyImages-621535390.jpg\" alt=\"BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 6: Emmanuel Mudiay #0 of the Denver Nuggets shoots the ball against the Boston Celtics on November 6, 2016 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau\/NBAE via Getty Images)\" width=\"3600\" height=\"2400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-11237\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11237 lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/GettyImages-621535390.jpg\" alt=\"BOSTON, MA - NOVEMBER 6: Emmanuel Mudiay #0 of the Denver Nuggets shoots the ball against the Boston Celtics on November 6, 2016 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2016 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau\/NBAE via Getty Images)\" width=\"3600\" height=\"2400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/GettyImages-621535390.jpg 3600w, https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/GettyImages-621535390-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/GettyImages-621535390-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/GettyImages-621535390-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/GettyImages-621535390-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 3600px) 100vw, 3600px\" \/><\/noscript> (Photo by Brian Babineau\/NBAE via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Boston Celtics were the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/leagues\/NBA_2016_ratings.html\" target=\"_blank\">fourth best defensive team<\/a> in the NBA last year when you look at points allowed per 100 possessions.\u00a0 Thanks to the addition of Al Horford in the off-season, both players and fans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/sports\/celtics\/2016\/10\/02\/avery-bradley-defensive\/vvXzjo6j0tvxvcKr8XVuQI\/story.html\" target=\"_blank\">were optimistic<\/a> that the C&#8217;s could be in the conversation for best defense in the league in 2016-17, leading many to believe that they&#8217;re capable of being the second best team in the East and competing with the Cavaliers in the Conference Finals.\u00a0 Although it seems far-fetched, especially right now, the Celtics were actually given the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mytopsportsbooks.com\/free-picks\/nba-basketball\/nba-odds-2016-17-season-preview\" target=\"_blank\">fourth best odds<\/a> to win the NBA title this year.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s still really early, but so far this team has failed miserably to meet expectations.\u00a0 Unfortunately, injuries to Horford and Jae Crowder haven&#8217;t allowed us to witness this supposedly rock solid defensive unit at full strength.\u00a0 But with the way the C&#8217;s have played on D through the first six games, I&#8217;m not sure their presence would make that much of a difference.<\/p>\n<p>Boston is second to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/leagues\/NBA_2017_ratings.html\" target=\"_blank\">last in defensive rating<\/a> so far this year, allowing 114 points per 100 possessions.\u00a0 In a category that they were fourth in last year, they now rank 29th.\u00a0 Crowder and Horford are huge missing pieces, don&#8217;t get me wrong.\u00a0 But last time I checked, Avery Bradley was First Team All-Defense last season and he and Marcus Smart are widely regarded as two of the best guard defenders in the league.\u00a0 So there&#8217;s no reason Emmanuel Mudiay should be outscoring the entire Celtics team 24-23 in the first quarter at TD Garden like he did in the C&#8217;s blowout loss to the Nuggets on Sunday night.<\/p>\n<p>And that was just the beginning of one of the worst defensive halves in Boston Celtics history, as they went on to allow 77 points to Denver before the break.\u00a0 The last time a Celtics team allowed that many points in a half was when gave up 78 in <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamHimmelsbach\/status\/795444950360068096\" target=\"_blank\">2005 against the Milwaukee Bucks<\/a>.\u00a0 The most they&#8217;ve ever allowed is 80.<\/p>\n<p>The Celtics&#8217; bigs were once again crushed on the glass, and Avery Bradley was once again the team&#8217;s leading rebounder with 11.\u00a0 AB is now averaging 8.7 boards per game.\u00a0 The next best is Crowder with 6.3 in the four games that he&#8217;s played.<\/p>\n<p>One of the lone highlights of the night was Isaiah Thomas on the offensive end.\u00a0 He dropped 30 points to bring his average to 26.2 per game on the year.\u00a0 After the game, however, IT&#8217;s attention was rightfully on the Celtics&#8217; failure to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/blog\/boston\/celtics\/post\/_\/id\/4724349\/whats-wrong-with-the-boston-celtics-defense\" target=\"_blank\">play to their potential<\/a> on defense:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We\u2019re not as good as we thought we were,&#8221; said Celtics All-Star point guard <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/player\/_\/id\/6472\/isaiah-thomas\">Isaiah Thomas<\/a>, a black hoodie drawn tight over his head as he tried to explain the latest defensive dud. &#8220;When we don\u2019t come out with a sense of urgency, we\u2019re not a good team, and that\u2019s what happened tonight.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>But what about those aspirations of being a top defense?<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At this point, we\u2019re all talk,&#8221; Thomas said. &#8220;That\u2019s all we\u2019re doing. So until we put it together in a full 48-minute game and show what we can do at that end, we\u2019re not gonna be a top defensive team.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He also talked about how important it is for the team to start showing a sense of urgency, preaching that if they don&#8217;t <a href=\"http:\/\/www.csnne.com\/boston-celtics\/stars-studs-and-duds-nuggets-physicality-trumps-celtics-finesse\" target=\"_blank\">change their mindset<\/a> now then things will only get worse:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe physical thing is an attitude,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cNot backing down, not thinking we\u2019re the best team in the NBA. It\u2019s a mindset thing.\u00a0 We\u2019ve shown we can be a physical team. We\u2019ve shown we can play at a high level on the defensive end, but we\u2019re not showing it this season. We\u2019ll have a bad season if we don\u2019t show it soon.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The C&#8217;s will hopefully have some high-intensity practices the next couple days as they&#8217;ll look to ramp up the defensive effort on Wednesday night against the Wizards in DC.\u00a0 Horford is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/injuries\/_\/team\/bos\" target=\"_blank\">expected to return<\/a> for that match-up and Kelly Olynyk is expected to make his season debut.\u00a0 Jae Crowder is still listed as &#8220;out for a week or two&#8221; so he won&#8217;t be suiting up.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not panic time yet, but I&#8217;d say Wednesday is as close to a must-win as you can get this early in the season.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Follow Jack Bardsley on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BostonsBigFour\" target=\"_blank\">@BostonsBigFour<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Boston Celtics were the fourth best defensive team in the NBA last year when<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[28,50,76,80,84,845,165,249,290,340,373,511,555,846],"class_list":["post-11235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celtics","tag-al-horford","tag-avery-bradley","tag-boston-celtics","tag-bostons-big-four","tag-brad-stevens","tag-defense","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-jae-crowder","tag-kelly-olynyk","tag-marcus-smart","tag-nba","tag-td-garden","tag-washington-wizards","tag-worst-first-half"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bostonsbigfour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}