{"id":148701,"date":"2025-09-29T17:13:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T21:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=148701"},"modified":"2025-09-29T17:13:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T21:13:05","slug":"celtics-tease-new-play-style-to-begin-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clnsmedia.com\/?p=148701","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Tease New Play Style to Begin Training Camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON —<\/strong> Early last spring, as the Celtics statistically dropped to becoming the slowest team in the NBA by averaging 93 possessions per game over the final two months,\u00a0Joe Mazzulla\u00a0<\/strong>stressed that there are many definitions of pace. Aside from the flawed possession count, teams look at how quickly they cross half court, get into their actions and position themselves to take a shot. After a win at Memphis to end March, Mazzulla approximated 67% of the Celtics’ possessions started with 18 seconds on the shot clock.<\/p>\n

Yet when the playoffs arrived, Boston’s pace only sunk further. They averaged 91.7 possessions per game, which only the Magic posted fewer than in the first round. Orlando pulled them into the mud, and Boston thrived at methodically searching for mismatches, but into the New York series, as\u00a0Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is’\u00a0<\/strong>play deteriorated,\u00a0Jaylen Brown<\/strong> struggled through his knee injury and\u00a0Jayson Tatum<\/strong> succumbed to an Achilles tear, the Celtics’ offense grinded to a halt. It became\u00a0Brad Stevens’\u00a0<\/strong>biggest takeaway from the six game loss.<\/p>\n

“When we got stagnant and we played without pace, and you could just feel it,” Stevens said in July. “You could see the walking up. You could see all that. I think we’re going to try to address some of that.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n