BOSTON — The Celtics haven’t been themselves and it’s taken a toll as of late, dragging the reigning champs to an uncharacteristic 6-4 stretch throughout their last 10 games entering Christmas Day.
Joe Mazzulla’s on-brand “Mazzulla-Ball” philosophy of out-shooting opponents from 3-point range, both in attempts and makes, hasn’t fared well recently. It’s dragged Boston to rank 16th in the league in outside shooting percentage at 36.3% which doesn’t raise a red flag in the eyes of Mazzulla even the slightest.
“I think it just happens from time to time,” Mazzulla said before Boston hosted the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden. “I like the shots that we take. I like the people that are taking them. We just gotta work through it. I think the thing that you can always stress more is the offensive rebounding, the crashing — which I think has been better over the last couple of games. I think that’s more important than anything else is fighting to get extra possessions.”
When examining Boston’s subpar 10-game stretch, the numbers speak for themselves.
The Celtics, since their Dec. 1 first loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, have been one of the worst teams in the NBA at shooting the three ball, ranking 22nd at 33.5% — they’re connecting on 16.7 of their 49.8 threes across the stretch. It’s anchored Boston and Monday night’s loss to the injury-riddled Orlando Magic without Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner was a prime example of the issue at hand.
Despite holding a 15-point lead in the second half, the Celtics collapsed and got out-Mazzulla’d by a cast of little-known Orlando role players. Boston shot 24.2% from deep range, making only 8-of-33 attempts to a 39.4% showing from the Magic. The margins, a major point of emphasis in Mazzulla’s in-game ideology, haven’t proven Boston to be the same team that ended last year’s regular season as the second-best 3-point shooting team (38.8%) in the NBA.
Then again, it’s still (very) early.
“I never look at the percentages,” Mazzulla admitted. “I never look at what the guy is shooting. I always look at the quality. And to me, that’s the most important thing is can you fight to get the quality-type shot that you wanna get, regardless of what it is. So honestly, I don’t pay much too attention to the percentages as I do the quality over a long period of time.”
The Celtics opened the season shooting 40.7% from three, second only to the first-place Cavaliers, through their first six games in October.
So far, the effects of Boston’s blemished go-to strength haven’t had a drastic impact as the Celtics remain the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference with a strong 22-7 record. However, the inability to readjust when the hand isn’t hot from beyond the arc could snowball into a larger issue if Boston doesn’t flip the switch.
