Robb: Celtics Starting To Show Some Fight On Defensive End
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Celtics have played an entertaining brand of basketball this year. The team has scored in bunches on the offensive end of the floor, thanks to a fast-paced and unselfish brand of basketball. The increased production from the new-look offense, however, has not translated into many wins early in the season for a couple of reasons.
First off, the Celtics have played a brutal November schedule, going head-to-head against several title contenders in both conferences. The Celtics' offense has kept them competitive in several of those games with elite teams, but one thing has stopped the Celtics from getting over the hump in those affairs: a lack of defense.
Before Sunday night's loss against Portland, the Celtics had allowed over 100 points in nine of their first 11 contests, allowing a staggering 107 points per game, the most of any team in the Eastern Conference. The majority of teams in the league have better offensive weapons than the Celtics at this stage of their rebuild, so the Celtics simply are not going to win many nights just by attempting to outscore the opposition.
Brad Stevens and his roster has harped on this reality in recent weeks, focusing on a commitment to be better on the defensive end of the floor, while showing few signs of improvement in that department.
Luckily, that changed Sunday night against the Blazers. The Celtics came out on the losing end of a 94-88 affair, but following the contest, Stevens was as positive as he's been all season about the team's progress on the defensive end.
"I don't know that I've been as encouraged as this time," Stevens said after the game. "I don't feel the same, because I've felt like we were kind of hanging on to whether or not we made shots or how we played on the offensive end. And that wasn't the case today, and so that's why I leave here encouraged. I think as we enter a five-day stretch before we play two more contenders, then we have something to build off of instead of just trying to believe we can do it without any real proof. So today is good proof for us."
The optimism comes from Stevens for good reason. Portland has a top-5 offense in the NBA and a variety of talented weapons such as LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard, who create plenty of defensive mismatches for the Celtics. In the face of that adversity, the Celtics showed plenty of grit against both stars, limiting Aldridge and Lillard to a combined 11-of-35 shooting from the field. Overall, the Blazers shot just 43 percent.
"We had a great mind-set going into the game," Rajon Rondo said postgame. "We had a great scouting report, Coach told us guys' tendencies. At halftime, we made a couple of adjustments but not too many, and we went out and did it. Instead of just keep talking about it, we actually executed defensively tonight."
Rondo also believes this kind of effort can be duplicated moving forward.
"[Good play on the defensive end] all comes from effort and wanting to play defense," Rondo said. "We wanted to go out there and prove that we are a good defensive team if we all give 100 percent on the defensive end, and that's what we did. Everyone was trying hard tonight. We don't need to watch film; we know what we need to do."
Boston's poor shooting night (38.9 percent) kept the team in a recent losing rut in which the Celtics have dropped five of their last six games overall. Stevens will be heading into this holiday week break with his head held high, knowing the Celtics look ready to turn the corner with their play on both ends.
"I told the team just now, this is the most – this loss is the most we can build off of, of any of the other ones, because we really defended a team that's a really good offensive team," Stevens said. "I feel really good about the way that we guarded, and I feel like now that we've – we have a way that we can point to or a game that we can point to and say we stayed in it against a good team, just because of one end of the floor."
Brian Robb covers the Celtics for CBS Boston and contributes to NBA.com, among other media outlets. You can follow him on Twitter @CelticsHub.
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