Anthony Davis is Going to Destroy the Boston Celtics Again This Year
Anthony Davis is a great basketball player.
In 2013-2014 the Boston Celtics big men were not great basketball players. What that led to was Anthony Davis dominating the Celtics to the tune of averages of 31.5 points, 15 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 3 blocks a game in the two games the two teams played last season.
Unfortunately for the Celtics Anthony Davis is still just 21 years old and getting better at basketball. And the Celtics have basically the same exact players to try to defend him. Things are going to get ugly for Boston no matter who guards Davis but because we are going to enjoy that let’s take a look at why exactly the Celtics can’t defend the Brow by looking at the few players they are going to try to use to do so.
Jeff Green is a pretty good NBA player. The promise that he showed early in his career will never really get lived up to but Green is a nice piece for contenders, even if he is stuck on the Celtics. Green is also a pretty decent defender both on the wing and at the power forward spot when the Celtics shift down into small ball lineups but he doesn’t really stand a chance against Davis due to his tweener size.
Green stands at just 6’8” with just a 7’1.25” wingspan which pales in comparison to Davis who measured in at 6’10.5” with a 7’5.5” wingspan. That difference allows Davis to just rise up and shoot easily over Green. Green didn’t see any time against Davis last season, and with the season being a bit of a lost cause again it seems doubtful that he will this year as the Celtics will be trying to get as many minutes as possible to their young bigs.
Bass was one of three primary Davis defenders when he went off in March for 40 points and 21 rebounds against Boston in March and he stood no chance. Like Green, Bass is a smaller power forward at just 6’7.25” with just a 7’2.5” wingspan. Unlike Green, Bass is also slow and relatively unathletic which makes defending the long, quick, athletic Davis almost impossible.
What that leads to is looks like this for Davis, who gets off the ground and into his motion before Bass can even react, making whatever attempt he makes to defend a shot useless.
Eye on Basketball writer Zach Harper is fond of calling Kelly Olynyk’s defense like watching a duck play in traffic which isn’t a great sign for someone who will be asked to defend Anthony Davis this season. Olynyk never seems to actually be in the right spot on defense and even when he is his lack of athleticism makes actually defending hard for him. Davis burned him multiple times during the 40 point game last year including this play where Davis just went at Olynyk on a pick-and-roll and finished the basket like the Celtics big man wasn’t even there.
Sullinger is the bigger body that the Celtics put on Davis at times last year but he doesn’t posses anywhere near the quickness to guard Davis for extended minutes. The easiest example of that is here where Davis catches the ball while Sullinger is still moving and before Sullinger can even react Davis is at the rim for the finish.
The Other Stuff:
The other thing that makes Davis so hard for the Celtics to defend is his ability to run the floor. The Celtics as a team weren’t great in transition defense last year ranking 18th in the league. With Anthony Davis running the floor that is a massive problem. In that 40 point performance Davis got a couple of easy buckets by just running down the floor and beating the Celtics there like he did on this play.
Davis always runs the floor hard and with a purpose and if defenses aren’t back quickly he will destroy them, which is a problem for the Celtics and their fleet of slow bigs giving Davis three or four easy baskets a game if he wants them.
Obviously Davis won’t put up 40 points per game every time the Celtics and Pelicans play for the rest of his career but looking at the Boston roster for this season and anticipating growth for Davis should be encouraging for Pelicans fans. There wasn’t a player on the Celtics who could play Davis a season ago and in all likelihood there won’t be again this year. In what should be the season of the Brow the Celtics are set to be another victim.