NEW YORK – The Boston Celtics have won three of their last four games, but have done so under unusual circumstances – without scoring 100 points.
Boston's current four-game stretch marks its longest string of games without topping 100 points since January of 2015.
Coach Brad Stevens, however, is not the least bit concerned by the offensive drought.
Stevens, ahead of Wednesday's game in Brooklyn, listed off the last four games from an offensive perspective. He stressed that last Wednesday's matchup with Dallas was the only full game of the last four during which the C's played sloppily on that end.
Otherwise, the Celtics were shut down by Golden State for just one quarter Friday night (context). They put up 94 points Saturday night in Detroit, where no team had previously topped 90. And then they came up one point shy of 100 during Monday's 99-93 come-from-behind win in Minnesota.
“I'm not as concerned about it,” Stevens said of the offensive drought. “We've got to share the ball a little bit better and give it to the second side a little bit better, especially when we're struggling. But we've executed late pretty darn well.”
Thankfully, Boston's defense has kept the team alive during this stretch.
The Celtics have the best defensive rating in the league during the last seven games with a mark of 97.0. It's a shocking improvement on that end, considering the team ranked last in the league during the first seven games with a mark of 112.3.
“We started at the bottom of the mountain, so we couldn't do anything but go up,” Stevens joked ahead of Wednesday's 7:30 tip-off at Barclays Center.
The Celtics have a good chance of seeing their offensive numbers rise back up tonight when they take on a Brooklyn team that has allowed 126.2 points per game during its current four-game losing spell.
Boston's offense is certainly a concern of Nets coach Kenny Atkinson.
“They're fast, they're aggressive,” said Atkinson. “They're one of the top driving teams in the league, so you gotta keep in front of them. But they're also going to take 35 3-point shots per game.
“I think it's a little bit of a challenge for us defensively dealing with teams with speed like this, so we'll see if we can keep them in front of us, yet do a good job at the 3-point line.”
Brooklyn had difficulty containing Boston's offense on Opening Night when it allowed the C's to score 122 points, including 97 through the first three quarters.
We'll see if the Celtics can put up a similar fight and snap their offensive drought when they tip off at 7:30 on the Nets' home court.
– Taylor C. Snow
