The 2022 Celtics were carried into the NBA Finals on the back of their defense. Sure, they had Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to carry the offense, but that team had a lot of offensive flaws, including turning the ball over way too often.
Unlike that team, this Celtics team doesn’t have a clear number 2 offensive option (unless Payton Pritchard can grab it with a big season). They also won’t turn the ball over and get a lot of offensive rebounds.
Like that team, this Celtics team should have one of
the best defenses in the NBA.
The offseason additions of Paul George and Mitchell Robinson should accentuate last year’s top-5 defense. As CelticsBlogger Nate Moskowitz wrote in July, George and Robinson create turnovers, something that the Celtics did not do last season.
Boston was 5th in the NBA in defensive rating last season, according to Cleaning the Glass but were 23rd in creating turnovers. Creating more turnovers is something that the Celtics clearly put an emphasis on this summer.
Last season, George ranked in the 89th percentile in steals percentage for forwards while Robinson was in the 95th percentile for bigs.
We have evidence that elite defenses can win in the playoffs — the 2022 Celtics and the 2025 Thunder were built around their defenses and got to at least the NBA Finals with OKC ultimately winning the whole thing.
The Robinson and George additions are going to open up Derrick White to be even better on that end of the floor as well.
For a lot of last season, White was used as a perimeter defender to guard one of the better players on the other team. Now, George, Jayson Tatum and a cast of others can do that. Robinson, meanwhile, is one of the best switching bigs in the NBA, which allows the Celtics to play him and have Derrick White roam off of the ball so he can do what he does best: blowing up plays and blocking shots.
Neemias Queta was a player who improved a ton last season on defense and should look to take another leap as well. He did a great job and protecting the rim and cleaning up the glass on that end last season and should look to continue to improve next season as well. There are a lot of options for Joe Mazzulla to go to on defense. Hugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh off the bench have also shown to be plus defensive options, too.
I have a lot of optimism for the Celtics this season because of what should be one of the best defenses in the league.
