Playing the Pacers is like riding a mechanical bull. With every buck, you have to counter by shifting your weight over and over again. Once false move could make you lose your balance and knock you off.
However, in keeping with the analogy, the Celtics might actually be a real bull, one that could gore you with real horns.
In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston played bully ball in Indiana’s china shop.
“When you play in the chaos, you have to embrace the chaos,” Joe Mazzulla said after his team won the points in the paint battle 54-36 and grabbed thirteen offensive rebounds. “There’s going to be possessions when it is chaotic and you have to be able to handle it. I thought our guys did a good job handling it with multiple efforts.”
When the Celtics went small in the second half with Oshae Brissett entering the rotation (finishing tied for a team-high +18), they were able to switch all screens, neutralizing the Pacers’ offense by keeping everything in front of them. Indiana runs screen action after screen action with multiple dribble handoffs and backdoor cuts on a single possession. Make one mistake and you’re toast.
In the first and second quarters, Boston was getting killed in the mid-range with either Al Horford or Luke Kornet (who left the game and didn’t return with a sprained wrist) in the drop. Playing small, defenders could play up on the perimeter. Above, you can see multiple Celtics taking Ben Sheppard as he navigates above the break.
All week, the team has stressed discipline and accountability. The Pacers try to rock their boat in order to flip it, but again, the Celtics work as a series of bulkheads and more times than not, never take on enough water to sink.
Derrick White knows that his man, Doug McDermott, is at least two passes away to be part of the play, so he protects the paint and gets the strip on Jalen Smith.
Jrue Holiday on the success of the Celtics’ small ball lineup:
“They do a great job of having controlled chaos… they move the ball, they move bodies, they play fast. But we can also do that. We can go small, we can go big, we can slow down, we can play fast, we can execute.” pic.twitter.com/rXUZIrdH6u
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzellNBA) May 24, 2024
These (Steve) Nash dribbles went nowhere.
On offense, the Celtics use similar tactics to compromise Indiana’s defense, but with the talent and size disparity as it is, Boston has an easier time taking advantage of the Pacers’ defense.
“Chaos for chaos, right? They do a great job of having…seems like controlled chaos. The way that they play, they move the ball, they move bodies, and they play fast,” Jrue Holiday said after recording a double-double of 15 points and 10 assists. “But we can also do that. We can go small, we can go big, we can play fast, we can slow down and execute.”
The Celtics are just more potent when their running similar actions. As soon as White draws two defenders, he knows there’s an opening somewhere. The bull rider is tilting too far in one direction. The water is at deck level. Tatum gets the pass wide open at the three-point line, but instead of taking the three, he makes another move and drives for the easy dunk.
Don’t mess with the bull or you’ll get the horns, right?
“Just being aggressive, wanting to get out in transition and run, wanting to attack their smaller guards, put pressure on them, get to the basket, get to the free throw line,” Jaylen Brown said after finishing with 40 points on 14-of-27 shooting.
It’s Tatum with the and-1 above, not Brown, but it’s just indicative of how the Celtics can put pressure on the Pacers without much resistance. Some of that is talent, for sure, but the size and speed differential is more noticeable than against the Heat and Cavaliers.
