Regular season file: 56-26
OffRtg: 120.0 (2) DefRtg: 111.7 (4) NetRtg: +8.3 (4) Pace: 95.6 (30)
First round collection: Up 1-0 vs. Philadelphia
There was no let-up for the Celtics, who by no means trailed in Game 1 and beat the Sixers by 32 points. They’re within the playoffs for the twelfth straight 12 months they usually now have 20 playoff wins by at least 20 factors over that stretch.
The case for the Celtics: They had been the one Eastern Conference group within the top 5 on both ends of the floor, they usually had been shut (only a hair out of the top five on protection) earlier than including Jayson Tatum with 20 video games to go. For the season as an entire, that they had the purpose differential of a group that was 62-20.
The Celtics have playoff-tested formulation for profitable possessions on each ends of the ground, and with Tatum again, they’re higher outfitted to execute them. They can have him or Jaylen Brown on the ground for all 48 minutes, and their bench ranked in the top two in the league for the fourth straight 12 months. Even earlier than Tatum made his season debut, that they had outscored their opponents by 13.2 points per 100 possessions in Brown’s 1,102 minutes off the ground.
Defensively, the Celtics defend the rim almost in addition to the Thunder, having ranked third in opponent subject purpose proportion within the restricted space (64.0%) and first within the (lowest) proportion of their opponents’ photographs (24.1%) which have come there.
The case towards the Celtics: We solely have to return to Games 1 and a couple of of their final playoff collection, after they blew two 20-point, second-half leads, to keep in mind that this group can lose the plot. The Celtics had been persistently purposeful with their possessions after they gained the championship two years in the past, however much less so in different postseasons.
The Celtics had the worst file (9-14) in video games performed between the top 10 teams in the league, having scored simply 114.1 factors per 100 possessions over these 23 video games. They ranked final each in free-throw rate (20.7 makes an attempt per 100 photographs from the sphere) and the share of their photographs (41%) which have come within the paint, so no different group is as depending on leap photographs.
Something to observe in Game 2: 3-point protection. Among playoff teams, the Celtics had the best opponent 3-point charge, with 45.1% of their opponents’ photographs having come from past the arc. The Sixers had solely 23 3-point makes an attempt in Game 1, they linked on solely 4 of the 23, and we are able to anticipate them to shoot increasingly precisely on Tuesday.
Next recreation: Tue. vs. PHI, 7 p.m. ET, Peacock
