On Thursday night, the two hottest teams in the NBA, the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics, will clash.
After a rough (for them) 4-3 start to the season the Dubs have reeled off seven straight and appear every bit as unbeatable as they ever have. More interesting, however, are the Celtics, who have won 13 games in a row after dropping their first two contests of the season in the wake of the horrific Gordon Hayward injury.
As the old cliché goes, when a pair of streaking teams meet “something’s gotta give.” But while everyone acknowledges what the Warriors can do, there’s been some skepticism around the Celtics despite the awesome run they’re on at the moment.
To Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s credit, however, he isn’t taking his forthcoming opponent lightly.
“It sure looks like Boston is the team of the future in the East, with the assets that they still have and their young talent and their coaching, and Kyrie [Irving] is amazing,” Kerr told reporters Tuesday. “That looks like a team that is going to be at the top of the East for a long time to come. Whether their time is now or the future, that’s to be determined, but they sure look like they want it to be right now.”
Strong words from Kerr, but he may not be that far off base.
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During their win streak, the C’s have consistently shown off one reason why they should be feared now and in the future: They can play defence.
Boston boasts the stoutest D in the league, allowing only 95.8 points per 100 possessions — to put this into perspective, that’s a full 7.7 points better than the San Antonio Spurs’ league-leading mark of 103.5 from last season. The current league average is 106.6 points allowed per 100 possessions.
This figure alone should tell you that what the Celtics are doing is no fluke, but let’s dig a little deeper.
Six of the current top 10 players in defensive win shares (a metric that estimates the number of wins a player produces for his team) are Celtics, while three of the top five of individual defensive rating (an estimate of the amount of points a player would give up per 100 possessions) are from Boston.
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So how are the Celtics able to accomplish these stunning defensive statistics? It all starts with their roster’s versatility.
Boston head coach Brad Stevens runs a defensive scheme predicated on constant switching to run teams off the three-point line (they allow an NBA-best 8.4 three-point field goals per game), while still staying in position to grab defensive rebounds (they grabbed 81.3 per cent of defensive rebounds available to them this season – third best in the league). In today’s game, this is the ideal defensive strategy, but not every team is capable of doing it because they don’t have the personnel the Celtics do.
Even though Boston isn’t big in the traditional sense – there are no seven-footers on the roster – it’s still a team with size to spare at just about every position except for centre. This team features multiple long-armed, athletic guys ranging between six-foot-seven and six-foot nine, and that allows just about everyone on the roster to guard at least three positions.
And they’re not just getting standout play from starters like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown — players like Marcus Smart and Terry Rozier are also defensive terrors who can guard more than one position.
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Herein lies where the Celtics have the potential to be truly terrifying: their depth. This is a team that goes 11 deep with no one playing more than 31 minutes per game. Yes, Irving and Al Hoford are stars and get looks deserving of their status, but Stevens doesn’t necessarily build his team’s entire game plan around them, meaning everyone can be considered an integral part on both ends.
Even their so-called bigs outside of Horford play important roles. Daniel Theis provides them with some rim protection they lack and Aaron Baynes has been an outright revelation with his ability to set brick-wall screens and act as the team’s defensive catalyst – the Celtics allow just 91.2 points per 100 possessions when he’s on the court and 98.8 when he’s on the bench.
There doesn’t appear to be an end to the amount of talent Boston can trot out on any given day and it’s this reason why Kerr talked about them being the team of both the future and right now in the Eastern Conference.
Will Golden State triumph Thursday evening? If this was last season this wouldn’t even be a question. Now, however, with the way the C’s are putting the clamps down on the league, a 14th consecutive win could very easily be in the cards.
