Boston Celtics: 3 ways to break out of current slump

No. 1: Boston Celtics need to pass the ball, abandon the isolation

Simply put, the Celtics are a better team when they move the ball around on offense. During their six game win streak, they averaged 25.8 assists per game compared to 20.2

in their recent five game stretch. When the ball is flying around the court, baskets tend to come so much easier for the Celtics, and it’s no surprise that when their assist totals go down, they tend to lose games.

Too often, the tendency is to settle for low percentage isolation plays from their star players. We have all become enamored with Jayson Tatum’s ability to hit a myriad of difficult shots, but often times they won’t fall, and are completely unnecessary.

Sure, if the shot clock is running down, get the ball into Tatum’s hands and let him work his magic. But forcing up side step threes or long midranges early into the shot clock is just wasteful basketball, and has become a very bad habit for an underachieving Celtics team.

Once the isolation style of play is established in a particular game, it’s very tough to break. It’s led to some very ugly shooting lines from Tatum and Brown in particular, with Tatum laboring through back to back games where he shot 3/17 against the Bulls and Phoenix Suns. Once the starters on this team start looking primarily for their own shot, the rest of the offense succumbs to them as a result.

It’s part of the reason Tatum and Brown are both in the top 15 for shots taken per game this season.

This issue should be immensely clear to Boston by now, and it’s a real concern that it still plagues them this late into the season.

Admittedly you have to hit shots in order to pick up assists, which has been an issue with the second unit getting more minutes recently, but there’s no reason for ball movement to still be an issue for this team. The isolation style of play has killed this team many times this season, and if they keep it up, it may end up killing their season altogether.