With five of six games at TD Garden and a couple of practice days at the Auerbach Center, Boston has an opportunity to work out the kinks before their schedule ramps back up. It’s admittedly small sample size theater, but the Celtics have been “good” to start off the year. They’re one of just three teams in the league with a top-8 offensive and defensive rating. Rebounding has been an issue, but they’ve kept their turnovers down and have weathered below average shooting nights controlling pace and winning
possessions one at a time. After a 121-118 win over the visiting Clippers, everything seems to be coming together.
Queta’s floater
The league average in the restricted area FG’s is 60.8%; Neemias Queta hits 73.4%. A lot of those looks are alley-oops and putbacks after offensive rebounds because Neemy has great hands. However, he’s also developed a short roll floater that’s become an important part of his offense and a nice release valve around the rim.
Payton’s place
In Wednesday’s win against the Grizzlies, Pritchard hit five threes in the blowout. He credited a fresh haircut for the breakout game and now, with three days off and more home cooking, he continued his hot shooting streaking, hitting 8-of-13 from behind the arc.
Transition
Before the game, Boston Sports Journal’s John Karalis asked Joe Mazzulla about the Celtics’ 30th rank in pace (possessions per 48 minutes). He remarked that that might be a product of defensive rebounding, generating turnovers, and racing out for transition buckets, but he didn’t seem too concerned.
Against Los Angeles, it appeared that Boston may have made it a priority to run in the Sunday matinee. They outscore the older, on-Pacific-time Clippers 22-9 in fastbreak points.
Baylor Scheierman vs. Hugo Gonzalez
Baylor Scheierman collected three DNP’s on the road trip in Orlando and Philadelphia, but he’s played non-garbage time minutes so far in the homestand against Memphis on Wednesday and LA on Sunday. As effectively the 10th man in the rotation, Mazzulla has elected to either go with his rookie or sophomore wing and they’ve both shown out in that role.
Curiously, I wonder what the thought process is behind who plays on any given night. Is it how they do in prior practice? Does he only use Gonzalez when the game needs a little energy? Is Baylor the better decision maker?
Walsh’s D
In his second start, Walsh’s individual defense has become an impactful part of Boston’s approach against the opposing team’s best player. He pestered Paolo Banchero and Tyrese Maxey off the bench and as a starter, his lockdown D has made a difference against big man Jaren Jackson Jr. and yesterday, point guard grifter James Harden.
Harden’s 37 points were a product of getting hot late in the game. Before that, the Clippers’ offensive engine stalled out, shooting 4-of-14 through three quarters in large part to Walsh’s defense. Here’s LA’s head coach Tyrone Lue:
Defensive breakdown
After beating the Clippers, the Celtics’ defensive rating went up a tad to 113.2 points per 100 possessions. A strong first half at 108.9 crumbled to 140 in the final two quarters, but Boston won anyway. They’re rebounding the ball a lot better over the last five games. LA grabbed just 10 offensive rebounds on Sunday and had just a two-point edge over Boston in second chance points.
However, fouls were still an issue though…
…Free throws
In the third quarter, Boston was in the penalty with over seven minutes remaining. That led to twelve Clippers free throws in the frame, fueling a 36-27 run to make it a five-point game to start the fourth quarter.
After the Thunder modeled an overaggressive, handsy style last season and hung a banner, teams tried to duplicate that defense in the preseason, but the league has cracked down on fouling. The Celtics are still guilty of committing too many fouls that can lead to too many free throws.
Conversely, the Celtics are last in the NBA in free throw attempts by a large margin. They average just 18.3 trips to the charity strip a night and on a night when Harden went to the line 15 times, that disparity can eat into the little margin that you already have.
Lovable Luka
Garza collected six fouls in just under fifteen minutes, but was effective in his time on the parquet. Yes, he was a -14 in his playing time, but he filled the box score with 13 points and four rebounds, making 5-of-6 including two threes and grabbing four rebounds.
Brown bag it
After the Clippers cut a 24-point lead to just three early in the fourth quarter, Jaylen Brown scored 13 of his 33 points and grabbed seven rebounds, playing all twelve minutes in the final frame. After the game, Brown said, “my team counts on me to play a little bit better. Tonight, I really didn’t play well. I’m looking forward to the next two games and kinda bounce back.” Good luck, Nets.
.500
Coming into the game, the Celtics were 2-7 in clutch opportunities. Make that 3-7 and 7-7 on the year. They’re finally back even in wins and losses with a home and home with the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday and Friday night.
