Recently, our Azad Rosay wrote about the symbiotic relationship of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown and whether they’re the league’s best duo. The fit can be awkward at times. With similar skillsets, they often fill the same space and don’t have the more synergetic relationship that a point guard and center might have.
On consecutive plays against the Nuggets on Sunday, the Celtics ran a flex gut exit for Jaylen Brown with Jayson Tatum as the initial screener. It’s a curious spot on the floor to initiate the offense, right? With Brown planted in the corner and Tatum setting a screen on the baseline, it’s not as if there’s a bunch of spacing — a premium of Boston’s offense — to take advantage of.
It’s an almost impossible pass for Derrick White to make with Brown cutting away from the ball even with Luke Kornet above the break, keeping Nikola Jokic out of the restricted area.
But it’s all just a matter of getting the Nuggets’ defense to make decisions. Will Vlatko Cancar and Christian Braun switch? Does Jokic drop farther down towards the rim with Brown crossing into the paint? They’re all micro choices, but a little more involved than negotiating a straight pick-and-roll at the top of the key.
But that’s what it leads into anyway. The Nuggets hedge hard on a Brown-Kornet PnR and Boston whips the ball around until Tatum finds a wide open Sam Hauser for a 3.
On the ensuing way, it’s the same play again with a small difference on the second side swing.
On the first play, Jamal Murray sits deep into the paint to help out. That gives White plenty of time and space. On the following half court set, White and Tatum shuffle past each other and it’s Tatum above the three-point line to receive the swing pass. It’s White’s turn to attack the close out. He hits the middy floater over Jokic rather than finding Hauser in the opposite corner, a shot that Denver was trying to take away after getting burned thirty seconds prior.
This isn’t exactly the Celtics’ philosophy of attacking mismatches like a pod of killer whales. It’s more wolf-like with Boston running some dummy actions all for the sake of tiring out the defense and one Mr. Nikola Jokic.
