You look up one morning and suddenly the Boston Celtics have a top 5 defense in the NBA! They're ranked 4th overall in Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) to be precise.
The Celtics rank fourth in defensive rating. What sorcery is this? https://t.co/7seYEeBULD
— Paul Flannery (@Pflanns) November 16, 2015
Sorcery, perhaps. The Celtics are currently holding teams to 94.4 points per 100 possessions which is a staggering 7.7 points less than the 102.1 rating they finished with for 2014-15.
When scanning through the stats for an explanation there's one thing that jumps out to me.