Thoughts on Celtics Rebounding Woes and Other Issues After an 0-3 Start

NEW ORLEANS —  The defense held up again.

The Celtics led by 17 points early on Sunday powered by a pair of steals and a block from Hugo González in a spot start, his first in the NBA in his second game. Then, Boston squandered that and a late comeback attempt from down 15 in the fourth quarter to within three by allowing droves of offensive rebounds to Detroit.

The Pistons grabbed 18 in their 119-113 win, and scored 30 second chance points, eight coming in the final three minutes as Boston fell to 0-3 for the first time since 2013-14 — a 25-win season that was Brad Stevens’ first as head coach. The Celtics have missed the playoffs in seven of the 10 seasons where they opened winless through three.

This roster still looks like it has more talent on paper than that group that followed Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett’s trade to Brooklyn. But Jayson Tatum isn’t returning to save them anytime soon. Jaylen Brown has seen a turnover spike sliding over to the No. 1 role offensively, and said he felt more hamstring tightness last night in Detroit. He’s questionable again ahead of Monday’s back-to-back. Derrick White and Payton Pritchard, also taking on more responsibility offensively, have shot inconsistently.

Rebounding loomed as a large issue to begin the year, and the Celtics played relatively smaller lineups with Sam Hauser, González and Brown at the forward spots to start the first three games. They’ve decided to lean into their strengths, courting multiple play-makers, shooters and speed rather than going big. At center, they’ve leaned on Neemias Queta, while rotating the three others behind him. Luka Garza returned and played over Xavier Tillman Sr. on Sunday. Two days earlier, Boston relented to the 21 offensive rebounds New York grabbed over them, Joe Mazzulla stressing that the Celtics need to make up for that deficiency in other areas.

“With the rebounding, we have to be as physical as we can rebounding, we have to get offensive rebounds and we have to force more turnovers,” he said. “So it’s a three thing approach to getting that. There were moments of physicality, defensively, we can be better at that and then we gotta combat it with offensive rebounding and us forcing turnovers, and us not forcing it over. If you look at those four categories defensive rebounding, offensive rebounding, forcing turnovers, not turning it over, we probably have a better chance at controlling three out of the four of those with our effort and our ability to control those things. So we gotta fight for those.”

The last three teams who finished last in defensive rebounding, the 76ers (2025), Wizards (2024) and Pacers (2023). The Nets made the postseason, but had Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, then lost in the first round, 0-4, against the Celtics. Before them, the Pacers, Hornets and Suns all finished well below .500 from 2019-21. The 2018 Bucks got in and lost in round one to the Celtics too. Since then, teams have grown more aggressive crashing, Mazzulla said, as more data shows that it doesn’t impact your transition defense. In fact, Mazzulla has blamed the Celtics’ poor crashing for their transition defense that ranks in the seventh percentile, allowing 1.34 points per possession.

And it’ll remain a challenge for this team. The Celtics have played mostly healthy all season and could lose front court depth through typical wear-and-tear. Pritchard, Brown and Queta showed some fight in Sunday, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson dominated them down the stretch, thwarting an effort where Boston held Detroit to 42.4% from the field and 26.5% from three. In the fourth, the Pistons grabbed back nine of their 15 misses and scored on five of them — a devastating rate. Celtics opponents have scored 1.23 points per possession on put back plays, ranking in the 74th percentile, according to Synergy.

That prevented Boston from unleashing the pace attack they want to even as they force the 11th-most turnovers per game (16.7) in the league so far this season. Their transition offense (0.89 PPP) ranks in the seventh percentile as one of the NBA’s worst, only ahead of Brooklyn and Minnesota. Without that, alongside giving up threes in rotation, becoming more vulnerable on the boards while scrambling defensively and shooting poorly (31.1% 3PT), they stand little chance on many nights. They’ve lost by 6.2 points per 100 possessions, which ranks 24th. There are issues beyond the rebounding, but having one that central that doesn’t appear to have a solution could become the root of a disappointing season.

It’s early, shooting fortunes could shift for them and their opponents have already regressed slightly to 35% from deep (15th). A softer schedule awaits beyond this week, but not many teams can recover from a long losing streak to begin the year. The play-in tournament era makes a turnaround more likely than long ago. And the Celtics continue to stress that they’ll need time to figure out who they are.

“A lot of our issues could be solved on the defensive glass. I gotta get involved,” Brown said. “It’s early in the season. We’re still figuring out a lot of stuff. Obviously, people don’t want to hear (that), especially in Boston. It’s not an excuse, but it takes time. I said that before the season.”

• Through three different kinds of losses, a late collapse against Philadelphia, an early blown lead in Detroit and a game that became uncompetitive quickly in New York, the Celtics have also built leads. That makes Boston’s start hard to assess, but also exposed a theme of them being unable to sustain their quality play in rotation. The starters from the first two games have a net rating of +52.8 through 25 minutes together. The González starting group finished +19.4 through 15. It’s the bench — who posted a -5.6 net rating (26th).
• If the Celtics want to find other areas to succeed in outside of the boards, where they only rank 18th offensively, they need to increase their free throw rate. While getting out-scored 74-43 in second chance points, they’ve also been out-shot 77-51 at the free throw line. They’re tied for 21st in total free throws allowed while ranking 26th in free throw rate themselves. Their big victory is in the turnover battle, forcing a 17.1% rate from their opponents while tying Memphis for the second-lowest rate (13.3%) on offense. Brown did a better job leading a parade to the free throw line late in Detroit, finishing 12-for-15 there.
• It’s becoming more clear that Mazzulla, following the González spot start, will follow through on his word to have numerous lineups throughout the season. The rotation shifted drastically back toward Garza and Josh Minott after both sat out the New York game, and could shift toward small ball on Monday depending on who’s available for New Orleans.
• Brown (hamstring) is questionable for Boston while Zion Williamson (foot) joined Yves Missi (ankle) as questionable for the Pelicans. New Orleans big Kevon Looney remains out, leaving a relatively thin front court for the 0-2 Pelicans.