Boston Celtics’ Chances vs. Brooklyn Nets Lay in Hands of Their Offense
Photo by Elsa | Getty Images
The Celtics dropped Game 1 of their first-round matchup vs. the Nets this past Saturday. Brooklyn went on a huge second-half run that sealed the deal, but the issue was not with Boston’s defense. In fact, the C’s played some fairly solid defense against one of the best offenses in the NBA.
Brooklyn scored 104 points in Game 1, marking only the tenth time they scored less than 105 this season. Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Kevin Durant only played in one of those nine other games. That means that the Nets’ big three has only been held under 105 points twice.
Granted, the sample size may be small, but the fact remains that Boston played excellent defense. Their main issue came on the offensive side of the ball. They shot 31-84 (36.9%) from the field. The C’s shot under 40% FG only seven other times this season - all losses. Despite this, Boston always finds a way to bounce back.
In the game following each of their sub-40% duds, the C’s always shot above 44% from the field. In five of the seven games, they even managed to shoot 47% or better from the field.
In terms of three-point shooting, the Celtics also failed to meet expectations on Saturday. They shot 36.7% from deep, just shy of 37% - their magic number this season. While 36.7% may not seem terrible, consider these numbers. When the C’s shoot below 37% from deep this season, they are 7-23. In the games where they shot above 37% from three, they went 29-13 - a massive difference in success. If just a few more shots for Boston fell in Game 1, they could be up 1-0 in the series.
Robert Williams blocked a franchise-record nine shots. He played 22:40 on Saturday, and in that time, Nets players attempted 13 field goals, only allowing one. He blocked eight of the 13 shots taken on him and recorded one block on a player he wasn’t even guarding. If the Celtics can even get half of that defensive success from him in Game 2, that end of the floor should be taken care of. Their focus needs to be on the offensive side of the ball.
Defensive issues caused many losses for Boston this season, but the offense has been solid. Game 1 just happened to reverse that. The Celtics got back to their defensive roots just in time for the playoffs, and if the offense can get back to its regular-season form, they should be in good shape for Game 2.
