1. The thought of “dangerous wins” and “good losses” is sort of a humorous one. Ultimately, they nonetheless rely the identical as a daily win or a daily loss, however we’ll nonetheless assign the occasional end result a title of dangerous or good.
So, with all that stated, this was a foul win for the Boston Celtics.
The San Antonio Spurs had been down three starters. After an awesome begin, the place it appeared just like the Celtics discovered some classes from the debacle in Oklahoma Metropolis earlier within the week, it was a back-and-forth shootout of a sport.
Essentially the most worrying a part of how Boston gained? It felt like time simply form of ran out on the Spurs. The Celtics went into that excessive slowdown, kill-the-clock type of play with round 6:00 to go and an 11-point lead.
It’s not utilizing the clock that’s dangerous. You are able to do that. It’s not even the “strolling the canine” stuff. You are able to do that too. It’s how they use the clock and what comes after they stroll the canine. The place issues break down is after one go, the place Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown maintain the ball, with everybody else rooted to their spot. There’s no ball or participant motion. The opponents know this, so that they load to the ball and ship the additional defender when Tatum or Brown frequently must dribble right into a late-clock shot.
That is hardly a brand new factor. It actually popped up within the bubble on the finish of the 2020 season. That was considerably excusable. Tatum and Brown had been studying learn how to shut video games. Gordon Hayward was damage and Kemba Walker wasn’t himself. Nevertheless it carried over to final season, and it seems to nonetheless be a factor this yr.
There have been quite a lot of good issues from this sport, and we’ll begin masking them now. However that protection comes with a lingering dangerous style in our mouths, like a foul dessert after meal.
2. This area talked about it not mattering if Rob Williams begins or not, as long as we see loads of the lineup that dominated final season as a beginning group.
We’re altering course now…Williams ought to most likely begin.
The Celtics must get off to higher begins. Williams might help with that. He’s been so good on each ends of the ground, however particularly with remodeling the protection.
This play sums up the Timelord expertise. There aren’t many different facilities within the NBA that may pull off this sequence:
Williams brings that end-to-end bounce that nobody else on Boston has:
Williams can also be a terrific passer from the excessive submit:
He’s additionally nice within the halfcourt protection, particularly with Boston having perimeter breakdown after perimeter breakdown:
3. Becoming a member of Rob Williams in an enormous effort off the bench was Malcolm Brogdon. The Celtics large offseason acquisition received off to an awesome begin this season, then slumped in mid-December. That coincided with Boston’s stoop within the standings. Now, Brogdon is popping it round over the past week and discovering his type.
Brogdon is neither quick nor gradual. He’s received common footspeed, however he’s excellent about enjoying with nice private tempo. He’s the very best the Celtics have had at that ability since Gordon Hayward. This play is an efficient instance. Brogdon isn’t precisely pushing in transition right here, till he makes use of slightly burst to beat his man for the layup:
Groups have gotten comfy with bigs switching onto Brogdon due to his current stoop. This shot is an indication Brogdon is getting it collectively:
Brogdon and Williams haven’t performed collectively all that a lot, however the veteran guard and massive man are beginning to determine it out collectively:
Along with his confidence flowing once more, this an awesome pull from Brogdon late within the shot clock:
4. It was a contented homecoming for Derrick White. With Marcus Good leaving because of harm within the second half, White took over as the primary playmaker. He completed with a strong all-around stat-line of eight factors, 5 rebounds, 11 assists and three blocks.
On the block entrance, White is so good on the “from behind” block the place the defender thinks he has him crushed:
Late within the sport, White made a bunch of these profitable performs the Celtics often get from Good. First was White hanging for this end by way of some contact:
A minute or so later, White got here up with one other large block from behind:
So as to pull this play off, it’s important to be extraordinarily conscious of the clock, and it’s important to have the center to throw the go vs taking the shot. White is on it right here, as he lobbed to Rob Williams because the clock expired:
5. General, this was displaying for the “different” Celtics. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown mixed for 63 factors, however that’s not precisely sudden. That’s proper in vary of what they do nightly. The bench tallied 41 factors, with Malcolm Brogdon and Rob Williams main the best way, together with Sam Hauser wanting higher. And Derrick White, who is de facto the “additional” starter most video games, put collectively his strong all-around evening.
If we really feel assured that the celebs will do their issues, and we ought to be assured in that, it’s the others producing that should occur. That was a daily incidence through the red-hot begin to the season. Hopefully it’s making a reemergence right here in 2023.
6. When Jayson Tatum is in rhythm as a shooter, he hits quite a lot of threes with out dribbling. On this sport, Tatum hit 4 triples and not using a single bounce of the ball.
Catch, flip, rise and shoot:
Boston can get lots out of Tatum as a screener, particularly as he’s assorted what he does after screening. The protection is anticipating him to make the rim run, however Tatum pops in opposition to the drop:
That is only a excellent in rhythm jumper as Tatum pops out behind the Al Horford roll down the lane:
Jayson Tatum has traditionally picked up his play within the new yr. This form of large scoring effort, on good capturing, is perhaps the primary of many we see over the ultimate 40+ video games.
7. Jaylen Brown was all velocity and energy. If he couldn’t go round you, he was going to undergo you. That’s nonetheless there for Brown. He nonetheless makes these performs. However he’s added a lot craft to his scoring too.
This drive is an efficient instance of not making an attempt to energy over somebody however utilizing ability. Brown will get the place he needs after which makes use of his physique to protect the defender from the ball:
If Brown has a signature shot, it’s one of many subsequent two. First, we’ll provide the paint fallaway, which Brown will get to a couple occasions per sport:
The opposite is Brown’s midrange pullup, which is so pure now:
A type of two pictures is what we consider now with Jaylen Brown, together with the occasional throwdown on somebody’s head.
8. We hammer the purpose in regards to the stars working away from the ball to get buckets, as a result of it makes their lives simpler as scorers. Tatum slipping screens will get Boston a minimum of one or two baskets per sport:
This was a type of delayed ATO units from Boston. It got here after a Spurs ran their play following a timeout. The Celtics then went into some misdirection with Jaylen Brown slicing from the nook earlier than Malcolm Brogdon dropped the dime:
9. Talking of ATO units, this was a fantastic name from Joe Mazzulla. The Celtics need to get the ball to their star for the go-ahead hoop, whereas additionally preserving the 2-for-1. Jayson Tatum will get it with nice spacing. The Spurs can’t ship a second defender with out leaving somebody open. And Tatum goes rapidly to get an awesome search for what was in the end the game-winner:
10. Circling again to our opener…a win is a win. All of them rely the identical if you have a look at the standings, irrespective of how ugly or dangerous they had been.
Of instant concern is the harm to Marcus Good. It looks as if a comparatively minor knee bruise, in order that’s a aid. We must always know extra in a while Sunday or Monday.
After Good, the subsequent concern is a tricky stretch of video games this week. The Chicago Bulls have been enjoying higher as of late, and so they appear to have one thing for the Celtics over the previous couple of years. Even again at residence on Monday, that can doubtless be a wild one. Then it’s a back-to-back set in opposition to the New Orleans Pelicans (at residence) and the Brooklyn Nets (on the street). This a robust group of opponents for Boston to check in the event that they’ve actually figured issues out or not.
