How the Celtics have morphed into the NBA's best offense

It was only three weeks ago when the Celtics opened their season in Philadelphia shooting worse in that matchup (36 percent) than over any of their 82 regular-season games last year. The 93 points the visitors mustered in the opening night defeat was the lowest point showing in the entire league outside of the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers.

On Wednesday night, the Celtics scored more points in a regular season game in regulation since 1992, cruising to a 140-133 victory over the Washington Wizards with their ninth straight win. They have scored 104 or more points in all nine of those victories and currently sit with the best offense in the NBA (113 points per 100 possessions) after 10 games.

What a difference a month makes.

The C’s are finding a number of different ways to win during their hot streak and after a sluggish start to their offensive prowess in October, this group is morphing quickly into the most dangerous scoring group of the Brad Stevens era. Even with one of their best weapons (Gordon Hayward) watching from the sidelines, the C’s have only gained momentum on the offensive end of the floor, putting together three of their best offensive outings of the year to lift them to No. 1 in the NBA.

The points came easy against a Wizards team that is not interested in playing much defense (28th) in the league due to their personnel. Seven players scored in double figures for the C’s in the offensive eruption led by none other than Kemba Walker (25 points).

A look at the shooting numbers leaves plenty of room for improvement for Boston as the team ranks just 15th in FG percentage (45 percent) and seventh in 3-point shooting (37 percent). Yet, somehow, this team is far and away the best offense in the league through 10 games. How have they managed to pull this off in the first few weeks despite a number of key injuries? And is it sustainable over the long-term? Let’s look closer into this promising start.

Taking care of the ball

More possessions mean more shots and the Celtics are better than any team in the league right now ensuring that they get a chance to score every possession. They have turned the ball over just 11.5 times per game, nearly two fewer turnovers than the second-place team in the league. With all of their high volume players (Walker, Brown, Tatum) etc. doing a great job taking care of the ball, they are maximizing chances.

Bench coming alive

It is no coincidence that the C’s have risen up the offensive rankings just as their second unit has come alive. After managing under 20 points per game in the first two weeks of the year, Boston’s bench is now averaging 34 points per game over the last four contests, even while losing a key piece to the starting five in Marcus Smart.

That group is shooting 51 percent from the field and 36 percent from 3-point range over that stretch as different players have stepped up on each night. Against the Wizards, it was none other than Carsen Edwards who posted a career-high with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, kickstarting a decisive 10-0 fourth-quarter run for the hosts with his offense. That type of production to support a top-heavy starting five has quickly turned Boston’s offense from good to great.

“It’s important for nights like this,” Edwards said. “I’m not even speaking for myself – I’m speaking on the guys I’m watching. They have an impact on the floor every time they’re out there. Brad (Wanamaker) is a dude I like to follow, just watch how he has an impact and is always ready. A lot of guys come off the bench. Grant comes off the bench and plays well as well. Javonte, guys like that. It’s big for guys like us when we do get minutes to try to help the team.”

Walker acknowledged that he’s tried to keep in regular contact with some of the team’s younger reserves to help them overcome their early-season struggles and inconsistent playing time. That seems to do the trick with Edwards on Wednesday night.

"(Carsen’s) a guy who I spoke to a few days ago about staying ready,” Walker explained. “He was big time tonight, we needed it. We needed it. It was a point in time in the game when we were struggling a little bit, and he came in and he turned us up a little bit. And Brad is always Brad, he’s super solid, he’s not going to make many mistakes, and you could see tonight — 10 points, he was +15, which was big time. Semi came in and made some plays as well. Like I said, VP as well. We need our bench, we need those guys to come in and just do what they can to help us. Of course, all the attention is going to be on myself and the rest of the starters but when those guys come off the bench, we need them to come in and be huge for us.”

Balanced high production from the big names

Only three teams in the NBA have had three 20-point scorers on one team since 1990. The Celtics appear to have a legitimate chance to join that trio based on the early play of their starting five. Walker is now averaging 25 points per game while Jaylen Brown (20.1 PPG), Jayson Tatum (19.8 PPG) and Hayward (18.9 PPG) have all shown the ability to put together big nights at any moment. Walker, Brown and Tatum all scored between 22 and 25 points on Wednesday night, while all shooting above 45 percent from the field.

The combination of efficiency with strong production was hard to come by last season among multiple players on the wing. Now, everyone is getting going at some point on almost every night and it’s making the C’s offense that much tougher for defenses to handle.

“Tonight, getting 32 assists is a good thing,” Stevens explained. “But also, we are balancing that with being appropriately aggressive we have a lot of guys we can go to on a given possession which is a real luxury. You know, Jaylen (Brown) is a guy that you can go to against matchups and different pick-and-pop, pick-and-roll opportunities. Jayson (Tatum) you can do that with, obviously Smart has done some of that for us, Kemba (Walker) is ridiculous at that stuff so and we obviously got Gordon (Hayward) sitting out so we’ve got a lot of guys that you can go to in those moments to create plays for themselves and others. We’ve got to keep sharing it the right way and playing the right way and hopefully we can build off and make shots like we have been recently.”

Mix in some improved free-throw production thanks to Walker (5.9 attempts per game) and Brown (5.0 attempts per game) and the C’s have an offense that can hang with the best teams in the league on most nights.

These areas will be put to the test in the next week as a five-game road trip lies ahead. It should start easy against the lowly Warriors but some above .500 teams await in Phoenix, LA Clippers and Denver that will put this nine-game winning streak and offense into tough situations.

“We’re going to learn a lot,” Walker said of the upcoming stretch. “We’re going to learn a lot man. When you go on road trips is when adversity starts to hit, fatigue starts to set in, guys want to get back home. Those trips are long. But we’re going to learn a lot about each other. But hopefully, when adversity does hit, we’re going to see how we handle it. That’s what’s the most important thing. For me, I just want to keep this team together as much as possible. This is a huge stretch for us, really important, and it’s gonna show what we’re made of.”

Given that Boston has already put together the best 10-game start since the 2008 championship season it’s worth wondering whether this group can call itself a contender just yet. If their offense holds up without Hayward to put together a winning record on this trip, it’s safe to put them in that category.