Celtics ☘️ Sentinel

 The Boston Celtics have transformed into a fairly strong Clutch Time performer , but in the f inal five minutes of games with a differential of five points or less , they have a glaring weakness compared to the Denver Nuggets. That weakness for Boston lies in their shooting percentage in Clutch Time. The Denver Nuggets hold first place in that category, hitting at a 53.0% clip from the field - while the Celtics are in a distant 11th spot at 46.2%.  Let's take a look at Boston's 109-115 loss to Denver last night. Clutch time began at the 3:15 mark of the fourth quarter with the score at 102-107 in favor of the Nuggets . From that point, the Celtics hit on only 2-of-8 from the field (25.0%) while the Nuggets were 3-of-6 (50%). Granted, overall Boston does quite well in close games this season sitting in 6th place with a winning percentage of 64.3%. Denver , however, is in 4th place with a WP of 65.6%. Regardless of whether or not these two teams compete in the 2024 Fina...

 The good news? The Boston Celtics are back in the Number-1 spot in NBA.com's Power Rankings . The bad news? The Green reverted to bad clutch offense in their loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday ( per NBA.com's John Schuhmann ) "The Celtics scored just four points on nine clutch possessions in their loss to the Nuggets on Friday, shooting 2-for-6 on clutch 2-pointers,  0-for-4 on clutch 3s , and 0-for-2 on clutch free throws. That could elicit some flashbacks to bad clutch offense of the past, but they still rank fifth in clutch offense (124 points scored per 100 possessions) this season, and (even with the loss to Denver) they’ve been super efficient — 135 points on 102 possessions (132 per 100) — with the score within five in the last five against teams that currently have winning records." Read that again -"2-for-6 on clutch 2-pointers,  0-for-4 on clutch 3s , and 0-for-2 on clutch free throws."  Imagine Friday's contest was a Finals matchup - m...

 The Boston Celtics have the best record in the East (15-5, .750) and the second-best in the NBA to the Minnesota Timberwolves (16-4), but still have trouble closing games in Clutch Time . In the final five minutes of a game -and the score within five points - Boston has a 7-4 record (.636) , not up to par with their overall record. Lack of ball movement, slow pace and turnovers seem to play a role.  In Clutch Time, The Green rank 20th in Assist-To-Turnover rate, 24th in Turnover Percentage and 28th in Pace. In other words, they slow the pace down - don't distribute the ball enough - and lose the ball when they do pass. To simplify, the Celtics may very well be the best team in the NBA, but they still get rattled with the game on the line. Jayson Tatum, Jrue Holiday and Jaylen Brown all make the "Top-100" (in that order) for turnovers in Clutch Time . There is no main culprit there. The Celtics choke a bit as a team with the game in question. They need to get better w...

 FACT: The Boston Celtics don't do well in post-season Clutch Time! The Celtics did fine in the regular season  (2022-23) when the game was close (5 point differential or less) in the final five minutes of games. The Green ranked second in win percentage (64.9%) with a 24-13 record in such contests. But Clutch Time has given Boston the jitters in the post-season with the Celtics (ranked 9th , record of 5-6, win % of 45.5%). Miami, on the other hand, did worse  than Boston in the regular season in Clutch Time games (ranked 6th, 45.7% win percentage, 32-22 record) but better in the 2023 playoffs (ranked 2nd, 66.7 win %, 6-3 record). The Celtics were almost eliminated from the post-season in Game-6 versus the Heat - when Derrick White bailed his team out on a last-second put-back. Once again, the unflappable, never-stop-moving guard saved the day - and perhaps the season - for Boston . The lessons? The Boston Celtics need to avoid Clutch Time in Game-7. Get a so...

 After Miami's 116-99 loss to Boston in Game-4 of the East Finals, Jimmy Butler was asked how his team would respond in Game-5 in Boston. He mentioned "going back to our habits" . Well, what got the Celtics the win in Game-4 was getting away from some of their bad habits fans have witnessed of late. Boston was intense from the start and their defense forced Miami into 15 turnovers for the game - and kept their own total to 10 miscues . The Celtics also got into their passing game, "outassisting" their opponent 28-to-18. In this contest, Boston continued to throw up a lot of treys (45 of them) , but they were falling (40% on 3-pointers) . But The Green decided to play tough "D, resulting in eight (8) steals and eight (8) blocks, to Miami's 5-and-2, respectively. And it didn't hurt that Al Horford and Grant Williams stepped up, supplying a combined 26 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks.   And for those fans down on Jayson Tatum, he ...

 The current version of the Boston Celtics has few weaknesses, but they certainly seem to have trouble winning close games.  "Clutch Time" is defined as minutes when the scoring margin is within five (5) points with 5-or-fewer minutes remaining in a game. Thus far, The Green have not done well in Clutch Time   (CT) during this year's playoffs. As a team, Boston ranks ninth (9th) recordwise with a winning percentage of 44.4% (4-5 record in games involving "Clutch Time"). Not surprising is that the Celtics current opponent, the Miami Heat, hold top place with a 71.4% winning percentage (5-2). Jayson Tatum's four turnovers in Boston's loss in Game-1 of the East Finals may have some fans pointing fingers at the youngster, but he has only turned the ball over only 0.1 times per game during those five critical minutes in the post-season, while also hitting 61.5% of his field goals and 62.5% of his 3-point attempts. In Crunch Time, Marcus Smart turns the b...

 Yes, it's true. Long chided for his reckless putting up of reckless shots - NBA.com ranks Marcus Smart number-7 in shooting percentage (53.3%) in Crunch Time - which is "when the score is within five points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime".  How can this be? Has anyone checked up on this? I am being sarcastic. The Wolverine is hitting a career-high 45% of his field goal attempts this season - and apparently his accuracy rises significantly with the game on the line . Smart's critics will not like this article.   Smart's heroics in the fourth quarter are nothing new - although Clutch-Time-Marklsmanship may be. Years ago, former Celtics, Chauncey Billups , wrote something about Marcus' winning plays: Y'all say what u want about Marcus Smart but that kid makes winning plays every game in the 4th. — Chauncey Billups (@1MrBigShot) May 22, 2017 In a close win over the Kings in 2019, I previously wrote about Smart's heroics lat...

 The Boston Celtics sit in the 27th spot - 4th from last - as far as wins and losses in   the last five minutes of a game in which the point differential is 5 or less. In 26 games in which The Green found themselves in "clutch time" , they show nine wins and 17 losses for a .346 record. Only the Spurs, Magic and Pacers have worse records. Here's the breakdown. What the issue? It's not that Boston can't score points in those critical five minutes. They rank second in the NBA in that category. Is it shooting accuracy? Yup! Celtics rank 19th in field goal accuracy at the end of close games and 14th in 3-point marksmanship (.416 and .299, respectively) . Don't they shoot enough with the game on the line? Not the problem. They rank first in that category, throwing up 8.0 shots in that 5-minute span. The trouble is that most of the shots don't go in. What else goes amiss? Rebounds (5th), assists (11th), steals (1st) and blocks (3rd) are not the probl...