When the Celtics acquired Enes Kanter in the offseason, one thing he was guaranteed to bring the team was rebounding — which has been a weakness for the Celtics in recent years. Especially on the offensive end.
In the win over the Raptors, Boston had 21 offensive rebounds without Kanter. Not once did they ever grab 20 offensive rebounds last season. They did one time the season before. So the Celtics haven't had a ton of second-chance opportunities under Brad Stevens in recent years.
Now, the Celtics didn't exactly shoot the lights out throughout the win (38.5% from the floor), but in years past, the Raptors would've dominated the glass.
"We missed 57 shots in the Philly game and the only thing we said was, 'If your job is to go, go,'" Stevens said after the 112-106 win. "And that was something we were talking about earlier (on Friday). WE don't want to flood the offensive glass and not be back in transition, but the appropriate guys have to go at the appropriate times. We've got a lot of athletic wings. Depending on where they are on the floor, we want them to go."
Grant Williams led the charge on the offensive glass, grabbing six rebounds. Gordon Hayward, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum each had three offensive rebounds.
As Stevens stated, the Celtics wings can do some damage in this aspect of the game.
"We just got to do what teams do against us," Tatum said. "A lot of teams crash from the weak side. Often times, myself included, the wings, we just get back. We (are) tall enough — we got to give ourselves a chance. You're not going to get it every time. But that one time you do get it, it's big."
