According to NBA tracking data, the Celtics have made a total of 247 open three-pointers this season before the Boston Celtics' game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, but shooting just 32.8 percent. Perhaps most shockingly, there are three teams that have a lower shooting percentage than the Celtics when they get big open three-pointers that are not defended by players within 6 feet.
But after another three-point game on the road trip to the Atlanta Hawks, the Celtics' open three-point shooting percentage will drop further.
Dennis Schroeder shot 25 percent from the open three-point range (10-of-40), Horford shot 28.9 percent (11-of-38), and Marcus Smart finished third on the team in scoring, but he shot just 31 percent (13-of-42) among players who shot more than 15 shots.
If you're an optimistic fan, you think this team can't have had such a bad shooting performance all the time. A year ago, the Celtics shot 40.9 percent from three-point range. Jaylen Brown is coming back, Robert Williams is likely to be back on the court soon, and the Celtics should have enough weapons to make the opponent's defense shrink a bit and not dare to pounce too hard.
The question is, can Boston afford to pay for giving up these big open three-point opportunities? The sobering reality is that the Celtics' offense has been in a mediocre state since the start of the 2021-22 season.
Celtics' new coach Uduka said: "You like the way the team is now, there is quality defense, a lot of open defense, the team plays their own defensive system, and we don't execute our own defensive arrangements, we have to rely on defense. Most of the time we do that, but teams can't ignore the pressure based on the opposing defense just because they can't shoot those baskets.
"It's not that the starting player loses some balls and the bench hits some balls, and the quality of the defense of the two sets of rotations is good or bad, and vice versa. It's a little bit that everyone needs to do, so you tell them to be confident, like we're trying to do every day. We're going to be the ideal team we've worked so far, and our feelings will eventually change, we're going to start to become more united, and that's all you can do. ”
"Like I said, if we force a shot in a confrontation, or you know it's a selfish shot — we always talk about what a good shot is and what a great shot is. They're going to give up empty shots to get other people to shoot, so you can't say there's any negative impact on those empty shots that we're getting, just be confident, knock them down, encourage the players, and stick with it. ”
All of these ratings of the team are fair, but it shouldn't come as a particular surprise, as Brad Stevens decided to trade Kemba Walker for 35-year-old Al Horford after being promoted to president of basketball operations in search of salary flexibility. Aside from shooting, Horford excelled in almost every aspect. Stevens and the Celtics also chose to let Evan Fournier leave the team and used the remainder of Gordon Hayward's trade exception in exchange for the unstable Josh Richardson.
The Celtics strive to be a defensively conscious team and have imposed a lot of offensive responsibility on Jason Tatum and Brown. But even as Boston's defensive strategy has improved over the past eight games, the offense is still far behind. You could attribute some of that to Tatum's slump or Brown's absence, but no player on the Boston lineup has been able to deliver a steady shooting contribution.
Boston's role player offense was so poor that all of Boston's scoring pressure was on Tatum (and Brown when he was fit). Opponents used other role players as a breakthrough to beat the Celtics, and they didn't make their opponents pay for it this year.
As of Wednesday night, the Celtics had an offensive efficiency of 104.6, ranking 23rd in the NBA. Although Boston's defense has limited opponents' scoring to 99.3 points in the last eight games, ranking second in the NBA behind the Golden State Warriors, Boston has failed to take full advantage of their defensive strengths due to offensive obstructions. Boston's record during this time was 5-3, but you know, if they hadn't missed two 19-point leads, they could have easily gone on a 7-1 record in their last eight games.
Alas, bad offense is the main reason for these crashes.
The Celtics just need more shooting opportunities. At least until the middle of next month, it's unlikely that anything will change in the team. So they can only pray for two things: 1) better health and 2) a return to their original shooting level.
Neismith and Payton Pritchard are going through the doldrums of the second year and aren't getting the kind of playing time that might have helped them cheer up. Richardson has earned him playing time with his defensive intensity, but his three-pointers remain as inconsistent as they have been shown in previous seasons with Philadelphia and Dallas.
Another positive aspect is that Boston has reached a plus-minus of +11.3 in the 205 minutes that Tatum and Brown have played together this season. But the offense wasn't very efficient at just 106.9, and the team didn't hit more three-pointers during that time, but the Celtics still pinned their shots on a return to normal.
Incredibly, Grant Williams — the one who missed out on the first 25 three-pointers of his career — was the team's most efficient and highest-ever three-point shooter. As the starter against the Atlanta Hawks, he has shot 40.8 percent from three-point range this season. Only Romeo Langford (45%) was higher, but he only had 20 shots.
Schroeder, Tatum, Richardson, Horford, Smart, Pritchard and Nesmith are shooting 120-of-410 from three-point range this season. Those players, who were supposed to be a threat to the team's three-pointers, shot a staggering 29.2 percent from the field.
Hitting an empty shot won't solve all of the Celtics' problems, but at least it won't hurt the team's offense, and the Celtics desperately need some changes to spur their offense to improve