I have been reluctant to criticize one of the league’s best defenses….. until last night. And that isn’t the only problem they have.

It has been building (or falling) for a while. But it wasn’t always noticeable in the stats. But stats don’t ever tell the whole story anyway.

The Celtics’ slump is now five losses in seven games and three of the losses were to below .500 teams.

Sometimes great defense gets scored upon. Sometimes good shots are just flat out missed against terrible defense. The good looks bad, and the bad looks good in those instances.

Neither the boxscore, nor any other stat line, can make that evaluation for you. You have to see it.

I wanted to put an article on this site last night under the CelticsStuffLive section. I was unable to for some minor technical reasons. So I put it on my blog at forums.connpost.com. (coincidentally called CelticsCentral). You can read the whole thing here.

It turns out to have been a bit prophetic, or at least hit the nail fairly on the head. The Celtic players are now confirming the same things I’ve been observing (without reporting) for a few weeks now. It’s the defense.

Check out Mark Murphy’s article today. The quotes are there that back up what I was reluctant to publish. I thought it might work itself out. It hasn’t.

I was ready to come under fire for my piece last night. I’m not alone now. (Whew.)

Saying that the league’s best defense really isn’t, would cause people to think you’re daft.

I also added that it is generally sloppy play….and it is by most everyone on the team. I named a few names, and some specific examples, but it really is most everyone, especially on the starting five.

It looks like the Celtic players have gotten off that Egyptian river.

I’ll quote from parts of it here and expand just a bit….

"I Submit for Your Approval… 

1) Less than a minute into the game, Rajon Rondo throws a soft lob towards KG in the paint. It’s easily intercepted by Boris Diaw and turned into a fast break lay-up for Raymond Felton for the Bobcats first points of the game.

2) Felton drives into the key, draws Kevin Garnett, and throws a pass to Diaw at the left elbow. Ray Allen standing below Diaw and another Bobcat on the weakside, reacts late, as Diaw hits an open jumper.

3) Rajon drives the paint, finding nothing open. Leaping out of bounds, he drops a wild bounce pass backwards trying to reach Perkins who entered the paint. It’s easily intercepted by Gerald Wallace.

4) Bobcat Matt Carroll drives the middle. Perkins comes forward to meet him. Carroll drops a bounce pass to a now completely unguarded Emeka Okafor for an easy lay-up. Rajon was standing down low and should have picked up Okafor, but hardly moved. Perkins turns quickly back to Rondo and says something. That something must have been, "You were supposed to pick him up." Doc calls a time out.

5) Gerald Wallace has Pierce on the left baseline, all alone on an isolation. Wallace is not a great jump shooter. Pierce makes him go baseline, one of Wallace’s strengths offensively. He is a leaper. He drives straight ahead as Pierce’s feet are planted in cement and he matador’s him. Garnett reacts far too late and Wallace gets an easy reverse lay-up.

Those snapshots are just from the first 5 minutes of the game.

The Celtics have one of the best defenses in the league. But lately, it is these types of plays that are happening more often than we are used to seeing. Or so it seems to me."

Though certainly not perfect himself, the player who gets hung out to dry the most by his mates is Kendrick Perkins, in my humble observations.

By playing ‘goalie’ in the middle, KP has to cut off all invading enemy. In order to do that, he must leave his man to come up and stop the penetration. Too often, no one is picking up Perk’s man once he leaves him. It is supposed to be whatever Celtic is in or near the painted area near Perk’s man at the time, I’m guessing. It would only make sense.

Because of that, it could possibly make Perkins reluctant to leave his man in the future. Thus, more penetration. Perkins has tried to plead his case on the court in the recent past.

Even KG and Rondo who are known for great defense have missed too many assignments in recent weeks. The same goes for Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. When you look at game tapes you will see it.

Sometimes there are two players passively watching a competitor score. I don’t always know who is missing the assignment, but you can see that someone is. It’s just not the way we have come to appreciate how this team plays defense.

No doubt, playing good, effective defense is hard work. You end every game extremely tired when you are doing it right. That’s why so few teams play it right.

I suggest that Celtic turnovers and bad passes (that might not be turnover) also need attention. I go into a bit more detail in the other piece. Rondo and Pierce are usually the worst offenders, but again, most everyone can improve. 

1) The team as a whole is not very energetic right now. The starters in particular seem a bit fatigued.
2) The defense is erratic.
3) The problem is mostly in (not) ‘helping the helper.’

"When a perimeter player penetrates, Perkins or Garnett will step up to meet him, leaving their own man. The closest team mate is supposed to slide over to guard that open big, and so on. Right now, the defensive rotations stop too often after the first help defender commits.

Even in wins, help defense has been erratic. The Celtics beat Utah. But Paul Millsap had a career game (32 points) . In reviewing the tape, Millsap, far too often, was unguarded, or guarded too late when heading through the paint on pick and rolls for some easy mini jump shots and lay-ups."

And this from ‘enemy lines’…. 

Assinine Passes
‘Walt Frazier, the current Knick announcer and Hall of Fame guard commented on the sloppy passing of the Celtics after two successive Celtic turnovers. One was a Rondo drive. You couldn’t tell whether he was trying to shoot or pass, and basically handed the ball to the Knick defender.

The following play, Pierce threw a pass right into the hands of a Knick as he began to head up court. ‘Assinine’ passes was what Frazier said and imputed that it hard to believe from a championship team. The Celtics don’t look very sharp. He was right."

Some thoughts about the offense, which has some problems as well… 

  5) When Rondo stops, so does the offense.

"While accommodating Rondo’s growth, there was actually more versatility in the offense last season. The Celtics would often run the offense through Pierce or Garnett, before Rondo got his feet under him, and even ran a regular high pick and roll with Garnett as the year wore on."

 I’ll end with this from the other article….

 Summary 

 "You can dissect this particular game any way you want to. Some wider observations that might explain the recent lull in the team’s performance.

You might say the statisics don’t bear out everything I’ve mentioned. Their defense is solid. I say that the statistics don’t tell you everything. The defense could use a little sharpening. So could the offense.

When the team is going right, they make the other team’s defense react to them and make them pay for whatever doubling formula they use. That isn’t happening as often right now.

Even though Boston scored 52 points in the paint against the Bobcats, in the last few games, the painted area has been guarded fairly well by Celtic opponents. Garnett and Perkins missed more than a few lay-ups tonight. Primarily, Okafor and Wallace did a good job contesting shots.

Against the Knicks the Celtics scored just 32 points in the paint and in Portland they scored a season low 22 points in the paint.

Get the energy back up. Get the offensive and defensive plans down better.

Even the Celtics’ defense can be better from time to time. Why? It takes a ton of energy to play good defense. That is why so few teams do it."

If they don’t straighten things out, they could easily keep losing until they do.

Next up: Boston plays Houston Tonight