Rebounding, Rebounding, Rebounding!!

by tmarine17 on Mar 11, 2010 10:40 AM EST

As everyone probably already knows, oh being at the bottom of the league might give us a hint, rebounding has been a problem this year, and has contributed to why the Celtics are losing so many games. I didn't realize how big of an issue it was until I looked a little closer. I decided to break down the numbers a little to see if it was the main reason, which I think it is, and it's not getting better, it's getting increasingly worse. We all know defense wins titles, and while there offense seams stagnet at times, being out rebounded can make it worse and lead to several issues, like fast break and second chance points. Below are the rebounding numbers for the Celtics, and there opponents, for the 22 losses they have this season. I have broken them down in 3, 6 game increments, and then the last 4. I will explain why later.

Celtics    Opp. (first 6)   Celtics    Opp. (next 6)        Celtics      Opp. (third 6)     Celtics     Opp. (last 4)

42             39                 44                43                   32               47                  40              43

29             47                 36                39                   35               39                  41              35

29             28                 35                30                   39               36                  34              41

43             42                 39                50                   40               38                  29              48

46             45                 32                35                   37               47

37             33                 35                45                   37               41

---------------------------          ----------------------------            -----------------------------           -------------------------------

226         234    (-8)         221          242    (-21)         220        248    (-28)            144     167   (-23)

-1.33 p/game difference   -3.5 p/game difference        -4.66 p/game difference       -5.75 p/game difference

Anyone see a pattern here!?!?! I would bet money that we get out rebounded by about a total of 12 the next two loses.

Now the reason I did it in 6 game increments is this. The first 6 loses were before KG got hurt. Ok, not bad. We only got out rebounded in one game, which was a huge one, and that's why the difference was -8. The next 6 losses were way worse, but that's probably because KG was out, and Rasheed's lazy (sorry, he's terrible), so the diffrence was -21. But, the glaring one is the third 6, and the last 4, where KG has been playing. It's gotten even worse with a -28 and -23 difference.

Is it because he doesn't want to mix it up down low, get tangled up, and hurt his knee again? Is it because he doesn't have that bounce anymore? Is it because he and Perk aren't inticipating where each other is going to be after a shot. Or is it because he just doesn't have anything left in the tank?

Poll

Are the Celtics rebounding woes directly related to KG

Absolutely

7 votes

No way, he's still got it

2 votes

It's probably some of the problem

14 votes

23 votes | Poll has closed

Be respectful and keep it clean. Thanks.

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Comments

I decided to take a look at the rebounding stats in the wins

and in the 24 wins before KG’s injury, we were out rebonded 947 to 943. Not much of a discrepancy, which is why we were 24-6. Since KG’s injury, which I don’t think he’s even 75% yet, in the 17 wins we out rebounded our opponents 670 to 666, but in the 16 loses, we have been out rebounded 657 to 585!! That’s 72 more rebounds, and -4.5 p/game. It’s all about the rebounding DOC!!

by tmarine17 on Mar 11, 2010 2:23 PM EST reply actions

iT'S THE SYSTEM

DUMP DOC RIVERS
DUMP DOC RIVERS
DUMP DOC RIVERS

by tyquinton on Mar 11, 2010 4:44 PM EST reply actions

Disagree with the way you are using the numbers.

You first should separate out offensive rebounds from defensive rebounds. I think if you look at all the ‘wins’ and only look at defensive rebounds, we would show a more decided advantage than ‘just a tie’. We trail in offensive rebounds fairly significantly whether we win or lose and that distorts the ‘total rebound’ number.

Beyond that, there are a lot of other factors. Here is a more lengthy discussion:

http://www.celticsblog.com/2010/3/11/1368765/understanding-rebounds-and-the

by mmmmm on Mar 11, 2010 7:17 PM EST reply actions

I understand what you are getting at

and no, i wasn’t able to break it down to offensive v. defensive because I just didn’t have the time and I was working, but it’s all relative. If they lose on the defensive side of rebounding, as I said above, that’s going to give teams second chance points, which is a killer. I agree their offensive rebounding has been pretty bad overall, which doesn’t help our own point total, but the fact is, their overall rebounding has been terrible. That’s why we are 41-22. That’s just my opinion. I’m sure 100’s of other people on this post will point to several other things, by I think the rebounding is the biggest issue. I looked at turnovers too, and we seem to be about the same with those in wins v. losses, but our assists are way better in wins then losses, so that’s a contributing factor as well. Thanks for looking at the post though. I will check yours out too.

by tmarine17 on Mar 12, 2010 11:06 AM EST up reply actions

anybody knows how we did on rebounding in the '08 season?

also, any split-ups on offensive vs defensive rebounds this season? are we getting out-rebounded at both ends very badly?
i can understand if we get out-rebounded on the offensive glass since we need to get back on defense. but why in the world would we give up defensive rebounding positions to lesser centers/forwards/teams. any reason behind doc not really stressing on it or is it just that the hustle is not there in the players now? i rarely see them blocking out the opposition on the defensive glass and have noticed that a lot of the times the rebounds we get were because the ball just came our way (as in rondo or ray happened to be around the baseline and the ball came close-by). this is totally unacceptable.
also, if i remember right, we were not that good a fast-break team back in ‘08, we were more comfortable executing in the half-court. but this year, i notice a lot of fast-break tries (with long outbound passes) which might be a reason behind more turnovers and lesser defensive rebounds because a couple of guys are always looking to run the floor for the fast break rather than concentrating on the glass and securing a rebound. is it all because the team has lost confidence in our half-court sets and trying to get fast/easy baskets? that’s like changing the identity of this team and i dont see it working for a long time.
these trends are not based on the last two losses, but somethings i noticed this season as a whole.

by keychey on Mar 11, 2010 7:30 PM EST reply actions