1. The Boston Celtics wanted a win. Greater than that, the Celtics wanted an entire, dominating win. They acquired all of that by beating the Portland Path Blazers earlier than heading on a six-game east-to-west street journey.
This was in all probability the Celtics finest defensive effort of the yr. Even banged up, the Blazers are one of many NBA’s higher offensive groups. Boston utterly shut them down. The trouble, execution and communication had been all good all recreation lengthy. There weren’t any actual lulls both, which was simply as vital.
We’re not going to proclaim every thing is fastened and we should always begin planning a parade. However the Celtics wanted to play a recreation like this to remind everybody, but additionally to remind themselves, that they’re nonetheless that workforce. And so they did.
2. Al Horford had it going proper from the beginning. He acquired the primary factors of the sport on a uncommon off-the-dribble pullup towards a closeout:
Portland performs loads of drop protection. Boston used that towards them time and time once more. This one was Drew Eubanks too far again and Horford letting it fly from a step or two behind the arc:
After hitting a few jumpers, the closeout got here more durable towards Horford. That opens up drives and finishes like this. Additionally, take a look at the spacing. Horford has loads of choices earlier than selecting the straightforward one to dunk the ball:
3. We’ve talked lots about how Jaylen Brown slowing down permits him to truly play faster. The pinnacle-down, 100 MPH drives into a number of defenders are largely a factor of the previous. That is head-up and controlling the tempo earlier than hitting the protection with the transition crossover:
This one other good instance of Brown’s private tempo. He goes rapidly off the catch right here, however doesn’t over-drive the ball immediately into contact. As an alternative, he slows down and overpowers the defender for the layup:
That is all velocity and explosion to complete, but it surely comes off Brown having the endurance to let the spacing develop earlier than he makes use of the display to get downhill:
4. This was a type of ruthlessly environment friendly video games from Jayson Tatum. Jerami Grant is a couple of half-step too far-off right here and that’s the area Tatum wants:
This can be a good instance of Tatum’s improved deal with. He hits Grant with a pleasant crossover, earlier than utilizing the hesitation dribble to separate the protection for the layup:
This isn’t a conventional on-the-block post-up, but it surely works the identical means. Tatum feels the defender leaning and spins off him for the swoop and rating:
5. One factor the entire above clips have in widespread: They had been all from the primary half. Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Good and Jayson Tatum performed minimal minutes within the second half. Good and Tatum went the entire third quarter, whereas Brown and Horford performed the primary 8:11 after the break. None of them made even a lot as a cameo look within the fourth quarter.
The reserves holding, and even extending, the lead was massive for the workforce as an entire. That allowed Joe Mazzulla steal some in-game relaxation for guys who’ve seen their minutes pile up over current weeks. At this level within the season, that’s enormous.
6. The Celtics ball motion was good on this one, as they tallied 26 assists on 42 baskets. When Boston has a possession like this early in a recreation, with good ball and participant motion, it opens up the offense:
On this play, the ball and participant motion acquired the Blazers scrambled. Drew Eubanks intuition is to drop to the paint. The fast swing to Jayson Tatum allowed him to step proper into his jumper:
It’s additionally vital to notice what occurs when the ball hits the paint. It causes the protection to get in rotation. Boston has the passers to benefit from that just about each time:
7. Sticking with passing, the Celtics have begun to include extra actions designed to get their gamers passing off the brief roll. These performs usually contain a play like this with Al Horford discovering Marcus Good for the layup:
Or Blake Griffin catching and kicking to Sam Hauser within the nook:
However what units Boston aside, is that they’ll use their wings and guards because the curler too. The Celtics like to have their guards display for Jayson Tatum. If the protection places two on the ball, Tatum is prepared to present it up and it’s to decision-maker. Right here, Derrick White has every kind of choices, however he chooses to dump it off to Horford for the straightforward one:
8. Grant Williams had a troublesome couple of days. He additionally didn’t play till this recreation was pretty deep in. It’s been reported that Williams has been coping with an elbow harm for some time now too. Nevertheless it was good to see Williams confidently step proper into his first shot and drill it:
The Celtics are going to wish Williams to be the man he was through the Finals run from final season. Hopefully issues will begin shifting again in that path right here shortly.
9. A few of it was the blowout nature of the sport, however Boston had nice stability all through this recreation. Then once more, perhaps that stability additionally helped affect the blowout nature of the sport. Rooster or the egg, proper?
The Celtics had seven gamers take between eight and 17 pictures. Six gamers scored in double figures. And that was with Malcolm Brogdon having a really off capturing night time.
That kind of stability makes Boston laborious to beat.
10. The Celtics acquired a win they desperately wanted. Now, they depart Boston for the subsequent week-and-a-half. Over a 10-day interval, the Celtics will play video games in Atlanta, Houston, Minnesota, Portland, Utah and Sacramento.
That’s not a killer street journey when it comes to opponents, but it surely’s over 5,000 miles of journey. And the Portland-Utah leg is a bizarre west-back-to-mountain back-to-back. The aim is all the time to go .500 on an extended journey like this. Getting 4 wins could be journey. 5 wins could be an awesome journey.
By the point the Celtics get again to Boston, they’ll have solely 9 video games left within the season. Six of these can be in TD Backyard. Despite the fact that they’re on the street for some time, it’s time for the blokes in inexperienced to start out stacking some wins heading into the stretch run.
