Concerning Trend Laid Bare In Celtics’ Loss To Rockets

Despite losing a significant amount of perimeter talent over the summer, the Boston Celtics are still leading the NBA in three-point attempts per game, with 47.3 per night. As a byproduct of those perimeter attempts, the Celtics seldom get to the free-throw line.

Boston’s limited work at the charity stripe was on full display as they lost to the Houston Rockets on Saturday. Ime Udoka’s team got to the line on 35 occasions, earning 25 points on 71.4% shooting. The Celtics, on the other hand, took just seven free throws throughout the game, converting all of them.

During his postgame news conference, head coach Joe Mazzulla explained that Boston’s ability to force the Rockets into making turnovers (they had 18) led to Houston playing with increased physicality when getting downhill, which, in turn, led to additional foul calls.

“The free-throw rate is going to be correlated to your turnover percentage, and so we force 20 turnovers, right? So I think it’s a combination of coaching the ones that you have to get better at, whether it’s taking away an individual tendency, whether it’s a bonus foul at the end of a quarter, or whether it’s because you know we had a breakdown in our individual defense,” Mazzulla said, via CLNS. “…So there’s always going to be that correlation between your free throws and your turnovers with the way that you want to play from a physicality standpoint. Offensively, I think it’s the one you can control more; offensively, it’s getting to the line more and combating it that way.”

According to Cleaning The Glass, the Celtics are 30th in the NBA for attempts at the rim, with just 19.9% of their offense coming within four feet of the basket. They’re also 20th in the league for shots between the restricted area and the free-throw line. That means, the lion’s share of the Celtics’ offense is coming from three-point range (47.6% of their shots come from deep) and the long mid-range region of the court (12.8% of all their shots).

As such, it’s easy to understand why Boston is struggling to generate a high volume of free-throw attempts each night. If Mazzulla wants his team to combat the opposing team’s attempts at the line, he will need to tweak the Celtics’ offensive strategy. Otherwise, the reliance on the three-ball will take on a greater importance, especially if the defense continues to give away fouls, which is likely due to the swarming and physical nature of the new-look defensive system.

The Celtics roster is full of young and developing talent, which means there’s room for incremental improvements throughout the year on both sides of the ball. Whether those improvements lead to a reduced foul rate will remain to be seen.

However, one way or another, the Celtics must figure out how to combat teams earning a significant advantage from the free-throw line. Either Mazzulla adjusts the team’s shot selection to attack the rim, or drive the lane more frequently, or they tweak the defensive system to contain the ball, rather than force turnovers, which is an approach Mazzulla took in recent years.