Hello Hello! It’s been a minute!
Azad is still recovering from his return trip to France. He CRUSHED his coverage while repping CelticsBlog over in Boston for the home stretch. So, I’ve been given the opportunity to step back into my old stomping ground (the takeaways.)
It’s been weird not writing here on a nearly daily basis — something I’d done for the best part of five years — although it was only last year that I manned this section of the site after the venerable Keith Smith passed the torch.
Ok, that’s enough reminiscing. Let’s dive in!
#1 The Celtics are banged up
It’s been an up-and-down season for the Celtics, in terms of health. Coming into this game, we had Jaylen Brown dealing with a knee injury, and ultimately leaving the contest with back spasms. Jrue Holiday is still dealing with a mallet finger. Kristaps Porzignis’ mystery illness. Sam Hauser’s intermittent back issues. Al Horford is dealing with age-related wear-and-tear.
The list can continue.
My point is, on the second night of a back-to-back in mid-March, health is of the utmost importance. Over the next 14 games, it would be nice to see the Celtics at full strength, getting some much-needed reps as a unit ahead of the postseason.
Perhaps that’s why I cringed when Tatum played the entire 1st quarter. I was looking around for Tom Thibodeau, to be honest. I jest.
#2 The return of KP
After eight games out of the rotation with a mysterious illness, Porzingis quickly made his presence felt. His first bucket of the game came around the 11 minute mark. Some two-man action between Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, with Porzingis slipping his screen, getting the rock, and attacking off the bounce, leading to an encouraging interior bucket.
You could see there was some rust with his work from three-point range. Most of those attempts front rimmed out, which was either due to fatigue, a lack of energy, or some weakness in his lower body — all of which can be attributed to whatever illness he’s been dealing with.
“I haven’t been this sick for probably ever in my life,” Porziņģis said after the game. “So I was really, for a week really just laying at home trying to recover. And after that, I had lingering fatigue, and I still have it a little bit, but at least I’m now getting into shape to be able to play. But after each workout, I was boom, big crash. I was really, really fatigued. Like, not normal. So, yeah, it’s taking a little bit longer, but I’m doing everything, all my bio-hacking stuff that I know, and just trying to get back in the best shape possible.”
Ideally, Porzingis will have more of an impact on the glass once he’s back to himself. Still, his interior scoring was impressive, especially as he ramped up his production in the fourth quarter. His poster dunk late in the fourth was a fun moment, especially as it showed his conditioning isn’t as far off as you would think.
We all know how important Porzingis is to the Celtics’ chances of success. On a night where Al Horford was sitting out, it was good to see The Unicorn back on the floor and providing some rim protection and deterrence along with his shot making. The hope is that he can now stay healthy for the remainder of the season and throughout the playoffs. It’s not a shock, or stretch, to say that the teams’ chances of success are far greater with him in the rotation.
Anyway, one aspect of Porzignis’ play that I really liked was…
#3 Porzingis ducking-in from the corners
Placing Porzingis in the corner is a smart move from the Celtics coaching staff. He has the shooting gravity to keep defenses honest, the handle to attack closeouts, and the size to pressure the rim on corner crashes. However, what I liked was how the Celtics had Porzingis cutting out of the corner to duck into postups, thus getting him quality matchups at a position of strength.
D’Angelo Russell is arguably the Nets’ weakest defender. As such, logic dictates to hide him in the weakside corner. By putting Porzingis in that spot, the Celtics have an opportunity to punish Russell’s presence on the defensive end. Rather than hunting a catch-and-shoot opportunity, which could have seen the Nets tilt the floor and look to pressure Porzingis off the bounce, the veteran big man cut toward the nail, and ducked into a post-up.
From there, everything is easy money for Porzingis. He’s already created a passing angle for Holiday, has a clear mismatch, and is cash from the middle of the floor — especially when shooting over guys.
On this possession, Jordi Fernandez has tried to counter Porzingis being in the corner. Rather than have Russell hidden out on the weakside, the Nets have Day’Ron Sharpe zoning up the corner, so he can pick up a slot drive if one occurs, while being close enough to contain Porzingis while also being a passing lane threat.
Russell is now tasked with guarding Hauser, who begins this action in the weakside dunker spot. A wedge screen from Hauser allows Porzingis to cut out of the corner toward the opposite post. The screen also forces a switch to occur, putting Russell back on Porzingis. At this point, it’s the same playbook, Porzingis ducks in, gets the rock and punishes the mismatch. However, rather than getting a bucket, the big man draws a foul. I’ll take it.
I like the Porzingis-in-the-corner idea. I’m a big fan of the coaching chess battles that take place, and this wrinkle of the game was fun to follow — at least, it was for me.
#4 Payton Pritchard, History Maker
After tying the NBA record for total threes off the bench in a season during the 1st half, it was touch and go as to whether Pritchard would break the record at some point in the game. In the fourth quarter, the Oregon product finally got his name etched into league history, sinking his 219th three off the bench this season. He quickly followed that up with his 220th.
I’ve been singing Pritchard’s praises all season long. He’s the Sixth Man of the Year in my book — just as he is for most of us. I like to think of Pritchard as the final gift from Danny Ainge, as he was his last draft pick as part of the Celtics front office.
Over the past 18 months, Pritchard has emerged as arguably the best bench guard in the NBA. He keeps finding ways to improve his game. Last season, it was his ability to create separation via contact initiation, and this year, it’s his off-the-dribble shooting. A genuine three-level scorer who controls the pace and tempo. I loved seeing him set a league-wide record.
If you’ve ever played the video game series ‘sniper elite’ just know the next release of that game will be based on Pritchard — it has to be.
#5 Jrue Holiday, Playmaker
Holiday ended the night with 12 dimes to his name. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that before he was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, and subsequently found himself with the Celtics, Holiday was a secondary and tertiary option for the Milwaukee Bucks. As such, his versatility can emerge in multiple different ways, such as his double-double night against Brooklyn.
Interestingly, six of Holiday’s dimes went directly to Porzingis — maybe there’s a two-man game there? Maybe the Celtics can explore that more over the next few weeks?
As an interesting aside, coming into last night’s game, Holiday had assisted Porzingis 19 times all season. That tally now stands at 25. So, roughly 26% of all of the Holiday-Porzingis dimes for this season came in this one contest.
This play felt like the most Holiday-on-the-Celtics possession out of all his dimes. A little guard/guard hand-off with Jaylen Brown on the corner, setting up what is known as a Miami Action — a hand-off into a pick-and-roll / pin-down for the ball-handler. Holiday slips the defense and re-locates to the dunker spot — you can guess the rest.
#6 High PnR Pocket Passes
Sticking with playmaking momentarily, a core aspect of Boston’s pick-and-roll creation this season has come from high pocket passes, such as the one in the clip below.
Usually, Tatum is the recipient of these high pocket passes, as it allows him to attack an opposing big off the dribble while getting down hill. The beauty of having Porzingis in the rotation, is that he’s more than capable of scoring off the bounce, especially if he stops and pulls up from mid-range to counter the defense.
Ok, this clip isn’t from the Nets game, but I’m working on something to do with assist combos right now, and the topic of high pocket passes is part of that. So, just for reference, here’s how it often looks with Tatum as the recipient.
This little PnR wrinkle has been a staple for the Celtics this season. The fact that they can get good production out of it with Tatum, Brown, Holiday or Porzingis as the roll man is a testament to the elite versatility available throughout the roster. I’m also sure I’ve missed two or three names off this list.
Here’s another example of that high pick-and-roll pocket pass from later in the game. Again, Porzingis is the beneficiary, and again, he counters the defense with a little pull-up.
#7 Interior Scoring
According to Cleaning The Glass, the Celtics attacked the rim on 30% of their total possessions. However, without Nic Claxton protecting the cup and anchoring the paint, Mazzulla’s team converted at a 73.9% clip. I would assume Tatum had a big hand in that success rate, as he continually found routes to the rim.
I’ve been a big fan of how Tatum has been looking to drive the gap on blitzs this season. I also liked how Kornet’s slip screen helped create the gap for Tatum to exploit. There’s a level of force that Tatum plays with now that makes him appear unstoppable when he decides to turn the corner or drop his shoulder — and I don’t know about you, but I always feel confident it’s going in.
Of course, when Tatum isn’t splitting the defense or getting switched onto a big in space, he can use his size and strength to overpower his defender on bully drives, just as he did in the above clip.
#8 Playing against a set defense
We’ve got to give credit to the Nets here. Cleaning The Glass tracked Boston’s overall offense, noting that a whopping 86.7% of their offense came in the half-court against a set defense. The Nets limited the Celtics’ opportunities for run-outs and fastbreaks, and they made the reigning champions work for every bucket they got.
I’m not too concerned, though — the Celtics are primarily a halfcourt based offense, and the additional reps of cooking a set defense will always come in handy.
I get that the above clip resulted in a mid-range fadeaway from Tatum…BUT…I like that the Celtics are starting to run some more motion-based sets in the halfcourt, as now is the time to start sharpening some of these types of actions for the postseason. In a game where most of the offense was against a set defense, I found this play to be an encouraging sign — process over results, and all that.
#9 Sam Hauser attacking closeouts
If you’ve been following my newsletter this season, you will likely know that I’ve been tracking Hauser’s growth in terms of attacking closeouts off the bounce. I started tracking this development midway through last season when I was still writing the closeouts, and have been genuinely impressed.
Out of all of Hauser’s finishes when putting the ball on the floor to cook closeouts, this has got to be my favorite. He splits two defenders, slightly snakes his dribble and finishes around the rim with a little bit of flare.
Bald Hauser is confident. Bald Hauser is fun. Bald Hauser is here to stay.
#10 Jaylen Brown’s footwork is a joy to watch
Can we take like 10 seconds to appreciate Brown’s footwork?
Brown has significantly improved when playing off two feet. Those improvements have occurred gradually over the past two years. However, a byproduct of that two-footed development, is that Brown’s overall footwork has gone to another level, especially in the mid-post.
The above play was a footwork masterpiece, as Brown manipulated a crowd, got defenders off their feet and then hit the easy shovel pass for a dunk. Just wonderful!
Final Thoughts
Writing this was fun! It’s nice to flex the old takeaways muscles and say a virtual hello to you all! I’m sure Azad will be back in no time, and will continue crushing his coverage and showcasing his undoubted skill and potential!
Still, for today, on this random Sunday, let me sign off with a GO CELTICS!
