As the season began, the Boston Celtics were on top of the curve and continued their good form all the way to the Finals last season. The Greens linked the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat, two rivals in the East, and then beat the Orlando Magic back-to-back to win three consecutive games. But on the road against the Chicago Bulls, the Celtics lost a good game, they lost to the Bulls by 20 points in the second quarter, the situation was instantly reversed, and finally the Celtics also returned with a big defeat, suffering their first loss of the new season.
Through the relevant review, it is not difficult to find that the Celtics really lost on the inside. Bulls' former All-Star center Nikolai Vucevic can really be said to give what he wants under the basket, and Nikolai Vucevic shot 7-of-19 from the three-point line in this game, hitting all three shots from outside the three-point line, which is not very efficient as an insider. But Nikolai Vucevic still scored 18 points and grabbed a staggering 23 rebounds, and Nikolai Vucevic was a huge deterrent that made the Celtics lose one over the other, and after the Green Army used bags and assists, Nikolai Vucevic began to create opportunities for his teammates, and he handed out five assists in this game. In fact, the Chicago Bulls only grabbed 14 frontcourt rebounds, and Nikolai Vucevic is like an inside overlord, alone in 10, this ball is bound to make Nikolai Vucevic gain more confidence.
To say that the Celtics' interior line is really empty, not only Nikolai Vucevic kills, but even the Bulls' two backup interior linebacks Andre Drummond and Derek Jones have amazing performances. Andre Drummond has been selected as an All-Star and has been the league's rebounding champion four times, but his on-court role is not as obvious as the statistics suggest, and his form has not been as good as before in the past two years. But in this game, Andre Drummond found his peak feeling, grabbing 12 rebounds in just 15 minutes and having the third-highest plus-minus of +16 of any player on either team.
If Andre Drummond is at least a former celebrity, then the explosion of Derek Jones shows that the Celtics themselves are too big a problem. For Derek Jones, everyone's past impression is probably that he won the very watery dunk contest with the help of Wade, and Derek Jones has never had any sense of existence. But in this game, Derek Jones had 10 points and six rebounds, and he made a total of six trips to the free throw line, leaving the Celtics overwhelmed.
Through this loss, we can say that the Celtics' two major shortcomings are undoubtedly revealed, first of all, due to the lack of height of the entire team, it is really too bad when fighting for rebounds. Judging from the post-game statistics, the Celtics grabbed 15 fewer rebounds than their opponents in this game, and lost control in this regard, and the game was naturally very difficult to play. The Celtics' highest rebounds on the team turned out to be core Jayson Tatum, who grabbed a total of eight, while Jaylen Brown followed with new signing Malcolm Brogdon with six rebounds each. The problem is that all three are outside players, and if you expect them to grab rebounds, that's a big problem in itself.
In addition, the Celtics' interior defense was completely penetrated by the other side, and from the inside scoring data, the Celtics fell 34-46 to the downside. What's even scarier is that strategically, it's because the Celtics lost the basket that the Bulls' outside players get more opportunities. Not to mention star players like Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, even sophomore Ayo Dosom played a career masterpiece, last year's second-round pick, the past two games totaled 12 points, but against the Celtics, Ayo Dosunmuri burst out of the field, shooting 9-of-10 from the field, including 4 shots from beyond the three-point line, cutting down 22 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists.
I think through this game, the Celtics and their fans will miss the original starting center Robert Williams even more. The 25-year-old center improved quickly last season, averaging 10 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2 assists, 0.9 steals and 2.2 blocks per game, and Robert Williams played with an injury in the playoffs and still played well to help the Celtics reach the Finals. But Robert Williams underwent knee surgery earlier this month and is expected to return in the second half of the season, which has too much impact on the Celtics.
When Robert Williams was absent, Al Horford seemed to be the only reliable player on the Celtics' inside, but he was 36 years old after all, and against the Bulls, Al Horford only had 8 points and 6 rebounds, completely unable to withstand the rotational impact of the juniors. Among the other interior players of the Celtics, Blake Griffin was a typical offensive and weak player even in his prime; As for Noah Vonley and Luke Cornett and others, the ability is too poor, I am afraid that for a long time to come, the Celtics' internal shortcomings will be frequently used by opponents.