While Jayson Tatum is yet to hit his groove nearly a month into the season, the Boston Celtics have succeeded in trending towards the right direction.
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Abject misery and resignation to mediocrity is one character trait common to all hardcore Cs fans. After all, some of us were around when Paul Pierce was finishing in the lottery in Danny Ainge’s initial years.
On paper, Cs fans really don’t have much to complain about, in comparison to most other franchises. We’ve yet to miss the playoffs in the Marcus Smart years. Despite what detractors might want to say, the Brad Stevens era has, for the most part, had a set defensive identity.
And under Ime Udoka this season, a return to those fundamentals is the top priority. After being a top-10 defensive team for most of Brad’s tenure, they were 13th last year. They’re currently 10th and nearly 7 points/100 possessions better than 2020-21.
Despite an injury to Jaylen Brown about 10 days back, the Celtics have gone 5-2 since I last wrote this column. The Shamrock Green brigade currently stands 9th in the East and there have been clear improvements on a few fronts.
The Good – Dennis Schroder and Al Horford are playing at a level as high as we’ve seen from them recently
Schroder had the misfortune of being saddled with the starting point guard role on a LeBron-led team last year. For one thing, this adds performance pressure from the outside, what with the championship expectations and all. For another, coexisting alongside LeBron requires guards to be great spot-up shooters, which isn’t DS71’s strength.
However, Schroder has showcased his ability to score from the midrange in the past – especially his OKC days. He’s playing with the same verve and inventiveness once again, based on his past 3 weeks’ worth of play.
Schroder is averaging 17.2 points per game on 47.2% shooting from the field in November. He’s getting by his primary defender with his characteristic speed and making his floaters and his elbow jumpers. He’s been the difference-maker in the dubs against the Cavs and Bucks.
But clearly, the Celtics’ best addition of the offseason has been trading Kemba for Big Al Horford. Our beloved big man is back and flinching more gregariously than ever.
It wasn’t many days back that Big Al led the league in blocks per game. His paint defense and rim protection are among the main reasons why Boston is second in the league as a team in blocks.
Horford may not be the sniper he was back in 2017-18, but he’s still a great big for any 5-out offense. Robert Williams is coming along as a starter-caliber center, but Big Al will probably still close most games.
The Bad – Jaylen Brown is out for weeks, Jayson Tatum continues to struggle as a shooter
It’s a cinch, but Marcus Smart’s call-out and the team dinner that followed seem to have galvanized the Cs. But Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown continue to struggle on a personal level.
Tatum is averaging the worst efficiency of his career across the board. Indeed, there was a point when he was bricking everything in 2018-19, but it seems worse now. His shot pattern is such that as a 5th-year pro, defenses now know when he’ll get tunnel vision and go iso.
The encouraging sign is that the 23-year-old played a lot better on lower usage in Cleveland. Tatum staying off the ball allowed the Celtics to deploy more ball movement, resulting in a second-half comeback.
It seems to be a blueprint to follow for this team, but Tatum would still do well to clean up his shot selection even more. Some of the early shot-clock iso 3s, 4-dribble mid-range moves and ill-advised drives need to go.
Jaylen Brown is nursing a right hamstring strain, and the hope is that he’ll be an enthusiastic cutter when he returns. His athleticism and verticality is reminiscent of Miami LeBron, and that’s a blueprint he should borrow more from. James would subject opposition defenses to death by a thousand cuts.
Trends to watch out for – The battle for the 4th guard spot, Aaron Nesmith and Romeo Langford’s development
Ime Udoka is clearly going for a defense-first approach after a 2-5 start to the year. This means Payton Pritchard is seeing less minutes than he’d expect at this point in the 2nd-year player’s development. The bulk of those minutes, even in the absence of Jaylen, belong to J-Rich.
Josh Richardson has been serviceable, if not spectacular, in that particular role. He still gets lost on screens more easily than you’d expect, but the rest of his point of attack defense has been on point.
J-Rich has also flashed some of his old burst and is getting to the rim with more confidence. It remains to be seen whether his jumpshot is reliable, although he isn’t really shooting much any more.
Aaron Nesmith, who received a lot of praise from Udoka, is seeing the same thing happen with his minutes. Romeo Langford seems to be the chief benefactor of Brown’s injury-enforced absence. Langford has seen his minutes shoot up to 22+ since that win against Miami.
What to expect from the Celtics in the upcoming fortnight
3 out of the Celtics’ next 7 games are against tanking teams – Houston, OKC and San Antonio. Another is against division rivals Toronto, who can still be considered upstarts.
All 4 of these aforementioned games should be guaranteed dubs if Boston plays to its potential. They will, however, face stiffer challenges against Atlanta on the road. They’ll also be playing host to the Lakers and the Nets.
Momentum seems to be on the Cs’ side at the moment. Their results over the next fortnight will be mightily influenced by how they perform at State Farm Arena. Depending on the result of that game, you should reasonably expect your Celtics to go 5-2 in this stretch.
However, we’ve seen the Celtics offense sputter and die down all too often to consider this a guarantee. It’ll ultimately come down to how well they knock down their open looks – especially against the Thunder, who’re trending upwards.
