Let’s not overcomplicate things; the Celtics offense has been bad. The C’s are averaging the fewest points in the entire league (99.8 points per game) through four games, including a season-low 90 points in a loss to the Orlando freaking Magic at home on Monday night.
I understand the urge to question whether the pilots of the Celtics’ offense are drift compatible, but I implore you to step away from the breach. You can cancel the apocalypse, the Celtics are going to be fine.
After hours of analysis I’ve identified the reason the offense has struggled … they aren’t making shots. Boston’s starters are all shooting below their career averages, and thinking that will continue for an entire season is the same as thinking Earth is the only life-bearing planet in a universe of 100 billion stars. I can’t prove they’ll regress back to the mean, but I know they will.
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While the offense has looked ugly at times, the quality of shots isn’t that different from last season. The Celtics are averaging 30.3 “Open” and “Wide Open” three-point attempts combined per game this season (Open = defender 4-6 feet away, Wide Open = 6+ feet away). They averaged 26.6 such attempts a year ago, so they’re actually getting better looks. The difference is last season they shot 38.1% on those attempts, whereas this year they’ve hit just 31.4%.
Basketball hasn’t changed since last summer, the NBA is still a make/miss league, and the Celtics are still one of the best teams in the league. They just need to start making more open shots.
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