After Wednesday’s win in Charlotte, Jayson Tatum was asked what the key was to Boston’s recent four-game winning streak.
“Defense, defense, defense, defense, defense, defense,” replied Tatum, who finished his response by noting, “On a nightly basis that's the key. Defense, defense, defense.”
Tatum isn’t wrong. The NBA’s No. 1 ranked defense give this team a chance to win every time it steps on the court. Even at their lowest moments of the 2021-22 season, the Celtics’ defense offered a ray of hope. But the biggest reason for Boston’s improbable leap to legitimate title contender is the unexpected surge in offensive efficiency with Tatum leading that upswing.
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Right before the start of training camp this year, we wondered out loud if the Celtics’ offense would be consistent enough to allow Boston to compete. The resounding answer, through the first three months of the season, was absolutely not. The Celtics lingered in the lower third of the league in most major offensive categories, including offensive rating, assist percentage, and true shooting percentage.
Which makes the strides over the last 28 games all the more jarring:
Zoom in on the last 20 games, ever since Marcus Smart returned from a bout with COVID, and the numbers are even more glitzy. Boston is tied for third in the NBA in offensive rating (117.7) during that span. All the questions about Smart’s ability to direct the offense have evaporated and those questioning his long-term fit with this core have gone silent.
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So what changed? Much of Boston’s progress is a simple as health — even last season, the Core Four of Tatum, Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Robert Williams put up gaudy offensive numbers together — along with Tatum’s annual second-half explosion. Adding a ball-moving bench piece in Derrick White helped, too.
Any concerns about Boston simply juicing their numbers against inferior competition have been put to rest early in March with Boston averaging 117 points per game over its last four outings. It’s incredible how fast an offense can surge when Tatum is averaging 42 points per game while shooting 55.8 percent from the field and 46.3 percent beyond the arc.
This crazy stat shows Robert Williams' immense defensive value to Celtics
It’s helped, too, that Al Horford has found his 3-point shot a bit in recent weeks. Robert Williams is shooting 78.3 percent in March and is able to clean up a whole bunch of Boston’s misses when he’s not throwing down lobs. Even coming back from injury, Jaylen Brown can have a rough night but then knock down the game-sealer like he did with a final-minute 3-pointer against the Nets.
Celtics first-year coach Ime Udoka, who famously razzed Brad Stevens about the team’s low assist percentage last season, has gotten his players to buy in completely to quick decisions and ball movement. Tatum has clearly leveled up his decision-making and he has far more trust in his teammates to knock down open shots (Grant Williams, in particular, earning that trust with his corner success off the Boston bench).
Recent history suggests that you need a top-10 offense to have an actual shot at being a title contender (unless you’re the 2004 Pistons). Despite their first-half woes, the Celtics have shimmied up to 14th overall in the NBA while posting 111.4 points per 100 possessions. More encouraging: They’re less than a half-point off from the top 10.
The Celtics’ defense is helping the offense, too. When you get stops, you’re able to play more in transition and avoid getting bogged down in halfcourt sets. Smart’s desire to push the tempo has aided Boston’s overall efficiency.
The Celtics still have maddening stretches where they tend to abandon their ball-sharing ways and revert to bad isolation habits. If Tatum or Brown is on a heater, it might not matter. But the Celtics certainly have to bottle up these recent trends in order to hang with some of the East elite in the postseason.
A top-10 offense once seemed an impossible goal back in early January. Now it’s not so farfetched. And offensive efficiency could be the key to the Celtics maximizing their defensive talents. It’s the key to whatever Boston accomplishes in the postseason.