Eddie House maps out ‘red flags’ for Celtics so far this season

Even with Tuesday’s surprising loss to the Atlanta Hawks, the Boston Celtics are still looking like one of the top teams in the NBA this season.

The reigning NBA champions sit in second place in the Eastern Conference with a 9-3 record — all with star big man Kristaps Porzingis still recovering from ankle surgery.

But Boston is not without faults its season, with several of those shortcomings magnified during the team’s NBA Cup loss to Atlanta at TD Garden.

The Hawks — who entered Tuesday’s game without star Trae Young — were tabbed as 16.5-point underdogs against Boston.

But the Celtics made things easy on the Hawks by committing 20 turnovers — directly leading to 19 points for Atlanta. But beyond Boston’s own miscues, the Hawks carved up the Celtics near the basket, recording 20 offensive rebounds and scoring 68 total points in the paint.

Boston finished with just six offensive rebounds and 32 points in the paint against the Hawks.

As frustrating as Tuesday’s loss was, the Celtics have run into issues throughout the 2024-25 season when it comes to production in the paint.

Boston is allowing 52.2 points in the paint per game (24th in the NBA) so far this season, while only scoring 39.8 points in the paint per game — which ranks 30th in the NBA.

Joe Mazzulla’s gameplan relies on the Celtics burying teams with volley after volley of shots from 3-point range. But Boston’s interior defense and struggles down low have raised some concerns for former Celtics guard and current NBC Sports Boston analyst Eddie House.

“Right now we’re giving up 52 points in the paint per game. That is bottom-third in the league,” House said on Celtics Postgame Live Tuesday, adding:  “I know we shoot a lot of 3s, so I understand that. But we’re last (in points in the paint). So, we have to find some sort of balance.

“It’s OK sometimes to get to the rim to get an easy bucket, to get a deuce. We don’t always have to shoot a 3. This isn’t overreacting. I’m not gonna push a panic button on this. But these are little tiny red flags, and while they’re small, you want to stomp them out so they don’t become big red flags that could affect you later on in the season — or something that somebody could look at and say, ‘This is how you can attack this team. This is how you can beat this team.’”

Boston’s reliance on the 3-pointer likely means that the Celtics will remain near the bottom of the league when it comes to scoring in the paint.

But Mazzulla’s team needs to shore up its interior defense — something that should be made easier once Porzingis is cleared for game action next month.