The Celtics are shooting the lights out to start the season


Through the first first four games of the season, the Boston Celtics lead the NBA in field goal percentage. They are shooting a hair under 50% as a team (.498). The Minnesota Timberwolves are just below them at .496, and to no ones surprise the team in 3rd is the Golden State Warriors at .486. Interesting as well is that the Celtics have achieved this with 11 different players averaging at least 10 mins per game.

The uptick in field goal percentage has been huge, and kept them playing well even with their rebounding woes. A big part of the reason the FG% has been so good is the floor spacing and ball movement. The Celtics are 2nd in the league, behind only Atlanta, in assists per game at 27.8. Making the extra pass to get good/open looks goes a long way towards shooting a good percentage as a team.


The three-point shooting thus far from the C's has been the biggest improvement in the team as a whole. Last year they averaged 33.5% from deep, which was good for 28th in the league (AKA not good). This season they are averaging 40.7% from the outside, that ranks them 4th in the NBA. Now yes, of course it's a very small sample size, but take with that the fact that the Celts have also been without arguably (and statistically) their best three-point shooter in Kelly Olynyk.

The hot shooting stretch even engulfed forward Amir Johnson in last nights game. He was burying threes in slow motion:



The improvement in shooting from both Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder has been apparent, and Bradley in particular has been locked in:


It's early yet, and a little regression to the mean as far as shooting goes should be expected. But so far it seems that the Celtics have made a big effort to improve on the offensive side of the ball and it shows.


Photo Credit - Jeremy Brevard/USA Today

Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkAL401

Share