3 thoughts on the Boston Celtics recent turnaround

The Boston Celtics appear to finally be finding their footing in the 2021-22 season. After opening the season going 2-5 in their first seven games, the Celtics have now won eight of their last 11, and have brought their record all the way back to 10-8. While there is still a lot of basketball left to play, Boston pretty quickly went from being last in their own division to second place, just behind the Eastern Conference leading Brooklyn Nets.

If you wouldn’t consider them to be hot right now, then it looks like the C’s are right on the verge of putting together a nice little run as we approach the quarter mark of the season. Working against them is a tough schedule that sees them playing only two of their next nine games at home. They will face some very good teams such as the Nets, Philadelphia 76ers, Utah Jazz, and Phoenix Suns over that stretch too, so we will quickly find out just how good this team is.

Boston is coming off one of their best games of the season, although it was admittedly against the desolate Houston Rockets, who are now 1-16 on the season (remember, things could always be worse for the C’s). Much of their recent run has come without Jaylen Brown, and with him and Rob Williams both returning to the lineup last night, the Celtics are suddenly looking very dangerous again.

But it’s been the players who have been on the court that have been the biggest storylines, and it’s been refreshing to see some positive developments for this team after a sluggish start to the season. Let’s take a look at three thoughts or developments from Boston’s recent hot stretch that have helped this team get back to where they should be, starting with a look at one of the team’s big men.

Boston Celtics thought No. 3: Rob Williams is the Celtics X-Factor every night

It’s clear that Rob Williams brings a different skill set to the table than most of the other players on Boston’s roster. He has a vertical explosiveness that no one else on this roster possesses, on both ends of the court too nonetheless. When he’s healthy and in the lineup, the Celtics are ten times more dangerous.

So far on the season, Williams is averaging 9.4 points per game, 9.6 rebounds per game, and 1.4 assists per game. He’s also good for around two blocks and one steal per game on the defensive end. He’s a jack-of-all-trades at the five spot for the C’s, and when he’s on the court, you can’t help but notice how much smoother things go for the team.

Offensively, the threat of Williams attacking the rim opens up so many other avenues for the Celtics. One wrong step when Williams is rolling to the rim can result in an explosive dunk for the big man. As a result, defenses shrink inward to protect themselves from the threat of a lob pass to Williams, and that opens more shots at the perimeter. Without Williams, that threat doesn’t really exist on this team.

Defensively, Williams is the anchor that holds the team together. Boston’s perimeter defenders can realistically play higher up on shooters because they know they have Williams lurking in the paint if the ball ends up there. Opposing players are going to think twice about taking layups near Williams considering he’s averaging close to two blocks a game.

Williams is the X-factor on pretty much every given night because his presence is so important to this team. You never really know what you are going to get from him (for example, he had just two points against the Rockets last night, but picked up 15 rebounds along the way), but you know he’s going to have an impact on the game regardless.

Behind Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Williams is the most important player on the Celtics roster, and his ability to influence games for Boston is going to be increasingly important over their tough slate of upcoming games.

Boston Celtics thought No. 2: Marcus Smart’s improved shot selection

I’ve been fairly critical of Marcus Smart to start the season, but I’ll also give credit where credit is a due. Smart seems to settling into his starting point guard role quite nicely after a very bumpy start to the season, and that’s got to be music to Celtics fans ears around the world. If Smart can get his shooting back on track, things will be looking up for Boston.

Smart’s shooting has gotten better, but his splits are still fairly ugly (37.8 percent from the field, 27.5 percent from three). A reason for his improved scoring as of late is actually because Smart has gotten to the paint more and has reduced the amount of threes he takes per night. Head coach Ime Udoka has dialed up a number of plays that isolate Smart in the post against the opposing teams guards, and Smart simply overpowers them on his way to the hoop.

Smart had easily his best game of the season against the Los Angeles Lakers, and he did pretty much all of his work in the paint. He shot 9/13 on the night, but only two of those shots were from behind the arc. When Smart drives to the rim off of pick-and-rolls, that’s when he is at his best, especially with Rob Williams running alongside him.

The change in Smart’s play has been quite noticeable throughout the early stages of the season too. In the first four games of the season, Smart took a little over seven threes per game. Since then, Smart has only taken more than five three point attempts in just one game.

On the other hand, Smart’s evolved into the pass-first player the Celtics front office had to envision he would become when he was handed the keys to the offense this offseason. Over the last nine games, Smart is averaging 6.7 assists per game, and he has had at least five assists in all of those games.

This is what Boston hoped would happen with Smart when he took over as the starting point guard. The number of poor shots Smart would have previously taken has gone down, and with those shots down, the number of assists he makes a game has increased. He will still have dud games, such as a two point outing against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the recent returns from Smart’s play have been encouraging, and he appears to be growing into his new role.

Boston Celtics thought No. 1: Jayson Tatum finally rounding into form

Arguably the main reason for Boston’s early season struggles was the lack of scoring from Tatum. He was scoring, but his efficiency was absurdly low, and the amount of shots he was missing was seriously hurting this team. But Tatum finally appears to have put those struggles behind him, and he is getting back to his scoring ways.

I recently took a deeper dive into Tatum’s scoring woes, and similar to previous stages of his career where he has gone through scoring droughts, Tatum was settling for low quality shots far too often. But even when Tatum was getting to the rim, he was struggling to convert, which was also a bit strange to witness.

Tatum has altered his shot diet ever so slightly over the recent four games, and the results have been encouraging. Tatum is getting to the rim much more frequently, and then digging into his bag later on in the game. Sometimes he doesn’t even have to, as pretty much as his scoring against the Rockets last night came in the paint or at the free throw line.

Getting to the paint more has helped Tatum get to the line more often too, which is another huge piece of his game. Tatum has earned at least six trips to the line in the last five games, which is another sign his scoring is coming back. Some of Tatum’s best scoring games last season came when he was routinely making trips to the charity stripe, so it makes sense that now that he getting there again with more frequency, his scoring will continue to increase.

Tatum’s shooting from behind the arc appears to be making strides as well. He struggled mightily against the Rockets (just 1-9), but he shot at least 41 percent on threes in the previous three games, which is much closer to what we are used to seeing from him. Tatum’s shooting splits are still well below his career averages, but if he keeps up his recent scoring exploits, he will be able to get those back to their normal spots in no time.

With Brown now back in the fold, it will be interesting to see how him and Tatum mesh on the floor. Tatum did most of the heavy lifting in the first half against Houston in their first game back together, while Brown caught on fire in the third quarter to score 10 straight points to essentially put the game to bed.

Getting these guys going at the same time is going to be crucial for the upcoming stretch of games. Tatum has appeared to turn the corner, but he will he need to keep improving if Boston wants to have a chance to come out on top against some of their tougher upcoming opponents.