Seven thoughts on the Celtics' seven-game winning streak

Seven thoughts on the C’s seven-game winning streak heading into a tilt with the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night at the Garden.

1. The Celtics are top-5 in offensive and defensive rating: An easy way to look through the noise of an individual record and judge the bigger picture is simply by looking at the advanced metrics. Some teams can go on a seven-game winning streak but actually just squeak out a bunch of close wins against bad teams and the team splits would help reflect that. This is not the case for the C’s during this stretch. With two straight blowouts taking shape on the road along with quality wins mixed in (Toronto, Milwaukee) against the NBA’s best, the advanced numbers are very friendly to the C’s, In fact, they are the only team in the NBA right now with a top-5 offense and defense on paper. The defense (3rd) has been consistently good all year long, but it’s the offense (5th) that has come alive in the past week on this road trip, shaking out of the first half malaise that plagued it for the opening five games of the year. With bench contributions become to come in from the likes of Rob Williams, Brad Wanamaker and Javonte Green along with some sensational scoring from the starters (four players averaging 18 points per game or more), the C’s seem capable of overcoming the absence of Gordon Hayward in the next month plus while still maintaining a solid pace. In fact, the Bucks and Suns right now are the only two teams in the league right now besides Boston that have a top-10 rating on both ends of the floor.

2. The winning streak should hit double digits: This will be put to the test at the Garden tonight once the NBA’s best offense to date comes to town in the form of Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. If Marcus Smart and Co. can slow him down, the C’s have a pair of winnable games upcoming on Wednesday against the Wizards and on Friday night in Golden State. The Warriors may have Draymond Green back for that matchup in the Chase Center but that’s still a team that doesn’t have the talent level to match up with Boston position by position as long as Steph Curry is out. There will be plenty of tougher obstacles on the remainder of their west coast trip (@ Phoenix, @ LA Clippers, @ Denver) but the odds remain in favor of the C’s putting together their second double-digit winning streak in the past three seasons if they can get past the Mavs tonight.

3. Kemba Walker’s quiet efficiency has gone under the radar: Amid strong starts from all of his new teammates, the All-Star point guard has floated under the radar amid Boston’s sensational start. He’s come up with a few clutch crunch-time performances mixed in with a couple duds (opening night, Charlotte) but the big picture is exactly what the C’s have signed up for so far. He’s averaging just one point off of his career-high thus far, posting 24.5 points per game and is doing the brunt of his damage from beyond the arc. Not only is he taking more 3s than ever (9.7 per 36 minutes) but he’s knocking down a career-high 41.1 percent of them so far. With 50 percent of his shots coming from downtown, that’s a sensational start for the 29-year-old in terms of maximizing his offensive game. All of his damage isn’t coming from downtown either as he’s also posting career-highs thus far in free throw attempts per game (6.5), rebounds per game (5.1) and blocks per game (0.6) on top of leading the team in charges taken. The Celtics couldn’t have asked for much more from the 6-foot-1 guard early on as his seamless transition into the fold has helped this team hit the ground running.

4. Rob Williams and Daniel Theis two best shot blockers in the league right now: This is one of the bigger surprises of the year, at least one of them is. After his six blocks on Saturday night (a career-high) Rob Williams is swatting away 9.8 percent of shots faced on the year, which would be the NBA lead if he had played enough minutes thus far to qualify. In the meantime, Daniel Theis gets the top spot for the time being with a sensational 9.4 block rate that has helped him lock down starting center duties for the foreseeable future. The center position was a big worry heading into the offseason but the C’s have managed it admirably thus far between Theis, Rob Williams and Grant Williams from a defensive standpoint. A top-10 defense for the season now seems like a very attainable goal, although how exactly Enes Kanter factors into the mix after his return remains a question mark.

5. Marcus Smart is cleaning up his turnover problem: One of the few remaining flaws to the point guard’s offensive game had been a high turnover rate throughout his career. He coughed the ball up on over 16 percent of his possessions last season, the worst mark on the team. In a limited sample size of eight games, that issue has been effectively eliminated as his turnover rate has been cut in half to just 6.9 percent of his possessions. That’s an incredible number for a ball-handler and has helped the C’s turn into one of the best offenses in the league thanks to their No. 1 turnover rank. The C’s may not be shooting the ball great but they are getting shots up on nearly every possession thanks to Smart and others showing good discipline with the ball and improved decision making.

6. The Celtics’ shooting numbers are actually subpar: For a top-5 NBA offense, there sure are a lot of areas that could use improvement. The C’s are knocking down just 35.4 percent of their 3s (15th in NBA) and their shot-making inside the arc (50.7 percent, 19th in NBA) has been even worse. This has to be seen as a promising sign for Brad Stevens in the early going, especially given how well the offense has played in the last week. The group as a whole looks to be on the rise and they’ve been doing enough other things well (low turnovers, getting to the free-throw line) to keep the offense elite despite average shotmaking. If those numbers improve, especially from the bench unit, we could be seeing one of the best offense of the Brad Stevens era.

7. Celtics’ opponents are shooting 53 percent at the rim (3rd in NBA): Out of any stat on this list early on, this might be the most encouraging one. While the C’s are getting some valuable shot-blocking at the rim, they are providing great resistance as a hole inside of 5 feet. Layups aren’t coming easy for opponents and that’s a tribute to a versatile and mobile Celtics lineup through the first few weeks of this season. Boston has been consistently elite defending the perimeter during the Stevens era but they have been only average there (13th in defending 3-point line) in the early going. With enough resistance being shown inside despite playing plenty of undersized lineups, the C’s coaching staff have found a promising formula to build on for the next six months after struggling going small upfront through much of last season.