Boston Celtics’ Post All-Star Break Playoff Push

The Boston Celtics are at the All-Star break, resuming the season on Friday against the Detroit Pistons.  The team is in decent shape to make the playoffs and  a run at the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference.  Boston sits at 40-19 and is only 2 games behind Toronto at 41-16.

In the 1st half of the season Boston wasn’t the best scoring team with 103.1 points per game, 25th in the NBA.  This is a surprising number since they have some of the top scoring talent in Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, and Al Horford.  Irving leads the team with 24.7 points per game.

The reason that the Celtics are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference is their defense.  Opponents are having a tough time scoring against them.  Boston’s defense forces opposing teams into difficult shot opportunities limiting teams from scoring.  And, with only 99.6 points allowed per game, the team is 2nd in the NBA.  Only San Antonio gives up less at 98.5 points per game.

But Boston isn’t helping themselves on rebounds.  They grab 44.3 rebounds per game but opponents average 44.2 per game.  The rebounds they give up can be second chance opportunities or even fast breaks for their opponents enabling the opposition to put up more points on the scoreboard.

With only 22 games remaining in the regular season, the Celtics have a decent chance of making a deep run in the playoffs. In order for the team to improve in that time, they must score more.  The Celtics need to pass the ball around and find the open player.  That will lead to easier buckets and wide open jump shots.  It is easier to put the ball in the basket when there isn’t a defender near the shooter

The other area they must get better in is rebounding.   They can’t allow teams to out-rebound them.  In close games, rebounds are the difference.  If opponents are out-rebounding them offensively, that could be more second chance points for the other side.,

The Celtics are in position to be in the playoffs as one of the top 3 seeds in the East.  They could be a force in the playoffs if they can fix some of these issues.  Hopefully they will.

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