The Boston Celtics have made it clear all season lengthy that their solely purpose for the 2023-24 marketing campaign is to dangle Banner 18 at TD Garden. As we put together to enter the homestretch of the season, so far, the entirety has gone in accordance to plan for Boston. They are the pinnacle group in the league with a 43-12 record, and they have typically been the dominant group that they have been anticipated to be getting into the year.
It’s not hard to see why Boston has been so successful. Their pinnacle six gamers in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford, are arguably the excellent six-man rotation in the league. Behind them, they have sufficient depth and versatility that makes it extraordinarily difficult for their opponents to ever get a leg up on them.
No group in the NBA is perfect, though, and the Celtics are surely now not a crew except their flaws. While these flaws might also be smaller than their competitors, it solely takes a few small flaws to add up and wreck a season. As the group prepares to return from the All-Star break, let’s take a look at the one fatal flaw that Boston desires to remedy if they intend on going on and prevailing the 2024 NBA Finals.
Celtics deadly flaw: Shooting too many threes
The Celtics game plan, despite all their talent, is incredibly simple; play swarming defense, and create adequate open appears from three that they finally pound their opponent into submission. It’s generally labored highly well, given the reality that they have the exceptional file in the league, but when it doesn’t work, Boston has shown a concerning propensity for not being capable to adapt.
The C’s are taking 42.7 three-point photographs per sport this season, which is easily the most in the league. Again, this isn’t a massive situation considering how they are hitting 38 percent of their threes as a team, which is true for fifth in the NBA. The hassle is that three-point taking pictures is very volatile, and when matters don’t go their way, the Celtics have struggled to adapt.
Ever for the reason that Joe Mazzulla took over as the team’s head coach, Boston has lived and died via the three. When it works, there’s nothing worth complaining about, however when it doesn’t work, the Celtics stop up taking part in some very unsightly basketball. While there’s certainly nothing incorrect with this gameplan on a nightly basis, there are times when different strategies are wanted to beat their opposition.
Brad Stevens went out and traded for Porzingis and Holiday this past offseason in an effort to remedy this problem. In the Eastern Conference Finals in opposition to the Miami Heat remaining year, the Celtics rally fell quick due to the fact they went ice bloodless from behind the arc in Games 6