{"id":166336,"date":"2025-11-10T09:18:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T14:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=166336"},"modified":"2025-11-10T09:18:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T14:18:50","slug":"five-stats-that-have-defined-the-celtics-opening-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/10\/five-stats-that-have-defined-the-celtics-opening-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Stats That Have Defined the Celtics\u2019 Opening Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Celtics<\/a>\u2019 opening month has been a fascinating mix of grit, overachievement, and growing pains. Despite losing three key players from their 2024 championship team and missing franchise superstar Jayson Tatum,<\/a> Boston remains competitive. Most organizations would take a gap year after such turnover. Instead, Joe Mazzulla\u2019s group continues to fight, showing that culture can sometimes outweigh talent. Boston sits at 5-6, 10th in the East, but the record doesn\u2019t tell the full story. The numbers do. Here are five stats that define the Celtics strange but resilientopening month.<\/p>\n

Five Stats That Have Defined the Celtics\u2019 Opening Month<\/h2>\n

A Positive Net Rating Despite a Losing Record<\/h3>\n
\"Jaylen
Apr 29, 2025; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) drives the ball against Orlando Magic guard Cory Joseph (10) in the third quarter during game five of first round for the 2025 NBA Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Celtics are the only sub-.500 team with a positive net rating (+2.5)<\/a>. This stat reveals something important: they\u2019re competing at a playoff level, even if the wins haven\u2019t followed. Boston\u2019s 2-4<\/a> record in clutch games suggests a mix of inexperience and bad luck. With Tatum sidelined, execution late in games has suffered, but the effort remains undeniable.<\/p>\n

Creating Open Looks Without Tatum<\/h3>\n

An encouraging number in the Celtics\u2019 opening month is that 63.8% of their field goals are open or wide open. That\u2019s the highest rate in the league. The Celtics are generating clean looks despite missing their offensive anchor. The problem? Converting them. The team\u2019s shooting variance is killing efficiency, but the process is strong\u2014something Mazzulla will surely emphasize as players grow more comfortable in expanded roles.<\/p>\n

Living and Dying by the Jumper<\/h3>\n

Boston continues to lean heavily into Mazzulla-ball. They attempt only 21.4<\/a> field goals within five feet of the basket, the fewest in the league. Meanwhile, they lead the NBA in three-point attempts (32.8 per game). Last season, they paired volume with accuracy, ranking top-10<\/a> in percentage. This season, they\u2019ve fallen to 24th<\/a>. They\u2019re staying committed to the philosophy, but the roster\u2019s reduced shooting depth makes it a tougher sell.<\/p>\n

A Midrange Revival<\/h3>\n

Unexpectedly, the Celtics lead the league in both midrange attempts (8.2)<\/a> and makes. Jaylen Brown<\/a> has powered this evolution, shooting a blistering 59.6%<\/a> from 15 to 19 feet on a league-leading 4.3 attempts per game. It\u2019s ironic that Mazzulla\u2019s team\u2014long allergic to midrange shots\u2014is now thriving there. It\u2019s not ideal analytically, but it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n

Rebounding and Hustle Define Their Grit<\/h3>\n

The Celtics rank just 21st<\/a> in rebounds per game (42.4). Losing Kristaps Porzi\u0146\u0123is<\/a> and Al Horford<\/a> has gutted their interior presence. Yet Boston compensates with hustle. They rank second in loose balls recovered (72)<\/a> and third in charges drawn. That\u2019s the identity Mazzulla wants\u2014scrappy, selfless, relentless.<\/p>\n

Boston\u2019s record may not scream success, but the underlying metrics show a foundation worth building on. The Celtics\u2019 opening month proves that even with injuries, roster changes, and skepticism, this team refuses to fold. The numbers tell a story of resilience\u2014a team still finding itself but already fighting like it belongs.<\/p>\n

Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Celtics\u2019 opening month has been a fascinating mix of grit, overachievement, and growing pains. Despite losing three key players from their 2024 championship team and missing franchise superstar Jayson Tatum, Boston remains competitive. Most organizations would take a gap year after such turnover. Instead, Joe Mazzulla\u2019s group continues to fight, showing that culture can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":166013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,5,3],"tags":[50244,4710,450,4765],"class_list":["post-166336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-news","tag-2025-26-nba-season","tag-advanced-stats","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-joe-mazulla"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166353,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166336\/revisions\/166353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}