On the street at 1/13 to 3-pointers in the first quarter last night, the Celtics could have sunk from the outset against Orlando. But, despite his chronic clumsiness behind the arc, Boston was not only in front of the score (21-15) but also in control of their match, holding the Magic to 5/21 on shots, and as many stray bullets (5)!
Best defense in the League since January, the Celtics have just won a fifth straight win, their best series of the season.
“We are finally in the process of assuming our identity”likes Ime Udoka in The Athletic. “We talk about it quite often, we have to come with the right intentions from the start of the match, not give hope to our opponent and make things difficult for them from the start.
Long inconsistent, the Celtics are gradually beginning to take shape. In this case, and according to the wishes of their coaching staff, Boston thus presents a flashy +66 total, over the first quarter of the last eight games, which is none other than the result of a defensive attention clearly revised upwards. .
“Our defense is suffocating in streaks, with our size and versatility,” takes over Ime Udoka. “We have big wingers, versatile interiors and obviously we have a pit bull as a point guard. So we don’t really have any weaknesses, no weak points in our defense, which is the case for some other teams. We managed to make a good start to the match, which is a change from the start of the season when we had a lot of absences. But that’s what we imagined. It’s becoming a reality right now, now that we have a little more consistency in our rotations. “
A faster and more collective game
Since the return to business of Marcus Smart, the “pit bull” in question, since last January 23, the defense of the C’s has also raised its tone again, with a “Net Rating” at +25.2 which leaves you dreaming for Boston’s major five. So, of course, the calendar was quite lenient for the Celtics who were able to iNFLate their stats with dunces such as the Kings, Pistons and Magic last night, or teams in difficulty like the Wizards or the Hornets.
But the trend is there. With 7 wins in their last 8 games, and this 5 out of 5 in progress, the Celtics raise their heads and are only one win away from the Nets (which they face on Wednesday), conversely in free fall.
“It’s what we imagined when we started the season”confirms Jaylen Brown. “We just have to continue like this and take the games one after the other. We talk about learning and evolving throughout the season. We must continue like this. Keep this will. We are not satisfied with anything. “
With more rhythm and a more open offensive game, the Celtics find color and collective play.
“The movement, of the ball and of the players [est en progrès]. We obviously have two guys who are able to score in isolation, but we don’t always depend on that. concludes a satisfied Ime Udoka. “At the start of the season, we had these habits, and we want them to play their game and do what they know how to do, but we also want to add movement to be more versatile offensively. We are starting to see it. The guys trust each other more, they find each other better and they enjoy playing. When you can find that mix of transition play, rhythm play, isolations, pick & roll, low post play and all those things you can do, no more altruism without the ball, it This is where we see our development in attack. “
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Jayson Tatum | 50 | 36.2 | 43.0 | 32.9 | 84.4 | 1.1 | 7.3 | 8.5 | 4.1 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 25.9 |
| Jaylen Brown | 40 | 34.5 | 45.7 | 35.6 | 77.8 | 0.8 | 5.8 | 6.6 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.7 | 23.9 |
| Dennis Schroder | 47 | 29.7 | 43.6 | 34.3 | 84.4 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 3.3 | 4.4 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 14.3 |
| Marcus Smart | 45 | 33.3 | 41.1 | 31.0 | 78.9 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 5.5 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 11.5 |
| Josh Richardson | 42 | 24.9 | 45.5 | 41.6 | 85.5 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 10.1 |
| Al Horford | 45 | 28.5 | 43.4 | 29.9 | 83.6 | 1.6 | 5.9 | 7.4 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 10.0 |
| Robert Williams | 43 | 29.8 | 73.8 | 0.0 | 70.0 | 3.8 | 5.7 | 9.5 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 9.8 |
| Grant Williams | 49 | 22.9 | 48.0 | 42.6 | 89.6 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 7.2 |
| Romeo Langford | 42 | 16.9 | 42.5 | 33.8 | 62.5 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 4.7 |
| Payton Pritchard | 43 | 12.3 | 37.1 | 36.4 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 4.7 |
| Jabari Parker | 12 | 9.4 | 47.4 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.4 |
| Enes Kanter | 34 | 11.7 | 52.7 | 25.0 | 85.7 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 4.4 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 3.6 |
| Aaron Nesmith | 37 | 10.2 | 36.1 | 21.5 | 81.2 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 3.2 |
| Joe Johnson | 1 | 1.9 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| justin jackson | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Sam Hauser | 10 | 4.1 | 28.6 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 |
| Juancho Hernangomez | 18 | 5.3 | 18.5 | 16.7 | 66.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Bruno Fernando | 18 | 2.8 | 45.5 | 100.0 | 80.0 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.8 |
| Brodric Thomas | 7 | 3.9 | 11.1 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| cj miles | 1 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
