Celtics are dominating the glass thanks to one unexpected contributor

Offense has not been an issue for the Celtics team for the better part of the 2018-19 season, but that has changed in their first-round matchup with the Pacers. Indiana plays disciplined defense, has plenty of length and athleticism across several positions and forces more turnovers than nearly any team in the NBA.

With the loss of an additional ballhandler and playmaker in Marcus Smart for this series, the Celtics’ offense has suddenly looked vulnerable at points, particularly on the turnover front. They’ve coughed up the ball more times than anyone in the postseason and that issue has increased with Brad Stevens' initial gameplan to go with traditional bigs more with Aron Baynes and Daniel Theis getting regular minutes (both prone to turnovers). The presence of those two bigs has helped the defense, but it’s also left the Celtics lacking spacing and reliable scoring options at points, a contributor to Boston’s 84 points in Game 1 and 16-point third quarter in Game 2.

With the Celtics facing a 12-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter in Game 2, Stevens decided to go small in order to maximize spacing and scoring. Al Horford would play the five, while a mix of Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward handled the four with a struggling Marcus Morris sent to the bench. Terry Rozier and Kyrie Irving handled the backcourt duties together until Rozier was pulled in the final three minutes of the game in favor of Hayward.

The Celtics proceeded to complete a 31-12 fourth-quarter comeback with that turnaround but the most impressive part of that performance may have been the C’s work on the defensive glass. The Pacers missed 13 shots in the fourth quarter (4-of-17 from the field) and did not gain one second-chance opportunity for the entire frame against the C’s undersized lineup.

The Pacers are by no means an elite offensive rebounding team (20th in regular season) but they have the length up front with Myles Turner, Thaddeus Young and Domantas Sabonis to give the Celtics problems when Baynes isn’t in there to shore up the middle. Incredibly, the Celtics’ have excelled on the glass with and without Baynes over the first two games of the series, collecting defensive rebounds on 87 percent of all misses, easily the highest mark among playoff teams.

How exactly are they doing it? A familiar force on the defensive glass is wreaking havoc in Terry Rozier while Al Horford is doing a great job in the middle as well, but a more surprising name has been just as important down low. 

Jaylen Brown has never been known for his rebounding. He has the size and athleticism to get after the ball but he’s been in the bottom five of the Celtic roster for three straight seasons now when it comes to rebounding rate. That has changed in a hurry during this series. He matched his postseason career-high with nine rebounds in Game 2 and grabbed six of those in the game-changing fourth quarter. His defensive rebounding rate is equal to Baynes after the first two games of the series and this improvement has opened the door for Stevens to stay smaller for offensive purposes.

“I just think Jaylen has shown tremendous growth,” Brad Stevens said on Thursday in a conference call. “And here’s a guy that, early in the season, got a lot of flak for a small sample size where he struggled. Then he had a really really good year after that. He just kept working, kept getting better. He’s worked hard on improving things that he needed to improve.”

With the Celtics offense struggling when it’s stayed big, the improvement on the glass from the wings is opening the door perhaps to Stevens going with small-ball lineups more often thanks to the efforts of Brown, Rozier and Hayward. It puts a heavier onus on the C’s down low but that tradeoff can be essential to unlock more high quality looks, particularly in transition against a feisty Pacers defense, something we saw throughout the fourth quarter

“We don't rebound, we're in trouble,” Stevens explained. “I think we know that. It has to be an emphasis. It's one of those things, we've played 84 games now, we can't go out and do war rebounding drills in practice. It has to be a conscious choice to stay in the play, to engage on blockouts, to pursue the ball if you aren't engaged and it has to be every possession. I've always said that we are at our very best when our guards are flying around and flying in. You can see it and you can feel it.

“I think Terry Rozier's rebounds where he's flying in and everyone else is boxing out is when I know we are really good. I think that's something that we try to emphasize of a visual, but they make it tough. They've got great size down there, they can get inside the teeth of the defense with penetration. Their postups have demanded some double teams, which have caused rotations. We've got to be really sound on the glass on the road.”

The Celtics can get all the stops they want but it doesn’t matter at times when they are sacrificing second-chance opportunities in the process. By answering one of the biggest question marks this team had before this series with their terrific work on the glass, they have positioned themselves well to overcome some bad offensive nights, with some surprise names getting their hands dirty.