The Boston Celtics wrapped their preseason schedule with a dismantling of the Charlotte Hornets. Joe Mazzulla pulled his starters halfway by means of the third quarter. Boston’s second unit continued to deal with their enterprise. So, in got here the Celtics third-stringers for the fourth, and even that was an excessive amount of for Steve Clifford’s beleaguered workforce.
We’ve discovered rather a lot about this 12 months’s workforce over the previous 5 video games. There’s much more left to study. We haven’t seen every little thing Mazzulla and his teaching employees are engaged on. What we now have seen is extremely encouraging.
Let’s dive into in the present day’s takeaways.
#1 Stifling defensive strain
The Hornets turned the ball over 24 instances. Most of these errors had been compelled. There was a big onus on intense ball strain from the Celtics rotation. Energetic fingers, strong point-of-attack protection, and fast switches compelled the Hornets into uncomfortable conditions.
Charlotte struggled to cope with the strain. Breaking down the Celtics’ protection was an excessive amount of of a tall order. Right here’s an instance of how Boston seemed to set the tone early by pressuring an Iverson motion from the Hornets, virtually forcing an early turnover within the course of.
Charlotte had been sped up for the remainder of the possession, resulting in a fast miss from the nook.
#2 Full court docket press
Sticking with the defensive strain for a second. The Celtics went again to their new 2-2-1 full-court press at instances.
There’s no telling when the Celtics will swap gears and bounce into their press protection. The randomness appears to be what’s hurting groups. Boston has so many high-level defensive items, all with distinctive bodily attributes. When that strain is turned up, it’s suffocating. You may see it by means of the display screen.
It’s going to be thrilling to see how the Celtics maintain and evolve this protection all through the season.
#3 Drag offense
In opposition to the New York Knicks, the Celtics leaned closely into their stagger offense. In opposition to the Hornets, they went to their drag offense. Drag offense is an early display screen in transition. The thought is to assault the protection earlier than it’s arrange. An early display screen can power a disastrous mismatch or blow a wide-open protection.
Boston opted to run a whole lot of double drag, with two screens in transition. Generally, these double screens are staggered. Generally not. What’s essential is that they work. Two drag actions caught my eye within the first quarter.
Within the above clip, the Celtics go to their drag collection and run a easy drag slip, with Jaylen Brown slipping the display screen to strain the rim. Jrue Vacation hits Brown with a candy entry move. Terry Rozier’s fast fingers blew up the play. The design labored, although. The Celtics will end these seems to be as a rule.
Generally it is smart to string actions collectively. A number of actions in succession bends the protection. Switches happen. Rotations are compelled. And immediately, the protection is 2 or three steps behind. I tweeted out the above possession for these causes. The Celtics strung 4 offensive actions collectively in fast succession.
What’s enjoyable is the Celtics are nonetheless enjoying with tempo when operating these units. They’re simply trying to assert management over their opponents and generate high-quality seems to be within the course of.
#4 Speaking nerdy: Fast Flip
Final season, the Celtics ran a ton of fast actions, also referred to as vast actions. These are early offense units which might be designed to generate mismatches or early scoring alternatives. Mazzulla will possible implement his fast collection all through the upcoming season. Having Kristaps Porzignis because the display screen additionally provides the Celtics some new choices.
A fast motion is when the massive man units a display screen for the off-ball wing in transition. The off-ball wing then comes off the display screen to get the ball in the midst of the court docket. Within the above play, the Porzingis “flipped” his display screen to offer Boston a pick-and-roll motion, permitting Tatum to make the most of the display screen and create house for a mid-range jumper.
#5 Neemias Queta’s elbow actions
Neemias Queta has change into Celtics Nation’s new fan favourite. The energetic huge man has impressed when given the chance. Throughout his minutes in opposition to the Hornets, Queta’s work on the elbows caught my eye. Beneath Ime Udoka, Al Horford was utilized in elbow actions, particularly in dribble hand-offs, to create house across the nail and supply rim strain on the roll.
Late within the third quarter, Queta had two consecutive possessions the place he ran elbow hand-offs earlier than rolling to the rim. He secured offensive rebounds on each possessions and obtained the second likelihood bucket.
Using Queta across the elbows after which having him roll to the rim shall be a troublesome state of affairs for defenses to cope with. Defenders want to change the hand-off or danger being cooked off a dribble pull-up. Queta’s measurement makes him a lob goal and a post-threat. It’s uncertain he will get important minutes throughout the common season, however when/if he does, I’d anticipate to see him operating extra of those actions.
#6 Jayson Tatum protection
Within the final version of the takeaways, I pinpointed an early defensive possession from Tatum. I appreciated how he handled being switched onto Mitchell Robinson and stored himself positioned to have an effect on the play because the Knicks seemed to strain the rim.
In opposition to Charlotte, Tatum had one other early defensive possession that stood out.
On this play, LaMelo Ball dislodges Vacation with a slight push-off. Tatum steps as much as strain the drive and sticks with the play, resulting in a steal. From there, Tatum pushes the tempo and generates an help on the offensive finish.
Seeing Tatum so engaged on either side of the ground has been encouraging during the last two video games. We may very well be taking a look at a defensive leap if this effort stage holds all through the season.
#7 Payton Pritchard’s off-the-dribble creation
Payton Pritchard has been one other stand-out star for the Boston Celtics throughout preseason. “Playoff P” has impressed together with his scoring capability and talent to retain possession in tight areas. What’s caught my eye, although, is his off-the-dribble creation. Pritchard’s playmaking closely relied on pick-and-roll offense when he got here into the NBA.
Prtichard continues to be at his greatest when using a screener. Nevertheless, all through the Celtics preseason schedule, Pritchard has considerably improved his shot creation off the dribble — particularly for others.
Within the above clip, Pritchard creates house for himself off the dribble, drives towards the nail, and places Rozier in jail. A slight hesitation as he blocks off Rozier permits Queta to place himself within the dunker spot. From there, Pritchard engages the massive man earlier than releasing the lob-pass for Queta. No pick-and-roll. Strong positioning and physique utilization.
On this clip, Pritchard makes use of a display screen. He comes over, attracts two, modifications path to create a passing angle, and fires a one-handed bullet move to Queta for a simple dunk. Prtichard’s perimeter scoring has begun to create gravity for him, and now, he’s including new wrinkles to his sport to punish groups after they over-commit.
#8 Scram Change
Over the previous couple of seasons, the Celtics have prevented scram-switching when there’s a mismatch within the put up. With Porzingis and Horford within the rotation, it might seem that Mazzulla and his teaching employees need smaller gamers switched out of these mismatches the place attainable. Beneath Brad Stevens, the Celtics had a whole lot of success by scramming out of mismatches. Will probably be fascinating to see how incessantly the Celtics look to make the most of this kind of swap throughout the upcoming season.
Right here’s an instance of Porzingis scramming Derrick White out of a mismatch on the robust facet block. White rotates over to the weak-side nook. The Celtics collapse on the drive, and increase, a turnover.
#9 Let’s speak about Derrick White
I’m not one to pay a lot consideration to participant rankings. All people goes to have an opinion on which participant sits the place amongst his friends. Nevertheless, it’s egregious that White isn’t thought of a top-100 participant. I’m certain we are able to all agree on that.
In opposition to the Hornets, White was a flexible menace. He dropped 15 factors, grabbed 4 boards, hit 2 assists, obtained 2 pilfers, and blocked 3 pictures. White’s presence within the Celtics beginning lineup is an unbelievable calming issue, and he continues to develop in affect and impression.
I cherished White’s efficiency in opposition to Charlotte. And I’ve cherished his hustle and energy since he joined the Celtics. He’s a top-100 man. No Doubt. Right here’s a clip of him getting a candy block, too.
#10 Slot drives
The Celtics have a humiliation of riches by way of scoring versatility. As such, their spacing all through the preseason has been stupendous. A byproduct of getting such high quality spacing is that slot drives change into constantly out there. Jaylen Brown took benefit of that availability when he hit the one-handed hammer late within the 2nd quarter.
We obtained one other instance of a slot drive from Vacation later within the sport, too.
Boston has some extremely athletic skills of their rotation this season. If the slot drive is constantly out there, we’ll most likely see some thrilling highlights, and I, for one, am right here for it.
On to the brand new season
The final 5 video games have been preseason for me, too. I’ve had an opportunity to test-drive the takeaways and attempt to put my very own spin on them. I’ll be right here all season (God prepared) and hope to be writing a heartfelt love letter after a Finals win. Earlier than we get there, there’s an 82-game common season to get by means of. That begins on Wednesday, October 25, with a sport in opposition to the Knicks. Not lengthy to attend!
