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How Brad Stevens Is Accomplishing Defensive Genius in Boston

While all eyes are on Kyrie Irving and the young stars on this offense, it's been the Boston Celtics' defense that has earned them the best record in the NBA.

By Dan O'SheaPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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Over the past five years, we’ve seen magic in Boston. This isn’t a reference to the number of street performers you might see while strolling around Faneuil Hall or the halftime show at TD Garden. It has to do with the rabbits that Brad Stevens constantly pulls out of his hat on a yearly basis. We’ve seen him turn rebuilding teams into playoff participants, manufacture after timeout plays that become guaranteed points, and even transform a 5'9" point guard into a perennial All-Star. Yet through the first few games, we already seeing how Brad Stevens saved his best trick for this season by turning these Celtics into the best defensive unit in basketball.

Everyone knows about the high expectations swirling around Boston this season. They were supposed to be as good as they were last season if not better, but there were certainly questions about this team especially after Gordon Hayward went down just minutes into his Celtics’ career. While there clearly was a ton of individual talent on this team, playing as a unit for the first time is never easy. No one told Boston about that assumed fact as they’ve not only held their own, but have thrived. Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum may make the Sports Center Top 10 each and every night with a play that causes the jaws of Boston fans to drop straight into their bowl of piping hot New England clam chowder, but it’s their team defense that has truly left everyone speechless.

NBA.com

You don’t get the best record in the NBA just by letting Irving put defenders in a blender while Brown puts them on a poster. Those plays put asses in seats, but not W’s in the win column. No matter where you look on the stat sheet, Boston has stifled opponents on a nightly basis. They’ve given up a league-best 94.5 points per game, while holding teams to just 42.9 percent from the floor and 32.6 percent from deep, good for the fourth and fifth best marks in the NBA.

What Boston has done exceptionally well is to force teams into bad shots. Boston still doesn’t have an elite rim protector even though they have improved in that category this season, as they sit towards the middle of the pack with the 18th most points scored in the paint per game. Instead, they force teams to attempt long jump shots and have done a terrific job at closing out thanks to athletes such Brown, Tatum, Marcus Smart, and Al Horford who can all defend multiple positions and switch at the drop of a dime. Their athletic ability combined with physical play puts each defender in a position to thrive, something that has clearly gone well for Boston this season.

What also separates the Celtics from the rest of the league is their ability to eliminate easy points. This goes past the bash brothers of Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris likely leading the team in bodies left lying on the floor but is more focused on keeping teams out of scenarios where scoring becomes easier. The Celtics are currently third in transition defense, which is important when it comes to stifling pace of play and keeping teams from coming away with fast break points.

It shouldn’t come to much of a surprise, considering how many athletes they have on the court in order to get back and slow teams down. What should be surprising is Boston’s 81.4 percent defensive rebound rate, good for fourth in the league. For a team that finished 27th in the NBA a year ago, eliminating second-chance opportunities was a huge factor heading into this season. With Brown, Tatum, Horford, and Aaron Baynes controlling the glass, teams aren’t able to wear down this defense like they used to.

While this rebounding transition has been huge for Boston, nothing is more of a shock across the NBA than Kyrie Irving’s rise as a defender. Every great magic act needs a fantastic final act, and Irving’s defensive prowess has been his true masterpiece.

Irving has always been labeled as someone who could be solid on defense, but doesn’t really try to be. Apparently, all he needed was the right coach in Stevens. Not only does Irving lead the league in steals, but he has doubled his steal percentage from last season, and has his first positive defensive box plus/minus of his career.

What’s truly insane about this rise to defensive dominance for Boston has been the personnel Brad Stevens is doing it with. They lost one of the best on-ball defenders in the league in Avery Bradley and lost another versatile defensive weapon in Jae Crowder. Stevens replaced them with a 19-year-old who has never played in the NBA, and the raw potential of Jaylen Brown. Instead of using those two defenders to make up for liabilities on the court, Boston’s wiz kid has turned this team into a unit. It’s no longer about relying on one or two great defenders to keep things together. It’s about each and every player becoming a piece to this defensive puzzle, and Stevens finding the perfect spots for all of them.

Unfortunately for other coaches, a magician never reveals their secrets. They’ll just have to spend their season trying to crack the best defense in the league before another banner is added to the rafters in Boston.

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About the Creator

Dan O'Shea

Staff Writer at The Unbalanced. Aspiring trophy husband. Can be found arguing hot takes and hating Spike Lee. Stay positive, test negative.

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