BOSTON – The Boston Celtics are currently tied for the third-best record in the Eastern Conference, and Detroit Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy explained Wednesday afternoon that there are three main reasons behind Boston’s success.
“Their defense has been great, and that doesn’t get talked about enough,” began Van Gundy, who spoke to media following shootaround ahead of tonight’s game against the C’s. “Isaiah Thomas has been as good as anybody in the league as a point guard, and they have great depth. They’ve got a lot of good players, and so I think they’ve really built their season on those three things and done a good job.”
As Van Gundy indicated, Boston’s spectacular defense doesn’t always get the credit it deserves. It boasts the best defensive rating in the Eastern Conference (98.9 points allowed per 100 possessions), and only trails the renowned Spurs defense in that category.
Historically speaking, defense is also what Detroit prides itself on, but it has been struggling at that end of late. The Pistons have lost seven of their last 12 games, and their defensive rating has been the fourth-worst in the East during that span (107.8 points allowed per 100 possessions).
Prior to this stretch, Detroit had been one of the better defensive squads in the conference. A rash of injuries, however, may be taking a toll on the defensive end.
“It’s tough,” said a frustrated and banged-up Reggie Jackson following Detroit’s shootaround. “We’re one of the better defensive teams in the league.”
Detroit’s defense will have to prove itself Wednesday night when it takes on one of the premier backcourts in the East.
Van Gundy says handling Boston’s guards should be his team’s first order of business, especially when it comes to honing in on Thomas, who tied a career high with 38 points on Dec. 16 in Detroit.
“You’ve got to be able to keep him out of the paint and hopefully not have him have a huge, huge night,” said Van Gundy.
“But,” added the veteran head coach. “They’ve started to get really good play out of other guys too. (Avery) Bradley, (Jae) Crowder, those guys are playing really well. (Kelly) Olynyk is shooting the hell out of the ball. They’ve got a lot of guys that can hurt you.”
Which brings us to Van Gundy’s final point of emphasis regarding the Celtics’ success: depth.
Boston’s bench has hit a stride, having scored a league-high 52.0 points per game over the last five contests. Its starters, on the other hand, have averaged just 58.2 PPG during that span, which is the second-lowest mark in the league.
Those numbers indicate that C’s coach Brad Stevens has utmost faith in his second unit, which was proven true Tuesday night when he elected to sit three of Boston’s starters during a tight fourth quarter against the Knicks.
Bradley and Thomas played just 13 minutes combined during the fourth quarter, while Evan Turner, Tyler Zeller, Marcus Smart and Olynyk accounted for the remaining minutes.
Van Gundy acknowledged that his squad is quite the opposite when it comes to reliance on reserves. Detroit’s starters are averaging a league-high 33.2 minutes per game, led by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, whose average of 37.4 MPG trails only Jimmy Butler. Rookie Stanley Johnson (22.7 MPG) is Detroit’s only substitute who is averaging at least 20 minutes per game.
“We don’t normally go to that extreme,” Van Gundy said, referring to Boston’s bench presence. “Stanley will sometimes be over 24 minutes, but [the Celtics] at a lot of times, particularly on the front line where they’re playing guys more than their starters… they’ve got really good depth and they’ve played well at both ends.”
Detroit has won two of three in the season series between these two teams thus far, but they are reeling of late. Boston, meanwhile has been thriving.
“We seem to be playing most teams when they’re playing really well,” Van Gundy said of Detroit’s recent slate. “We got Toronto when they won 10 in a row, we got Cleveland when they were starting to roll, so we’ve been in this situation before.”
“And the Celtics,” he added, “are playing really, really well.”
