Quarterly Analysis from the “Road” to a Championship

The J-Team – should the moniker now imply the coach, as well as the you-know-whos? – wrapped up the first of their season’s two extended road excursions Tuesday evening, surviving a spirited comeback (also making one of their own) by a rather sprightly LeBron James and his crew.

The six-game (4-2) swing revealed both sides of the current Boston Celtics, from their very best (the Phoenix rout in particular) to their frustratingly least efficient as the on-court Jays struggled through some shooting woes (a combined 8-for-32 on treys in the back-to-back losses).

I’m fascinated by Jaylen Brown’s (extreme) fall-away shots which seem to keep hitting “nothin’ but net” … I haven’t seen that much “fall-back” since Kevin McHale days.

Over the six games, the C’s converted their first half possessions at a rate of .510 (156-for-306) for a hefty 362 points (essentially 30 points per 12 minutes). Post-intermission, however (and including some “garbage time”), point production dips to 292 with a .452 (131-for-290) rate of conversion.

 

Here are the quarterly breakdowns.

 

Note: “FTC’s” = “Free throw Conversions” (i.e. the number of offensive possessions that end with multiple foul shots … “techs” and “and-1’s” NOT included.)

Data reflects play from Sunday Dec. 4 thru Tuesday, Dec. 13.

 

Q1

Bos: 69 FG’s + 9 FTC’s  //  154 possessions  = .506  [180 points]

Opp: 61 FG’s + 17 FTC’s  //  156 possessions  =  .500  [159 points]

 

Q2

Bos: 67 FG’s + 11 FTC’s  //  152 possessions  = .513  [182 points]

Opp: 62 FG’s + 19 FTC’s  //  150 possessions  = .540  [169 points]

 

Q3

Bos: 54 FG’s + 15 FTC’s  //  151 possessions  = .457  [151 points]

Opp: 60 FG’s + 12 FTC’s  //  148 possessions  = .486  [151 points]

 

Q4

Bos: 47 FG’s + 15 FTC’s  //  139 possessions  = .446  [139 points]

Opp: 62 FG’s + 16 FTC’s  //  143 possessions  = .545  [167 points]

 

OT

Bos: 4 FG’s + 2 FTC’s  //  10 possessions  = .600  [12 points]

Opp: 4 FG’s + 0 FTC’s  //  10 possessions  = .400  [8 points]

 

Abacus Revelation for the Road

During the season’s first six weeks (thru Nov. 30), the Celtics had compiled a league-best 373 successful 3FG’s worth 1,113 of their 2,681 points scored – that’s 41.7 percent of their scoring (also No. 1 in the Association).

Can you guess the only other team getting in excess of 40 percent of its point production from behind the arc?