Big Concern? Joe Mazzulla Addresses Glaring Weakness For Celtics

BOSTON — The lowly Toronto Raptors stayed step-for-step with the Boston Celtics on Saturday night.

Boston’s porous interior defense made that possible.

The Celtics’ lackluster protection of the painted area throughout this season has hurt them and it was almost fatal against the Raptors. The Celtics surrendered a staggering 76 points in the paint and allowed the Raptors to shoot 54.7% from inside the arc.

Raptors center Jakob Poeltl was the poster boy of Toronto’s paint dominance. He totaled a game-high 35 points on a highly efficient 16-for-19 shooting from the floor.

Despite watching Poeltl get whatever he wanted around the rim, Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla wasn’t remotely close to pushing the panic button over Boston’s defense. He saw Toronto’s points in the paint as an inflated number due to Poeltl’s throwback skillset in a three-happy NBA.

“That number is a little skewed because Jakob Poeltl,” Mazzulla said following Boston’s 126-123 overtime win at TD Garden. “So, you have to go 76 minus 35 because he shoots floaters from inside the dots and that’s a shot that you’re willing to give up over time. So, those are all technically in the paint. Some of those you have to give up.”

Mazzulla and the Celtics were fine with giving up high-quality looks to Poeltl and the Raptors. By giving up those shots, it limited how much damage Toronto did from long range as they hit just 9-of-23 3-pointers. Comparatively, the Celtics hit 21-of-61 shots from beyond the arc.

“I think there’s a clear understanding (with) the vets what we were living with,” Al Horford said. “But at the same time, with those shots, we want to contest them. Hoping that he misses. But ultimately we know that that’s taking away the 3-point shots.”

The Celtics giving up as many points as they did seems like it was all a part of Mazzulla’s game plan. But he did concede there is room for improvement when it comes to his team’s interior defense.

“Do we have to get better at it? Yeah,” Mazzulla said. “Seventy-six, I know it’s a number that generates a lot of headlines and you’ll be able to use that later tonight in your articles, but I would say probably about half of those are because of the coverage that you’re going to play on a guy like him throughout a game. The other half is we have to do a better job rebounding and we have to do a better job at individual defense. Those are two areas that can clean up 50% of those points.”

The Celtics should get a big lift in that department when 7-foot-2 center Kristaps Porzingis presumably returns next month. But before that, Boston needs a solution to a growing issue.