After Recent Defensive Lapses, Celtics Focused on Fundamentals: 'You can't get bored with doing the right thing over-and-over again'

While it's only a four-game sample, and the Celtics are 3-1, a lack of effort and resistance has them ranked 24th defensively.

After holding the Heat to under 30 points in all four quarters of Friday's 111-104 win in Miami, playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the Celtics treated defense like a chore it had little interest in carrying out.

Fortunately for Boston, the Magic, also playing for the second night in a row, did the same. As Malcolm Brogdon plainly put it after practice on Wednesday, "it was just a game where (we were) just more talented; we were able to pull it out."

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

With the season in its infancy and the Celtics 3-0, it was easy to brush aside concerns about their defense without Robert Williams. However, in Monday's loss to the Bulls, Chicago erased a 19-point first-quarter deficit, exploiting a lack of resistance.

The Bulls produced 46 points in the paint, and they capitalized on Boston's big men playing in deep drops and a lack of physicality from those defending the ball handler, stepping into open jumpers. It played a significant role in Chicago shooting 10/21 (47.6 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Bulls also bashed the Celtics on the offensive glass, turning 14 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points. Nikola Vucevic paired his 18-point outing with 23 rebounds, creating ten extra possessions and registering eight second-chance points.

After practice on Wednesday, discussing the keys to his team getting back to playing championship-caliber defense, Joe Mazzulla conveyed the following.

"Finding areas where we can be better. Defense is something that you have to commit to every day, every game. When you have moments of lapsing, you have inconsistencies. It's all about the fundamentals, we all know what we need to do, and I think our guys did a great job today focusing on those."

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

While it's too early and too small of a sample size to overreact, it's surprising to see Boston rank 24th defensively, with opponents shooting 40 percent against them from beyond the arc, the seventh-highest percentage leaguewide. It doesn't help that their opposition is also generating 15 second-chance points per game, per NBA.com.

"I think it starts with the fundamentals," Mazzulla said of Boston making life more challenging for its competition at that end of the court.

"It's stuff that we've talked about, body position, pick up points, communication, so it's just hammering home those fundamentals, and sticking to them all the time and realizing how important they are."

Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Regarding whether accomplishing that requires lineup or schematic adjustments, Mazzulla acknowledged that possibility but first wants a more honest evaluation of how his team performs when providing more effort and resistance.

"I think the first adjustment is recommitting to it, reconnecting to what's most important, and then doing it better. And then you're always going to have to make adjustments throughout the game and throughout the year."

While it's human nature to have a bad day at work or lose focus, especially over the course of an 82-game regular season when really, all you want to do is get back to the playoffs, it's also the start of the campaign; it's a bit early to lose interest in the day-to-day grind.

To that point, Mazzulla expressed, "it's definitely hard, but what our goals are and what we're trying to accomplish, we have to be able to do that. There's going to be moments when it's not perfect, but we have so much depth, we have to rely on someone to get us out of those situations, and we've done that in the first four games.

"You can't get bored with doing the right thing over-and-over again. That's just human nature, but that's something we have to battle."

Mazzulla says the key to combating that is for the Celtics to hold each other accountable as they work to consistently perform up to the standard the defending Eastern Conference champions have established.

Further Reading

The Top 5 Plays from Monday's Celtics-Bulls Game

Here's What Stood Out in Celtics' Loss vs. Bulls: Poor Play and Frustration with Officials Headline Boston's First Loss

[Film Room] Malcolm Brogdon's Fitting in Seamlessly with Celtics, but What's More Exciting is on the Horizon

After Opening Night Win, Celtics Express Their Belief in Joe Mazzulla and His Collaborative Approach

Grant Williams on Not Getting a Contract Extension from Celtics: 'it doesn't mean that a deal won't get done in the future'