What's ailing Celtics' offense? These stats point to one main culprit

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The Boston Celtics enter Friday's marquee matchup against the Toronto Raptors with the NBA's best defensive rating.

So, why have they lost four of their last six games? Simply put: Boston's offense isn't holding up its end of the bargain.

The Celtics currently rank 24th in the NBA in points scored per game (105.6) -- behind league doormats like the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks -- and are shooting 42.9 percent from the floor, third-worst in the NBA.

Some of Boston's struggles can be contributed to rust; Gordon Hayward missed nearly 12 months of NBA action, after all. But ESPN NBA analyst and stat maven Kirk Goldsberry dug a little deeper to pinpoint the Celtics' biggest offensive weakness: their failure to score inside.

Here's Goldsberry's evidence: Boston ranks dead last in the NBA in points scored in the paint (37.6 per game), 29th in free throw attempts (19.1 per game) and 25th in offensive rebounding percentage (24.4 percent).

Those are very troubling numbers for the preseason favorite to win the Eastern Conference.

The good news for the Celtics is this isn't a personnel problem. Boston has a number of talented players who can get to the rim, most notably Kyrie Irving, who scored an average of 8.5 of his 20.7 points per game last season in the paint. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum both can beat defenders off the dribble, while Al Horford is an effective low-post scorer.

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Through 14 games, though, the C's don't seem willing to take the ball inside. Just 31.9 percent of their shots have come from inside eight feet, per Goldsberry, the lowest percentage in the NBA. Meanwhile, they're averaging the third-most 3-point attempts in the league but rank just 10th in 3-point percentage, a gap that suggests Brad Stevens may want to take a hard look at his team's shot selection.

It's worth noting Boston ranked 29th in points in the paint last season while winning 55 games, so a lack of interior offense won't necessarily be its downfall. But if the C's are serious about contending for an NBA title -- and knocking off talented clubs like the Raptors -- they'll need to strike a better offensive balance.

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