- Winning the off-nights.
Boston narrowly pulled out the victory over the Nets in overtime, and it wasn’t behind their usually flurry of made 3’s. They won the 3PT battle slightly, but finished the game shooting a mediocre 26.4%. With little success behind the line, they had to prove once again that this team can win in other ways.
The Celtics shot a combined 25/34 (74%) in the paint, including an impressive 14/18 at the rim. Despite the inefficiency from 3, Boston never stopped shooting them. They made the most of every paint touch though, and that was enough to hold the Nets off.
They had a solid defensive game too, with Brooklyn shooting 41% from the field and 26.3% from 3. The Nets had their own struggles, but Boston did a better job with their interior defense comparatively, holding them to 27/54 (50%) in the paint.
Missing two starters and having a poor shooting night is a recipe for disaster. The C’s kept defending though, and never let the lack of shotmaking discourage them. This Nets team is better than expected, so it was good to see the Celtics finish them off with execution.
2. Abandoning X with the starters.
I don’t want to call Mazzulla stubborn, but he’s not one to throw a lineup away due to a couple of bad minutes. For this game though, he recognized pretty quickly that his decision to start Tillman was backfiring.
The Nets got off to a quick 12-0 start, and dominated all of Tillman’s 5:52 of game time. This was certainly not all X’s fault, the Celtics looked unorganized and sloppy, while the Nets were pressing them and playing with physicality. His three missed 3’s did not help though, and Joe went to Queta instead.
It’s been a less than ideal year for Tillman early on, and I must admit I had assumed it would be easier to integrate him after a full off-season with the organization. There is plenty of time for him to turn it around, he just has to stay confident and keep working.
3. Jrue “Steady Hands” Holiday.
It was a healthy dose of Holiday that helped the Celtics chop the Nets lead down to close out the 1st quarter. He broke Boston’s scoring drought by getting deep post position several times against the Brooklyn’s starting backcourt.
Jrue’s strength is one of his most underappreciated traits as a basketball player, and it allows him to take advantage of less physical guards.
He took a similar approach in the 4th quarter to help them stay within striking distance, and eventually grab the lead. This is something I’ve touched on in the past, but Jrue’s comfort making plays as the roll man is unbelievably useful.
At the start of overtime, they ran a play to get Holiday a post-up. It doesn’t work exactly as intended with the Nets avoiding a switch, but Tatum fires it down to him anyways. Jrue snags it out of the air like a wide receiver, gets right into his post-up and finishes through the contact.
This felt like one of those games where the Celtics would have benefited from even more Jrue. He came through in important moments though and was a big reason they had enough juice even without the 3’s falling.
4. Queta’s stock continues to rise.
This was not Queta’s best game, but it was very clear from the moment he checked in that he could be counted on again. He subbed in for Tillman in the middle of the 1st quarter, and wasted no time.
Neemy didn’t score a point, but the Celtics won his 1st quarter minutes by 10. He had two blocks at the rim, and gave them a chance to end the quarter with a more reasonable deficit.
He rebounded well, which was helpful in a game where they had trouble on the glass. Aside from that, he didn’t add a ton to the box score. It seems noteworthy though that Mazzulla called on Queta to start the overtime period. It’s clear that he’s earned the trust of the coaching staff.
5. All aboard.
Please take your seats, the Payton Pritchard Sixth Man of the Year campaign is full speed ahead.
Payton has never lacked confidence, but right now he is playing at a level that is usually reserved for preseason or late March when all of the starters are resting. He looks like he has been fully empowered by his coaches and teammates to get busy. Sometimes that even means looking off those same teammates to call his own number.
Pritchard is taking full advantage of the absence of a few high usage players, and Boston has needed all of his scoring output. This consistency could be hard to keep up when Brown and Porzingis return, but it doesn’t look like he or the Celtics plan to have him take a backseat. There will always be games when they are shorthanded, and this presents the perfect opportunity for Payton to continue to prove his value to potential 6MOTY award voters.
6. 1st Team All-DWhite.
Derrick has received some well deserved credit for his defensive abilities since arriving in Boston, but while we’re on the topic of award voting.. it’s time to give him his rightful place on the All-Defensive 1st team.
He finished the night with 3 blocks, with his last coming rather emphatically as he rotated to protect the rim.
White is averaging over a block per game, and is currently top-20 in the league for total blocks. At the moment, his 12 blocks are tied with reigning DPOY Rudy Gobert. Remember, this is a 6’4 guard we are talking about here, this is not normal.
7. Keep shooting Sam.
It’s fair to say we have not seen the best of Sam Hauser this season. Starting the year with a back injury has clearly limited his ability to get into a groove from deep. You could see at times the visible frustration he was feeling, like after his 7th miss of the night on a wide open corner 3 to tie the game.
Hauser has hit this shot countless times in more intense scenarios, which makes his disappointment understandable. A common trait in the world’s greatest shooters is the next shot mentality, where you can shrug off any previous result the second that ball hits your finger tips.
Sam showed once again that he lives by that code.
First of all, this was an outstanding pass from Tatum. The confidence required to show zero hesitation on the shot is exactly why there’s no use worrying about Hauser. It won’t take long for him to climb back up to his baseline of 40% from 3, and there’s likely a big game coming soon.
8. Mazzulla’s go-to play
In one of the game’s most critical moments, Mazzulla drew up one of his favorite late game plays.
This quick entry, followed by a cut from Tatum has historically been an extremely effective play for Boston. It’s a great way to give Tatum an advantage while he gets downhill toward the rim.
If there was any critique of the Celtics clutch execution, it would be the nature of their final possession.
Obviously you’re not going to run the same play, but it feels like a mistake to start the possession with Tatum heading away from the basket. Fortunately, this didn’t end up mattering, it’s worth keeping in mind though if they find themselves in the same situation during another game.
9. The duality of Cam Thomas
Brooklyn’s leading scorer is one of the premier tough shot makers in the NBA.
Thomas is unique in the sense that he genuinely might prefer shooting over tighter contests. This becomes quite frustrating when the defense has spent a full shot clock making him work, only to be hit with one of these:
He is not the quickest, tallest or most athletic guard, but he has a tight handle and the ability to pull-up from anywhere. While the scoring is impressive, the defense is.. not. Boston made it their mission to involve Thomas in the action during nearly all of the games critical possessions.
10. Closing time.
As previously mentioned, there was a big red target painted on the back of Cam Thomas’s jersey. Jaylen Brown briefly explained Mazzulla and the Celtic’s “Killer whale offense” during his appearance on Hot Ones. The Celtics hunting Thomas in crunch time was a perfect example of what it looks like when they’ve found a seal.
This was the first of a string of overtime possessions that allowed Boston to take control of the game. This clip ends with a Pritchard missed 3, but it’s important to note that Payton was used as a screener to force Cam Thomas to switch on Tatum. Once the Nets conceded that switch, they quickly brought a double team over to protect Thomas.
Knowing that Brooklyn will sell out to protect Thomas is key. On the following possession, they used Pritchard as a screener again.
This time Tatum rejects the screen and gets downhill. Thomas was saved momentarily, but seemed to forget the play wasn’t over. Pritchard cuts right behind him, Tatum drops in the pass and Thomas sends him to the freethrow line.
Boston switches it up slightly, deploying Tatum as a screener for Pritchard this time. This causes another double team to make sure Tatum doesn’t get that matchup, but he attacks the double and threads a needle to Horford who drills the wide open clutch 3.
Jrue becomes the initiator with Thomas guarding him now, and once again Tatum gets involved to seek out that switch. This results in the first time Tatum gets him 1-on-1, and it ends exactly how the Nets were worried it would.
This would ultimately go on to be the game-winning shot, and it perfectly illustrates the difficulty that teams face when Boston goes hunting for seals.
