Celtics Title Town

Celtics rebounding rank

2008

League rank: 12

Opposing team rank: 2

2009

League rank: 9

Opposing team rank: 2

2010

League rank: 25

Opposing team rank: 8

2011

League rank: 29

Opposing team rank: 4

2012

League rank: 28

Opposing team rank: 22

It's an obvious trend, and we already know it's an issue with this team. What's the issue with rebounding? Is it Paul Pierce? Nope he's had an average of 5 or more rebounds per game for the past five seasons. What about the best rebounding point guard in the NBA? Nope, Rondo is over 4 a game, and that's the norm for him for the past five seasons. Garnett is virtually the same from the past four seasons, and one below his  2008 average. One below isn't a big deal right?  Ray is also above his 3 per game, and when Perk was here he snagged over 6, and you know what Bass grabs over 6. So how are the Celtics ranked 28th? The starters virtually have the same rebounding totals as the 2008, and 2009 teams who ranked high in the NBA.

My findings? It's the bench that has slacked for the Celtics. Posey averaged over 4 boards a game, and Pietrus is a little over 3 per game for us. That's negative one already. Powe, and Baby, and when you add in P.J Brown they all averaged over 4 a game. Tony Allen over 2, and the smallest guy on the team Eddie House had over 2.

The Celtics have had only   two players with over 2 boards a game off the bench, and those two are Pietrus, and Stiemsma. The Championship team had 5 players coming off the bench with more than two rebounds a game, compared to this years 2 players.  Jermaine averaged 5 a game when he was around, but I'm not even counting that.

I'm not a fan of comparing 2008 to now, but when I looked at the rebounding totals compared to now. I noticed the starters had almost the same totals from this years starters. I also counted Ray as a starter because he started over 42 games this season.

So is it the bench? Is it something else? Can the Celtics win without rebounding from the bench? Do you think the Celtics pick up their rebounding in the playoffs?