The Boston Celtics were expected to be elite this year, but what has made them this good this early – without Gordon Hayward?
After essentially winning the NBA offseason – by adding Kyrie Irving, Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward over the summer – the Boston Celtics were expected to to be one of the top tier teams in the league.
While they’ve lived up to that expectation thus far, it’s how they’ve done it that has been the more interesting and somewhat surprising storyline.
Even after losing Gordon Hayward minutes into the season, the Boston Celtics haven’t missed much of a bit. How exactly have they done it?
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Kyrie’s defense
Coming in to the season, Irving was widely seen as a poor defender. To start this year, though, he has drastically improved to at the very least an average defender. Whether it is the magical work of boy wonder Brad Stevens or just natural improvement, it’s worked.
Irving has a career low defensive rating this season of 104, which is -5 from his career average. He also already has more defensive win shares this year than he did all of last year, and has totaled to his second highest in his career, just about 40 games in.
Jayson Tatum being so efficient
There is no doubt Jayson Tatum is an NBA Rookie of the Year candidate, but what makes him so special isn’t just his unique offense ability. It is his ability to score at an incredible, actually MVP efficient, levels at just 19 years old.
Tatum is a really good stretch of not missing a free throw away from being in the 50/40/90 club, as a rookie. Tatum has a TS% of 64 percent; he is shooting 51 percent from the floor and 47 percent from 3-point range. That’s Steph Curry-like numbers. He also has an offensive rating of 120 and eFG% of 58 percent.
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Al Horford being a complete player
We knew Al Horford was good, but many struggled to see him as an elite and max player. While he still might not be the latter, he truly might be the most complete player on the Boston Celtics. He might be the most complete big in the NBA right now.
Horford is playing at a very high level, and is posting Defensive Player of the Year type numbers as well. He has a 102 Defensive Rating and has 2.2 Win Shares while averaging eight rebounds, a block and a steal per night. He’s also averaging 14 points per game on a TS% of 61 percent. Horford also adds five assists per night.
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The Boston Celtics are no doubt a threat to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference. They have already beaten the Cavaliers once this season, avenging their opening night loss in which they saw Gordon Hayward go down.
For more conversation on the surging Celtics and other NBA news, check out Baseline Drive, by Nick Gonzalez.