Opponent Scouting: Boston Celtics (37-19)
Tonight at 7:00pm EST the Detroit Pistons will be hosting the Boston Celtics at the LCA in downtown Detroit. The Pistons have had one day of rest after losing to the Suns while the Celtics are on two days of rest, also coming off a loss to the Suns.
The Them:
The Celtics have played like a team who wants to be back in the NBA finals all season despite all the drama of the offseason surrounding their coach. Spending much of the season at the top part of the standings and for now, they are half a game ahead of Denver for the best record in basketball. They come into tonight’s clash with the 4th best offense in the league and 4th best defense in the league. Being top 5 on both ends is a good path to being an elite NBA team.
The Celtics are led by their superstar Jays. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Both players are hugely productive with monster stat-lines who do a lot of their work themselves while also being high-level defenders. Tatum is averaging 31 points and 4.4 assists per game, he still probably takes more jumpers than you would prefer for a guy so tall and athletic but he’s a great shooter, and he’s still effective and willing to go to the hoop and is averaging nearly 9 free throw attempts per game. He will take tons of pullup three-pointers as well which is why he’s such a dangerous shooter despite having only a pedestrian 35.5% mark from deep.
Brown is more of an attacking player, he still takes nearly 8 threes per game and is shooting just 33.4% on them but historically he’s been better than that from deep and he’s excellent at attacking the hoop with some ability in-between. He is even less of a ball-handler/distributor than Tatum but still does at least the basic stuff there. The only blind spot for the Jays is that neither is a great passer.
Normally after the top two we would come to Marcus Smart but he’s out injured. Derrick White was the nominal starting PG last time out and he’s a tough defender with good size, not as good as smart but still good, a fairly reliable shooter from deep and a competent facilitator. Without Smart the Celtics definitely have an issue with lead ball handling though, White is fine but he is a real dropoff in that department. Robert Williams is healthy and holding down the middle, he hasn’t really found his stride yet but he’s a fearsome rim protector and rebounder who’s capable catching and finishing lobs at the hoop. Al Horford, now 36, continues to chug along without a great stat-line but doing all the little stuff you need as a classic “winning player”.
Off the bench Malcolm Brogdon is a highly overqualified 6th man, an awesome shooter, a capable facilitator, and more athletic than you realize and he’s averaging nearly 15 points per game in just 25 minutes. Grant Williams is a pesky defender on the wing and shooting well from deep this season. Payton Pritchard is a classic pesky defensive guard who does your basic offensive stuff. Luke Kornet is very tall.
Without Smart, there is a definite lack of playmaking. They have enough to get by but its a real issue. That said, it probably won’t matter against the Pistons. This Celtics team has good players from top to bottom and the Pistons have no good defensive options for either of the Jays.
Matchups to watch:
Pistons vs. The Jays: Like I said the Pistons have no good defensive options. We will see what the starting lineup looks like but even if Killian was starting both guys are probably too big for him, especially Tatum, and they are definitely too much for Bojan or Burks or Saddiq to have a real chance against. Both guys could have field days.
Jaden Ivey vs. Taking advantage: Derrick White is still a plus defender, but he isn’t Marcus Smart. White also generally represents a slight weak spot in the starting lineup if Ivey can play aggressively to punish it. Horford and Williams waiting behind will make it hard to get all the way to the hoop though which is a concern.
Saddiq Bey vs. Continuing his rhythm: Really been in a good way recently and we are getting out of the doomer mindset we were at with him. He’s probably going to get obliterated if he has to defend either Jay but hopefully he can at least pull some points back on the other end.
Isaiah Stewart vs. Threes again? He’s supposedly banged up and might not play tonight but last time out he finally hit a few threes, they were admittedly on shots where DeAndre Ayton decided he had absolutely no interest in being near Stew but still.