Re: TSN's Peter May report

[Kestas <Kestutis.Kveraga@Dartmouth.EDU>]

Jim Meninno wrote:
> 
> >From: "Ozersky, Joshua A" <OzerskyJA@corning.com>

> >Peter May
> >Boston Globe
> >
> >But they remain defensively challenged, especially in half-court
> >situations.
> 
> What do the rest of you think about this issue?  To me, the team looks
> dramatically better in half course defense compared to either of the last
> two years. 

May (via Pitino, probably) has a point about Boston's defense lagging
behind its offense: Boston is 3rd in points scored and 2nd in FG%, but
19th in points allowed and 20th in opponent FG%. The question is whether
their half-court defense is more to blame for this than their pressing.
The Celtics *seemed* to be having problems with their half-court defense
against both the Hornets and the Pacers, but without a play-by-play
account of which type of defense the Celts were playing when shots were
taken/made, it is impossible to tell which was more (in)effective. 
 
> If you ask me, they were doing great until
> they started pressing, which was more in games 3 & 4, against better, more
> experienced teams, and at a time when the Celtics would be getting tired
> from completing a 4 game in 5 night stretch. 

Well, in the first 2 games, the opponent FG% was 45% and the points
against were 95.5. In the last 2, the numbers are 48% and 107.5,
respectively. However, besides the tiny sample size, the situation, as
you pointed out,  is additionally confounded by the fact that the
Celtics were playing better teams in Games 3 & 4, and possibly had
accumulated fatigue. So, you may or may not be on to something here (I
think that you are, but that may just be my personal bias).