Through two games, the Celtics’ offense has already shown a familiar weak spot: when opponents turn up the ball pressure, Boston can get stuck before it ever really gets moving.
That’s the divide with this team. When a defense hangs back and lets Boston play on its own terms, the Celtics are tough to slow down.
But once the other side starts getting into the dribble and crowding the initial action, the whole operation can bog down. The ball moves a little too much, the spacing gets messy, the defense never fully shifts, and the possession too often ends with a rushed jumper late in the clock.
Sometimes Jayson Tatum bails them out by hitting enough of those shots that nobody thinks much about it afterward, like on Friday night against the Knicks. Other times, it snowballs into something much worse, the kind of collapse Boston saw Tuesday night in Detroit when the Pistons ripped off a 23-0 run and erased a huge lead in the season opener.
The pressure can be especially troublesome for Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, both of whom can be crowded by bigger, physical defenders. That often pushes Boston into more point-Tatum possessions. There’s value in that, and it usually produces efficient offense, but the Celtics can’t ask Tatum to carry that load too often if they want to keep him fresh for the long haul and the playoff run ahead.
Joe Mazzulla and his staff need answers, and they need them before better teams start leaning on this weakness even harder. One possible fix is to have forwards like Paul George and Baylor Scheierman bring the ball up and start the offense, with Pritchard and White working more off screens. Boston could also get more creative about springing its guards loose in the backcourt and using a running start to make it harder for defenders to stay attached.
Another route is to make the bigs more involved as passing and playmaking hubs from the high post, giving everyone else more room to move around them.
But none of that matters if the execution isn’t sharper. Mitch Robinson and Neemias Queta aren’t Nikola Jokic.
Pritchard and White aren’t Kyrie Irving. PG and Baylor aren’t LeBron.
Simply changing who initiates the offense won’t solve the problem on its own.
No one is saying Boston needs a major overhaul or another ballhandler, but this is something worth watching closely. The best teams are going to notice, and they’re going to keep attacking the dribble and making life miserable for the Celtics’ guards.
In Other News...
Jordan Walsh Is Giving The Celtics A New Lineup Dilemma
Jordan Walsh has suddenly become part of the Celtics starting conversation, and it has little to do with scoring. In recent games, Joe Mazzulla has leaned on Walsh for his defense, using him in the opening group because he can take on difficult perimeter assignments and stay connected on that end of the floor. For a team that values versatility and edge, that kind of trust matters, especially when the coaching staff is looking for reliable minutes against top opponents.
The catch is that Walshs offensive game is still a work in progress, which is why his long-term fit remains a live question. Boston likes what he brings defensively, and the early returns with him in the starting mix have been encouraging, but the Celtics still have to figure out how much room there is for a player whose value is built more on stopping others than creating for himself. That makes Walsh both useful right now and a little tricky to project going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Neemias Queta May Be Giving The Celtics A New Offensive Option
Neemias Queta gave the Celtics a useful jolt off the bench against the Knicks, finishing with 15 points and adding a little extra intrigue to his role in the process. Boston has long valued what he can bring around the rim, but any sign that he can stretch his game beyond that area only broadens the options available to a roster that is always looking for more ways to bend defenses.
The appeal is not just in the one game, but in the possibility that Queta's outside touch can become something the Celtics can actually trust. If that part of his game keeps developing, it would give Boston another wrinkle in lineups that already ask centers to do plenty, and it could make him more than just a situational big in the rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics May Already Be Seeing Why They Passed On Giannis
The Heats decision to swing big for Giannis Antetokounmpo was supposed to change the balance of the Eastern Conference, but early results have only sharpened the debate around how much a superstar trade can alter a roster. Miami is already dealing with three losses to open the season, and the early unease has centered less on Giannis himself than on what the deal took away, with the move forcing the kind of trade-off that can leave a team top-heavy and thin everywhere else.
For the Celtics, it is a reminder of why they were unwilling to fully meet Milwaukees asking price when Antetokounmpo became available. Boston has long valued roster depth as much as star power, and this kind of story plays directly into that philosophy, especially when title teams usually need more than one great player to survive the long season. The question now is whether Miami can find enough balance around its new centerpiece before those early concerns become a season-long problem. [Read more 🡒]