Opponent Scouting: Boston Celtics (6-3)

Tonight at 7:30pm EST the Detroit Pistons will hit the road to face the Celtics of Boston. Both teams are on one night of rest with the Pistons beating OKC and the Celtics beating Memphis on Monday.

The Them:

The Boston Celtics faced some deal of dysfunction this offseason, coming off of a run to the finals where they lost to Golden State, but they’ve come out of the gate strong to open the season. Coming into tonight they sport the league’s best offense by scoring 116.7 points per 100 possessions, the defense is lagging behind by allowing 112.8 points per 100 possessions which is good for just 20th. Combined together they make for the 7th best net ratting in the NBA. Those numbers behind a 6-3 record show a positive but not exactly overwhelming open to the season for Boston.

On the injury report is Robert Williams, Danilo Gallinari, and Luke Kornet.

Jayson Tatum leads the Celtics and he picks up where he left off. He has size, incredible shooting ability, and can get buckets in isolation. He is still not much of a creator but he isn’t a black hole. He’s averaging 31 points and 4 assists. Defensively he isn’t locked in all the time with his huge offensive load but he’s still good and when locked in he can be great. Jaylen Brown is his robin who is averaging 25 points and 3 assists per game. Brown is athletic, strong, and can get to the rim while also sporting a plus jump-shot. Like Tatum he isn’t a game by game dominator on defense with his offensive duties but he’s still very good and can turn it up when he needs too.

After the Celtics’ young stars come Marcus Smart, the reigning defensive player of the year is shooting poorly but with 6.6 assists per game, he fills an important void for a team whose best two players are not strong passers. His defense is tenacious and while he probably didn’t deserve to win DPOY he is incredible on that end. Al Horford is slotting comfortably into a “really good but really old” player. He can get overwhelmed by size and athleticism but he’s one of the game’s brightest defenders, an excellent passer, can shoot, and on occasion can reach back and give you buckets. Those four are the constants for Boston. Newly acquired Malcolm Brogdon is the 6th man, still, an efficient scorer who can get buckets from anywhere on the court.

Behind them is mostly role players. Grant Williams is a tough defender who can shoot, ditto for Derrick White. Sam Hauser is a former two-way player who is a good shooter from either forward position, Noah Vonleh never did pan out into a stretch-big but he is fairly large and has decent skills at that size.

This team was a defensive juggernaut last season and one would imagine that they will recapture that form again this season given how many good defenders they have. If they can recapture that while keeping this offensive form they will have an excellent chance to avenge their finals loss. This is an elite team with a lot of talent, they have some deficiencies in shot creation and without Robert Williams, they are a bit small up front but other than that they are killers.

Matchups to watch:

• Cade/Ivey vs. Celtic defenders: Whether it is Marcus Smart, either of the Jays, Derrick White or Grant Williams. The Pistons young back-court will likely be covered by effective defenders the entire night. It will be a major challenge for both.

• Saddiq/Bojan vs. Making them work: They should be spending most of their night going back and forth with the Jays. Obviously, we are not expecting Bojan and Saddiq to outplay them, but finding spots to make them work defensively and not getting blown out of the water on the other end it important.

• Stew vs. Physicality: Stewart is typically a physical player, but even though he isn’t tall enough to give Horford trouble, Horford has always struggled with players who got highly physical with him. Could be a good way to get the Pistons an upper hand and put Horford off his game.

• Hamidou Diallo vs. Forcing the issue: Look. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but the fact is that the Pistons bench has very little going for it and Diallo just trying to make it happen is one of those things.

• Duren vs. Imposing his size: The Celtic center rotation is effectively Hoford and Vonleh. Both Horford and Vonleh are actually stretch 4s masquerading as centers. Whichever guy is on the floor, Duren’s size and athleticism should be a major advantage. Part of this is also on the Pistons’ ball handlers.. to find Duren when he has advantages.

• Cade vs. Not settling: The lack of spacing has made Cade almost exclusively into a jump-shooter this season. The good news is that without Robert Williams the Celtics do not have an imposing rim-protector. Even if the Celtics try to wall off the paint, Cade should be able to finish over guys. If there was a night to force the issue inside it is tonight.

• Alec Burks? Not really a matchup but he’s been upgraded to “questionable” so he probably won’t play but maybe.

So in conclusion…

Run for the hills if:

• Cade and Ivey are puking up bad jumpers over tough defense

• Horford dad-strengths Stewart

• Marcus Smart hits a bunch of threes. Because for some reason he always hits threes against Detroit. I have no idea why. But its a thing.

Wink knowingly at your friends if:

• Horford is thrown off.

• The Pistons are getting into the Celtics softer defensive interior

• Cade clearly wants to put on a show in front of the larger audience

Opportunities for me to look stupid:

• Cade goes for 40

• The Pistons cannot stop either Jay the entire night

• The Pistons bench gets boat-raced

• Pistons win on the back of a heroic Cade effort

• Pistons 110 - Celtics 109

What do you think? Can Cade and Ivey score? Can the Pistons contain the Jays?