Anyone who has followed the current iteration of the Boston Celtics knows this team prides itself on playing great defense. But lately, the Celtics haven’t had much to brag about.
The lowly Minnesota Timberwolves had their way with Boston offensively Monday night, dropping 124 points on 52 percent shooting en route to a 2-point upset win at Target Center. The loss marked the seventh consecutive game the Celtics have allowed more than 100 points and the fourth time in five games Boston has surrendered 110 points or more.
Celtics defensive rating vs. Wolves: 120.9. For comparison's sake: 11.9 points worse than Lakers’ league-worst mark this season. Woof.
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) February 23, 2016
So what’s been the issue lately for a Celtics team that has three elite defenders in Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder and still owns the NBA’s fifth-best defensive efficiency rating despite its recent struggles? The answer Monday was all too clear, as Timberwolves rookie big man Karl-Anthony Towns dominated Boston’s frontcourt to the tune of 28 points and 13 rebounds.
“I just thought we physically got handled,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said in a postgame interview on CSN New England. “Especially by Towns and (Gorgui) Dieng in the interior. They really hurt us in the interior and on the glass, and that’s been a little bit of an issue for us, anyways, throughout the (season).”
Stevens is a fan of employing small lineups that allow his tenacious guards to run their opponents ragged. But that strategy can backfire against a player like Towns, as the 2015 No. 1 overall pick scored at will on pretty much any defender the Celtics threw at him. Stevens even gave rookie Jordan Mickey some rare first-half minutes in an attempt to slow Towns down.
“We had no answer for him,” Stevens said of Towns. “We had no answer for him in any type of isolation, I thought. It’s why we went zone for a couple of possessions and actually played it pretty well. And then we just trapped everything late and played five guards and just tried to fly around. The problem with that was, obviously, rebounding. Towns had his way with us the whole night, and obviously the other guys did too, but certainly, he stood out.”
Towns is a rare talent, but he’s not the only one who’s taken advantage recently of the Celtics’ lackluster frontcourt defense. In fact, Boston has allowed an opposing center or power forward to score at least 20 points in each of its last six games, including a 31-point explosion from Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins and 29 points from Milwaukee Bucks big man Greg Monroe.
The Celtics have a date with Monroe and the Bucks on Tuesday, so it’ll be up to the likes of Jared Sullinger and Amir Johnson to shore up Boston’s interior defense and get the team back on track.
Thumbnail photo via Marilyn Indahl/USA TODAY Sports Images
