Boston Celtics: 3 things to be thankful for
2. Defense
The Celtics have the best defense in the league, as they are the only team with a defensive rating below 100. Below is a chart of the top three teams in the NBA, in terms of defensive rating.
| Rk | Team | ORtg | DRtg ▲ |
NRtg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston Celtics | 106.85 | 98.38 | 8.47 |
| 2 | Portland Trail Blazers | 107.02 | 101.22 | 5.79 |
| 3 | Oklahoma City Thunder | 107.61 | 102.77 | 4.84 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/22/2017.
As you can see, the closest team to the Celtics is the Portland Trail Blazers. However, it’s not even close — the Celtics have a margin by nearly three points. This is a big reason to this team finding success. Something you won’t see very often is the Golden State Warriors only scoring 88 points in a game. That is an impressive feat as the Warriors are the best offensive team in the entire NBA.
It helps that Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Terry Rozier, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have been big defensive players. According to NBA.com, the Celtics have four players in the top 50 in terms of defensive rating, with Tatum sitting six spots outside of the top 50.
The old saying that defense wins championships should be music to Celtics fans’ ears. More then likely the Warriors will be back in the Finals this postseason, and their opponent could very well be Boston. This Celtics team can stop the best offense in the league, and anyone in their path. That is a recipe to getting a ring, and a trip to the Finals. Many teams would kill for defense like that, and because the Celtics are the best defensive team in the NBA, they can win it all.
Let’s take a moment to be thankful for the Celtics being able to dominate the NBA with their defense.