In the famous words of former Boston Celtics’ and NBA head coach Rick Pitino, “Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door.”
The good news for the Celtics though is that Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are walking through Boston’s doors daily and have put this franchise back in a position to win the Eastern Conference.
Once 17-19 on the season and limping into 2022, the Celtics have won 12 of their last 14 games, to move to 35-26 on the season and currently the 6-seed in the Eastern Conference.
Now just 4.5 games back from first-place in the East, claiming the 1-seed in the East is definitely not out of question this season for the red-hot Boston Celtics and after their rough start to the year, the Celtics are looking like they are going to avoid having to play in this year’s play-in tournament.
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Since the start of January, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have combined for 50.0 points per game, making them one of the best scoring duos in the NBA this season, but it has been the Celtics’ defense that has been getting the job done recently.
Boston has held their opponents under 100 points in 10 of their last 17 games and they have skyrocketed all the way up to ranking 2nd in the league in defensive rating on the year.
Jayson Tatum ranks first in the NBA in defensive win shares (3.6), Robert Williams III and Al Horford rank 4th and 5th in the league, respectively, in Defensive Box Plus/Minus and Williams currently leads the league in Defensive Rating (101.3).
Along with Marcus Smart also being one of the league’s best one-on-one defenders out on the perimeter, the Celtics have really built themselves into a tough defensive team to play night-in and night-out.
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“This is probably one of the better defensive teams in my career… it feels connected,” Jaylen Brown said recently in regards to the Celtics’ success.
Between Brown being one of the better two-way players in the league, Marcus Smart and Robert Williams both making their impacts felt defensively, and even Jayson Tatum stepping up to defend on the perimeter, the Celtics have the makings of a team that could go very far into the playoffs this season.
“I’ve coached a lot of defenses in my life, coached some really good ones in college and some really good ones here,” Celtics’ president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said recently. “And I’ve never seen one this dynamic when it’s locked in.”
Given their slow start to the season and the fact that they receive almost no production from their bench, it is fair to be skeptical about the Celtics’ chances of contending in the Eastern Conference, but they are currently 8-1 in the month of February and since falling three games below .500 on the season after losing to the Knicks on Jan. 6, the Celtics have only allowed an impressive 84.1 points per 100 possessions, according to NBC Boston.
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Defense tends to win championships, as 7 of the last 12 NBA champions ranked inside the Top-5 in Defensive Rating over the course of the regular season and 11 of the last 12 champions ranked inside the Top-10.
The Celtics’ defense has answered the call to step up from head coach Ime Udoka and time will tell whether or not they are a real dark-horse threat to reach the NBA Finals for the first-time since 2010.
