Celtics Central

The 2008-9 season began last night for the NBA Champion Celtics against the up and coming Philadelphia 76ers, featuring newly acquired premiere power forward Elton Brand.

The Celtics turn the page on last season’s dream run and turn the ball over 25 times to the Sixers in a 98-92 loss.

PG Louis Williams (27 pts) and SF Thaddeus Young (21 pts) led the Philly attack. Brand finished with 11 points.

In limited minutes, the big three picked up right where they left off. Ray was hot from outside, KG shot over Brand and defended well, while Paul Pierce picked his spots, playing a decent all around game. Rajon Rondo dished 7 assists in 18 minutes and played solid defense. Patrick O’Bryant made the most of his first start as a Celtic as Perkins fill-in.

There were minutes to be had for everyone tonight, except Sam Cassell, who was excused to be with an ill grandparent. Doc Rivers was in Florida on a personal matter, so Tom Thibodeau coached the team. Kendrick Perkins is still resting his shoulder.

Tony Allen and most of the new comers were the stories of the night. Tony played solid ball and was aggressive at both ends of the floor. His slashing drives looked more like the old Tony. With 11 points, 2 blocks, 4 assists, and two steals, Tony was all over the floor.

Going a perfect 3-3, Darius Miles contributed at both ends of the court. Patrick O’Bryant was surprisingly aggressive, showed off some nice passing skills, and demonstrated a willingness to play with contact, while swatting three shots away.

Leon Powe, Tony Allen, Patrick O’Bryant, and Eddie House all scored in double figures. But it was rookie Bill Walker who drew the most excitement with two huge NBA sized dunks, one a facial, finishing with 8 points.

His half time quote was, “That’s what I do. I’m a finisher.” The growing feeling is that Walker could be another Danny Ainge 2nd round theft, in the vein of Powe and Ryan Gomes.

Davis and Powe were most generous, giving the Philly squad 5 TOs each. Leon’s 12 points led the team, while Davis added 6, taking out Paul Pierce on the bench on a hustle play, while trying to get the ball.

Gabe Pruitt had a nice floater in the lane, with 3 boards and an assist in about 11 minutes. J.R. Giddens played 4 minutes with an assist to Miles, a steal and a rebound.

While the Celtics turned the ball over way too much, it wasn’t a terrible opening night. In fact, there were a number of encouraging things to see.

The Celtics got inside often with a 44-32 points in the paint advantage.

So far, this year’s team is living up to expectations. They are younger, more athletic and still figuring things out. Look for more of the same for the near term. It’s too soon to be making any judgments just yet, about what they do and do not have.

Next game is Friday night against the Cavaliers at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence Rhode Island.

Do the Celtics have any weaknesses?

The team’s march to the Championship culminating in the Burning of Los Angeles and the thrashing defeat of arch nemesis Phil Jackson for their posthumous leader Red Auerbach was poetic justice. The statistical records of the carnage were profiled in my last article. That Celtic team will have a unique place in NBA history.

We witnessed what ‘being on a mission’ versus merely ‘plying your vocation’ looked like.

Ah, but wait just a moment. Even the strongest dams could spring leaks from tiny fractures. So it is with a ‘close to unbeatable’ team.

Where are Boston’s possible stress fractures?

A few less-than-impressive stats were discovered when sifting through the numbers.

To be sure, most of the problems the Celtics experienced were of their own making. They simply did not consistently do what they could have/should have done to win every game. But come on, let’s give them a break. Energy and focus do have limits even for teams led by ‘hyper adrenaline’ types like Kevin Garnett.

I’ve already mentioned that. But there are a few stats that suggest a less invincible team in a few ways. Are they potential leaks in the dam?

Areas in question:

Turnovers

When the Celtics kicked open the starting gate and jumped ahead of the pack, they were a bit sloppy with the ball. The team never completely shook a penchant for turnovers.

Their passing could be erratic. That can happen when new players come together. They were close to the league leaders (16 per) in turnovers early on and stayed near there. They finished at 7th worst with 14.4 per game. Getting double digit steals early in the season helped compensate for an offensive unit that was learning to play with each other.

Just taking care of the ball more reduces opportunities for the other team. In that respect, mistake proof offense is good defense. While they were great at causing turnovers, they would return the favor at the other end.

Paul Pierce led with 2.8 per game. But Paul’s turnovers per game is moving in the right direction. He’s gone down (3.5, 3.2, 2.8) in each of the last three seasons. His improvement was even noticeable as last season moved along. An excellent passer throughout his career, he would often uncork one or two ‘head scratchers’ per game. He actually eliminated that trait as the year went on.

Post Play – both ways

So, is there kryptonite in the Justice League of America’s post play?

Here’s a portion of another article I did that suggests so…

12 percent of Celtic inside shots (tied for fourth-worst) were blocked during the regular season. Only Charlotte, Chicago, and Dallas had a higher percentage blocked. That is not good company. But I wouldn’t break up the team because of it.

And this from the same article…

….the Celtics were the 18th-worst post defense (.602 percent allowed). I didn’t think the Celtics would 18th worst in anything defensively last season. Eye opening. But even this number is deceiving. The Celtics were the league’s No. 1 stingiest with inside shots allowed per game—29 percent tied with the Spurs. And they are allowed the 3rd least inside points in the league.

But the Celtics were also tied for 18th worst pct. (10%) of inside shots blocked.

So how do you reconcile those conflicting numbers?

Three things:
1) If they knew that was not a strength, and they probably did, they covered it up well by not allowing a high pct. of inside shots.

2) It is a matter of inches, I would say. Undersized Posey, Powe, Davis and even long, tall PJ Brown were not as capable as Perkins was in shot defense at the rim.

3) So, I would guess the problems occurred mostly when Perkins was out. Perkins was Kevin Garnett’s best friend and a defensive force in the middle all year long.

If the driving player got deep into the interior defense, life was a bit easier at the rim for them. The Celtics compensated for a lack of height by doing an excellent job of keeping or pushing the offensive players out.

The Celtics were tied for 2nd lowest amount (49%) of ‘assisted inside shots’. That suggests
excellence at defending the post pass. But once in deep, the Celtic defense was less effective.

I don’t have a break down by player or unit on the floor. But I suspect the numbers were worse with Kendrick Perkins off the floor.

Everyone knows that the Celtics’ bench was height challenged at power forward or center. Even long, tall PJ Brown won’t play D like Perkins. Powe and Davis are both excellent players, but in the NBA, there is no substitute for skilled height near the rim.

On the offensive end, the Celtics were a mortal 10th best in FG accuracy inside at .613% Is that Kryptonite I’m seeing? Hey, there’s no big news there.

According to NBA Live stats, KG does not camp inside, though he is a monster (66%) when he does. Perkins is accurate (.638%) but doesn’t shoot much, and Rondo shoots 54%, but it could be better. He gets blocked or misses at the rim a bit too much. Eddie House finishes poorly(.343%). Davis could improve at the rim for a big (54%). Ray is at 54%, Pierce is at 57%.

Add to that – defenses will sag off Celtic non shooters. That makes it more difficult in or near the middle for the guys who can score.

So, there are things for the Green Machine to work on.

The most important thing to remember is if the Celtics can generate a similar defensive effort this season as last, these numbers are just not that critical. Their defense will more than make up for any deficiencies they may have on the other end. Just like last season.

But it is good to look at both sides from time to time, isn’t it?

I don’t usually do statistic heavy articles. But once I saw how many categories the Celtics were the league’s best in, I had to share what I found.

The Celtics were so good at so many things, that if you read this list, you would just call in the loss and go home.

Coincidentally, NBA stat master John Hollinger recently did an excellent job of portraying just how incredibly effective the Celtics defense was last season. He showed how it was third best all time, when comparing it to the league average.

While hitting on some great all time comparisons he didn’t mention all things worth mentioning.

Here are some more incredible numbers. Even moreso when you see them in laundry list form.

Boy did they ever take care of the laundry. An offense doesn’t have to be spectacular when the defense is. Their defense was active, persistent and doubled up on shooters where it mattered. But the offense wasn’t bad either. It most cases it was very good.

Most sports fans love stats. Here is a rundown of stats that even stat-challenged fans should love….

Differential (is the spread between what the Celtics did and what their opponent did)
They were number one in the league in the most important stats you would like to have daylight between you and your opponent.

The Number One List

#1 Points per Game spread
Boston 100.6 opponent 90.3 A 10.3 difference was huge.

Detroit was a distant second with a spread of 7.4

This is more amazing when you realize they pulled key starters for much of the 4th quarter for half of the year.

Further, the 90.3 points allowed was 2nd best in the NBA, beaten by a hair by Detroit’s 90.1

#1 Field goal percentage spread
FG% (+5.6)
Boston: 47.5% Opp: 41.9%

The 47.5% for the Celtics shooting was 4th best in the league

The Celtic shooting pct. actually dropped from the start of the year when they were shooting a league leading 49% for a while.

#1 Field goal % Allowed
41.9% for their opponents
The mantra of “Stay with your man, fight through picks, and always help when necessary” made it hard to get an open look from anywhere on the floor for Celtic opponents.

#1 Three Point Shooting percentage spread
3 pt FG% (+6.5)
Boston 38.1% Opp. 31.6%
Not only did Boston stop the three pointer, they were in the top 5 in accuracy when they shot it themselves. Not shabby at all.

#1 3 pt FG% Allowed (31.6)
A contrarian stat here is that Boston allowed the 3rd highest pct (27%) of outside shots. It appears that a desperation 3 pointer would go up when the shot clock ran down. The perimeter defense was solid. We knew Rondo could do it, Pierce was a pleasant surprise, and even Ray Allen got good at it as the year wore on. Don’t forget Posey. Eddie House too? Oh my goodness.

#1 two point jump shot % allowed: .356%
The harassing defense continued into 2 point range, as the team learned to defend the pick and roll better and better as the year went on.

#1 NBA Starters Plus/minus
Amazing difference
Boston Starters +3514
Next best: Phoenix +2313

This comes from 82games and it is just ridiculous how much better the Celtics starters were. It is an insane number. Even coaches look at this stat for significance. Remember, they had 2 guys who didn’t score much in the starting five to boot, but they sure could defend. Uhmm…..Wow.

Near the top in the following stats

#2 opponents rebounds allowed
38.9 total rebounds
The league’s 2nd lowest. The Celtics took care of the defensive boards. While some feel that offensive rebounding is key, it is really controlling the defensive boards that correlates to winning.

#2 dunks allowed: 239
Only the Spurs were better (237). That is a meaningful number, considering the players’ penchant for dunks and the psychological impact they can have for both teams. It was tough to get inside on the Celtics and they would give the hard foul before they would give you the dunk. Just ask Perkins, Powe, Brown and Posey.

#2 assists allowed (18.8)
It falls in line that a disruptive defense like the Celtics will take other teams out of their offense, causing isolation, hero shots, and quick shots, once the offensive set has broken down. The Celtics understood the importance of deflections in passing lanes well.

#3 inside points allowed: 27.6
As the year went on, Kendrick improved on jumping out to stop a driver from turning the corner, then getting back to the middle. The same goes for cutting off the baseline. A good defense had an active center. Perkins just got that role down pat. He was terrific. The helper’s help is just as important. The Celtics help defense was as good as I have ever seen. It shows in this stats. Bear in mind that the Celtics often went with a small line-up, too. This stat would have been even better with KP on the floor a bit more.

And we can’t leave out Kevin Garnett who is as active a defender for a big as I have ever seen. One of the best at defending the pick and roll, he is a big reason that the other team’s offense often had to freelance because their play broke down.

#3 assists spread
Boston: 22.4 – opp: 18.8 = + 3.6
The Celtics offense was only 9th in the league in assists, which is a bit surprising. They often looked like they were moving the ball around as well as any team league. Yet, I do remember times Doc would be frustrated with the quick outside shots. But they were 3rd best in the league in assists versus their opponents overall.

#4 rebounds spread
Celtics: 42 – opp: 38.9 = + 3.1
Jeez. Did this team have a weakness? While they struggled at times, they were 4th best in out rebounding their opponents. Imagine what it would be if Kendrick Perkins stayed out of foul trouble.

#5 steals (8.5)
That number actually went down as the season went on. For a while they lead the league with 10 a game. But the defense actually got better without having to steal as much.

There are others. But that ought to help you understand just how dominant they were.

Doc Rivers, Tom Thibodeau, ubuntu, and Kevin Garnett brought a team together to do the hard work of defending, and embracing the shared responsibility of team defense.

The offense, which was supposed expected to flow, and be hard to stop, actually took a back seat to the effort at the other end of the court. Offensive numbers were still excellent in most cases. But there were times the offense stuttered.

The lesson to be learned is that defense keeps you in the hunt even when the offense struggles. It did for the Celtics 82 times and got them an NBA Championship. They played it like few ever have.

Celtic fans? Just “D”-lighted.

Coming up: a few places where the Celtics were more ordinary

(All stats were culled from 82games.com and Yahoosports.com)