Despite odds, Celtics maintain elite D

Boston still leads the league in defensive efficiency (24.3) and defensive scoring (91.3 points per game). (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

By Brian Robb

With Zach Lowe off until Jan. 3, some guest bloggers will be contributing The Point Forward. Brian Robb is a senior writer for CelticsHub.com, which is part of the True Hoop Network, an ESPN affiliate. To keep tabs on all his Celtics updates, check him out on Twitter.

Over the past three seasons, the Celtics have taken pride on their defense. And with good reason: It carried them to a championship in 2008, and led them to within four points of another title last June. But by the start of the 2010-11 season, coach Doc Rivers faced a number of challenges in maintaining Boston’s defensive prowess.

The most glaring change was the loss of defensive mastermind, Tom Thibodeau , Boston’s long-time assistant who took a well-deserved head-coaching job in Chicago. The other major obstacle: the extended absence of defensive-minded center Kendrick Perkins, who is recovering from an ACL tear suffered in Game 6 of the 2010 Finals.

Aging veteran Shaquille O’Neal, a player with unquestionable defensive weaknesses at this stage of his career, took Perkins’ place in the starting lineup to start the year. The Big Three were a year older, and presumably a step slower. For the first time in a long time, many were left wondering just how big the defensive drop off would be for a team that allowed the fifth fewest points per game last year.

With a multitude of injuries to crucial parts of the team’s starting rotation already this season, Boston’s list of viable excuses for any defensive dip could have been even longer. Instead, against all odds, the Celtics’ have recaptured their throne as the league’s top defensive squad after a third of the regular season.

Through 30 games, the team is allowing an anemic 91.3 points per game, fewest in the league and an incredible four points fewer than their top-five points allowed number last year. And, according to Hoopsstats.com, the Celtics lead the lead in defensive efficiency (24.3).

With so many moving parts for Rivers though, (five different starting lineups), it’s fair to ask: Just what exactly is the formula for the team’s defensive resurgence?

“We defend the three,” Rivers said. “Our whole thing is no threes and no points in the paint, so basically your left with contested twos.

A look at Boston’s numbers proves Rivers’ philosophy to be consistent with the team’s performance. The Celtics allow the fewest shot attempts from inside 10 feet of team in the league at 31 per game. And while the Celtics don’t allow many chances close to the rim, they’re the best at defending the basket, allowing opponents a 58-percent conversion rate at the rim, the stingiest in the league, and nearly five points below the league average.

With such discipline at the rim, Rivers and new top defensive assistant coach, Lawrence Frank, push Boston’s defense to force its opponents to the toughest area of the floor for many shooters: just inside the three-point arc.

‘There’s not a lot of in-between game players is our belief,” Rivers said. “So if we force teams to the in-between game, we have a chance to beat them.”

With Boston allowing just 15.7 looks from downtown per game (third fewest in league), opposing offenses have been stuck in no-man’s land against the Celtic defense, being forced to take more 30 shots a game from 10-23 feet, three shots more than the league average.

Not only are opposing teams shooting more from just outside the paint and inside the arc, they are shooting worse against the Celtics, hitting just 35.6 percent of their attempts from that range, far below the NBA average of 38.6 percent.

Despite its early success, Boston will be facing its stiffest defensive test so far this season and it won’t be against an opposing offense. Instead, it will be overcoming the absence of All-Star power forward Kevin Garnett, who will be sidelined for at least the next two weeks with a strained calf.

Even without KG, though, Celtics’ captain Paul Pierce isn’t willing to let his team relinquish its hard-fought reputation.

“That’s our identity,” he said. “We’ve got high goals for ourselves, high standards for ourselves on the defensive end, regardless of what the offense does. That’s one thing we’re going to try to hang our hat on. With limited players out here — some All-Stars out of the lineup — one thing we can do every night is defend.”

It’s that kind of mentality and a smart defensive scheme that will make these Celtics a formidable defensive foe for any opponent, on any night, for the rest of this season.