Celtics Will Score, But Defense Concerning For Vegas Oddsmakers

The Boston Celtics are good enough to win the NBA championship.

We all know that.

What we don’t know is how the C’s will get big stops after more departures from the defensive-driven identity that steered them to the 2022 NBA Finals.

Last season, first-year head coach Joe Mazzulla let the Green Teamers play a more free-wheeling style that placed more emphasis on launching 3-pointers than picking up your man.

Now Marcus Smart, Robert Williams and Grant Williams are all playing for different teams while former head coach Ime Udoka is manning the sideline in Houston.

And yet, Boston still has more upside than it has had in years.

“I have the Celtics rated a little bit higher than last year,” Westgate SuperBook vice president of risk management Jeff Sherman told NESN.

“They lost their defensive identity after the coaching change. There’s no doubt. Whatever identity they had last year is gone after losing Smart, Robert Williams and Grant Williams. The defense is a big question mark.

“That said, their starting lineup is better. The bench is a little depleted, but overall, they’re slightly better as a whole. The Porzingis move was interesting. If he can stay healthy, it makes a lot of sense, but we’ll see.”

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Sherman admitted he’ll be aggressively monitoring Boston totals over the first few weeks of the regular season. There might be some track meets.

“I even moved the Christmas Day total right after the trades,” Sherman recalled. “We’ve had those games lined for weeks. I raised the Celtics-Lakers total from 236.5 to 239.5 after Boston traded those three defensive guys.”

Meanwhile, 25-year-old superstar Jayson Tatum is primed to take another step after averaging 30.1 points per game last year. We can wonder how the C’s will get postseason stops without Smart and the Williamses, but they’ll only go as far as their brightest star will take them.

Only three players — Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo — have shorter MVP odds than Tatum (+700) at the SuperBook.

“He’s been getting some support,” Sherman reported. “The Celtics have the highest season-win total and if they end up flirting with the best record in the league, he’ll definitely be in the conversation.

“Most of our support has been on Jokic, though. We even took some sharp play on him at 7-2 (Monday) and I’m down to 5-2 on him.”

If Tatum finishes in the Top 3 for MVP, it’ll likely mean he became an even more lethal scorer, Boston flew “Over” the regular-season win total (53.5) and the C’s primed themselves for another deep postseason run.

After all, Sherman believes they’re the most dangerous squad out East.

“There’s a wide separation between Boston, Milwaukee and the other teams,” Sherman said. “And it won’t necessarily show up in the regular season. I could see (Damian) Lillard missing games here and there. Maybe Giannis gets some load management, too. And they’ll be fine.

“Boston’s starting five is deep enough to withstand injuries and overcome a player or two out of the lineup for a couple weeks. I start with Boston over Milwaukee, but don’t put much credence in any teams behind them.”