The Celtics have won 10 of their last 12 games largely due to the continued rise of defensive superstar Robert Williams III
The Celtics started off slowly with a record of around .500, until the past couple of weeks where they have turned on the gas and are the hottest team in the NBA right now due to their elite defense.
Advanced statistics used in this article are from NBA.com, ESPN.com, and StatMuse.com
The Celtics faced a lot of questions just a mere three weeks ago. How is a team with two young stars in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown .500? Ime Udoka’s offensive gameplan allows no spacing for 3PT shooting and efficient shooting so how can they win games with their offense? Should they trade Jaylen Brown since it isn’t working with Jayson Tatum? They have no point guard, how are they going to win games?
Well, all of these questions were looming just two weeks before the trade deadline when they started to win a lot of games. The Celtics were never going to trade Jaylen Brown or any of their young core, but it would have been much harder to justify keeping everyone if the team had stayed .500 at the break.
Nonetheless, the Celtics are winners of 10 of their last 12 games and are clicking on all cylinders heading into the All-Star break largely due to their dominant defense led by Robert Williams III. In fact, just two nights ago they blew out the Philadelphia 76ers by 48 points and set a franchise record in 3 pointers made even without the “Time Lord” Robert Williams III himself.
However, the following night they lost to the worst team in the NBA, the Detroit Pistons, the second game of a back-to-back. So it’s not the Celtics defense led by Robert Williams alone that is winning them games, but for the most part, he is the deciding factor, and winning against the 76ers by 48 without their best defensive player shows that the Celtics are clicking offensively as well right now.
Robert Williams’ continued progression into one of leagues best interior defenders has been the driving factor in this team’s success. Williams is averaging 9.7 rebounds, 2.2 blocks, and 1 steal per game this season, and over the past 12 games, the “time lord” has turned it up another notch averaging 11.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
His offensive game has improved as well with Williams III averaging 10 points per game on 73.2% shooting from the floor. I could go into his advanced shooting stats like his 73.8 TS% or his 73.2 eFG% but as you can see, he has not attempted a 3 pointer this season and his eFG% and TS% are virtually the same as his traditional field goal percentage, which is, by the way, the best in the entire NBA this season (once Williams qualifies and plays enough games).
Williams III isn’t just a good interior defender, he is arguably the best in the league this season with an improved and more efficient offensive repertoire. What is even more impressive is that Williams is the best interior defender in the NBA at only 6-8, which is why he was overlooked in the 2018 NBA draft falling to 27th overall.
Sure Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and Al Horford all provide elite defense as well, but it’s Williams that is responsible for the second-best defense in the NBA with a defensive rating of 104.8, just .4 behind the #1 ranked defense Warriors who have a defensive rating of 104.4.
By next week, the Celtics could have the overall #1 defense in the NBA as the Warriors have struggled defensively over the past two weeks. As I mentioned in previous articles and podcasts on Baller Sports Dialogue, five of the last seven NBA champions had a top-five NBA defensive rating, whereas the other two (Cleveland 2016, Warriors 2017) both had a top-five offense.
Either way, the Celtics have been on the most impressive defensive stretch in recent memory over their past 14 games giving up only 111, 87, 95, 102, 91, 83, 93, 107, 92, 97, 92, 75, and 87 points to the other team respectively in those games.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have both been in an offensive groove throughout the last 12 games where Tatum has averaged 25.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 2.6 turnovers per game with an eFG% of 56, and Brown has averaged 23.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 2.8 turnovers per game with an eFG% of 55.1.
The addition of Derrick White, finally a true point guard, has made this team even more dangerous offensively and defensively, and the Celtics now have a real shot to compete in the Eastern Conference, something that seemed unfathombale just over three weeks ago.
If Tatum and Brown can continue their hot shooting stretch, and Williams III can continue his dominant defense alongside Horford, Smart, Brown, and now White, then the Celtics will only improve over the final stretch of this season and that should scare every single playoff team in the Eastern Conference.