“Road” Court Advantage is real for the Boston Celtics

The Celtics begin a five-game road trip tonight and do so as the NBA's best road team defensively which puts a brighter spotlight on the blueprint for their success - defense.

Road trips in the NBA are usually a good thing for teams looking for ways to instill more of a bunker-like mindset among the players.

At worst, the time away from family, friends and fans can help strengthen bonds among players. And if this coincides with a few more wins, buzzwords like “improved team chemistry” are thrown around more liberally.

So it’s no surprise that the way the Boston Celtics are seen now, a solid team that’s playing with better - you guessed it - team chemistry, is very different from how they were viewed after dropping five of their first seven games of the season.

Marcus Smart calling out Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to pass the ball more to teammates, has been the one turning point in the season you can point to and see a tangible shift with this team.

But there has been a constant with this group, and that has been their play on the road this season.

Boston isn’t just a good team on the road.

They’re the best in the NBA; defensively at least.

And that has provided both a glimmer of hope that bigger and better days for this franchise are in the cards down the road, just as long as they let their defense pave the way.

But here’s the thing.

Can we really feel confident that will happen?

Because as well as they have been on defense, we still see them from time to time (not as much the last month as say, the first few weeks of the season) reverting back to too much isolation basketball.

It makes for some great highlights.

But winning games?

Not really.

Remembering what got them to a point of respectability this season - their defense - will be critical for them to have success during what’s shaping up to be their most challenging stretch of this season.

The Celtics kick off the first of five road games out West tonight against Utah, a place that has been a house of horrors for many teams in the past and is again this year with Utah among the top teams in the league.

Boston’s best shot at beating Utah, or any team out West in the next week or so, has to begin and end with their defense.

The Celtics’ defense hasn’t been good on the road this year.

It has been better than any other team in the league, evident by them having a league-best defensive rating on the road of 101.2.

Because of their defense, what looks to be an incredibly difficult stretch they are about to hit, may not be quite as daunting.

First-year coach Ime Udoka has been preaching all season the importance of defense to this team winning games.

It took a few weeks for Udoka’s message to fully marinate with his players.

There’s little doubt that Boston’s defense has become the identity the Celtics have to identify with if they are to be successful.

When they win, their defensive rating is 98.7.

In losses, their defensive rating is a not-so-great, 111.1

Their most recent win over Philadelphia wasn’t decided until the final play.

That play?

It was Robert Williams III’s blocking a corner jumper , a play that salvaged Boston’s 88-87 victory over the Sixers.

Boston has been among the league’s best at blocking shots this season, and are even better on the road where they average 5.9 blocks per game - second in the NBA only to Indiana’s 6.7 blocks per game.

The Celtics have also been road Warriors in the hustle categories, such as limiting second-chance points and points in the paint on the road.

So as challenging as this upcoming stretch of games may look, Boston’s defense gives them a chance to not just compete but actually come out of this West Coast trip with a few more wins over quality opponents.