If Wednesday evening was about what Kristaps Porzingis can do for the Celtics, Friday evening’s win over the Miami Warmth was all about teamwork! (jazz arms)
The Warmth rolled into city and instantly selected violence, strapping threes from humorous angles and giving my total family PTSD from final yr’s playoffs. However this Celtics squad isn’t that very same one that nearly misplaced custody of their dignity to the Warmth final yr. At their worst, that workforce felt like a set of people. This workforce is… a workforce! (jazz arms once more)
The way in which the Celtics unfold out their scoring final evening jogged my memory of injury-riddled variations of outdated groups, typically led by the mixed efforts of legends like Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, and Jonas Jerebko. Evening after evening, these Celtics would handle convincing wins on the backs of 5 and even six guys in double figures.
Not that these guys weren’t licensed ballers—I nonetheless rock a Bradley jersey and Olynyk would possibly unironically be my favourite Celtic ever—however final evening noticed that idea prolonged to a lineup with 4 entire All-Stars and one entire Derrick White. Double figures throughout, led by White and Jaylen Brown within the scoring division.
This spread-out assault is one thing each NBA workforce would like to do in idea, however no different workforce approaches the extent of offensive expertise the Celtics have kicking round. Jayson Tatum is without doubt one of the premier bucket getters within the league, and he’s surrounded by 4 different three-level scorers. Porzingis and Brown are elite, whereas White and Vacation can get the job achieved after which some.
Picture by Brian Babineau/NBAE through Getty Pictures
And man did White get the job achieved on Friday. Actually, the job was so achieved he began selecting up new jobs to avoid wasting additional dough for retirement. He scored 28 factors on nice effectivity, and head coach Joe Mazzulla described his play as “sick.” I concur.
Final yr, I witnessed the Celtics blow a bunch of superior White video games, just because he was the one man doing something in any respect within the half courtroom. However this yr, the remainder of the workforce had his again, and whereas the half courtroom offense didn’t all the time work, it all the time felt prefer it would possibly.
Any Celtics fan will let you know that final yr’s half courtroom offense was both as easy as butter or as tough as a crappy greenback retailer nail file. Generally getting good photographs felt inconceivable, and the Celtics’ success hinged on if somebody might pull a bucket out of skinny air.
However this yr, that form of stagnation feels nearly inconceivable with the quantity of scoring choices operating amok on the parquet. Nothing doing on the perimeter? Discover that 7’3” man down low. Is he double-teamed? Kick to one of many 4 shooters. Did the protection recuperate? Have Tatum go 1-on-1 within the put up. An excessive amount of warmth down low? Have Brown or Vacation penetrate off the dribble.
Did that sound like quite a bit? It felt like quite a bit, and I didn’t even get a White shoutout in there. This workforce simply has method too many choices to constantly look misplaced. Guys can cowl one another’s weaknesses and cook dinner in all kinds of how. That was on full show Friday evening.
There was a darker model of this recreation that nearly occurred. Jaylen misplaced the deal with a few occasions early, even air balling a few simple seems. The Warmth have been positively in his head, and that precise concern tends to sink the Celtics. I all of a sudden had visions of the Warmth diving at Jaylen each time he put the ball on the ground. The nightmares…the fear! Not once more not once more not agai—
However then one thing fantastic occurred. Brown might calm down, and let his teammates take over whereas he regrouped. It wasn’t all on him as a result of it simply didn’t need to be. Vacation stabilized the offense with a pair stable drives, and Tatum slowed it down within the put up—shredding rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. like a recent block of mozzarella. All of the whereas, Jaylen acquired it collectively large time, drilling the dagger three-ball to ship the Celtics to 2-0.
If this even-steven method to offense can crystallize into one thing really constant, and the Celtics can turn out to be sure of their identification within the half courtroom, that is going to be superior.
