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1. The Boston Celtics win on the Toronto Raptors was among the finest of the season. Boston was on a back-to-back and with out some key contributors. That made that victory very satisfying.
The Celtics win on the Phoenix Suns was essentially the most full victory of the season. As soon as Boston took management on the finish of the primary quarter, it was full domination. And it got here in opposition to the very best workforce within the Western Convention and among the finest bets to symbolize the West within the NBA Finals.
The Celtics held the Suns to 39.8% taking pictures. Boston compelled 18 turnovers. Phoenix shot a paltry 8-of-32 from behind the arc. In each conceivable approach the Celtics dominated. They usually did it in opposition to an excellent workforce.
After which following the sport, the Celtics stayed centered saying the is “trending in the suitable path” and “none of this issues if we don’t dangle a banner”.
2. Boston’s offense was somewhat bit off to open the sport. Jaylen Brown appeared sped up and was dashing his shot. Jayson Tatum appeared somewhat uncertain of the best way to assault the Suns protection with Mikal Bridges guarding him.
Enter Batman.
On this one, Williams received the scoring began. It is a fairly assured pull, contemplating there have been sufficient jab steps to make Carmelo Anthony smile:
A few performs later, Williams and Blake Griffin (extra on him later) work an improvised big-big DHO. Watch how Williams makes use of his proper shoulder with out extending his arm to create house in opposition to Deandre Ayton on the drive:
If he will get a smaller man on him, Williams is doing an excellent job getting on the offensive glass. It is a robust rebound and putback:
Total, Williams completed with 14 factors, on 6-of-6 taking pictures, to go together with six rebounds and a few actually good protection. He’s going to be a really, very wealthy man come July.
3. There aren’t going to be plenty of Jaylen Brown highlights on this model of the Takeaways. He struggled to get his shot to fall, particularly early, earlier than ultimately discovering his rhythm.
Extra essential? There aren’t going to be any lowlights.
Brown is within the midst of a three-game stretch the place he’s performed greater than 107 minutes and dedicated only one turnover. ONE. For a man sporting almost a 1-1 assist-to-turnover ratio on the season, that’s exceptional stuff.
Brown has tightened up his deal with and his passing. He’s making plenty of performs as a passer now that had been sporadic, at greatest, beforehand. And he stays among the finest drivers within the league. It is a very robust end for one in every of a number of and-1s Brown drew on the night time:
4. It’s enjoyable watching Jayson Tatum’s ascension as one of many NBA’s most harmful scorers. As a rookie, Tatum did plenty of his work off spot-ups and the occasional drive. Then he began doing a bit extra transition. Then the step-back, side-step jumper grew to become his signature shot. Final yr, into this season, Tatum has turn into a extremely strong finisher on the rim. He’s doing an excellent job mixing energy with athleticism, the latter of which he confirmed off right here:
(There’s that lefthand once more! You recognize who you’re.)
Tatum can also be figuring out of the publish a ton. He’s executed a pleasant job of various what he’s going to go to in these spots. Fairly than problem Mikal Bridges off the dribble (hardly ever a good suggestion!), Tatum merely makes use of his dimension to hit the no-dribble Dirk Nowitzki one-legged fadeaway:
5. We’re operating out of the way to explain Malcolm Brogdon. We’ve used regular, skilled and stabilizing. This time round, we’ll simply go together with “good”.
Bridging the primary and second quarters, Brogdon got here in and took over the sport. Drop off an excessive amount of in transition and Brogdon is blissful to pullup for the three:
Every of the Celtics guards are so good at drawing the protection and discovering the bigs, that it’s exhausting to pick who’s greatest. Luke Kornet does an excellent job working off his playmakers:
This such a easy, good and efficient learn. Brogdon is aware of the protection is scrambled after sending a double at Jayson Tatum. He drives that scramble for the straightforward floater:
16 factors and 5 assists in 19 minutes. Simply what the physician ordered off the Boston bench.
6. Through the recreation, we famous Boston was simply coming at Phoenix in waves. From in regards to the midpoint of the primary quarter one, the Celtics had been merely overwhelming the Suns. It doesn’t matter what Phoenix tried, the Celtics had been going to get a very good shot.
Boston had 12 turnovers, however that’s a fairly low quantity. And a very good quantity of these got here when the sport was already effectively in hand. Till the fourth quarter, which featured in depth minutes for the deeper bench gamers, the offense was above 50% taking pictures.
Name them a machine, a wagon, or no matter you want, the Celtics are completely locked in offensively.
7. Joe Mazzulla’s ATO work has been actually good. He’s utilizing a few of Brad Stevens’ favourite ATO performs, which is sensible given Mazzulla was on Stevens’ workers. He’s additionally expanded on just a few of Ime Udoka’s units, which had been carried over from his time with the Spurs.
Boston has been on the prime of the NBA in factors off ATOs. One enjoyable wrinkle is that Mazzulla will commonly name a set when the opponent calls a timeout. The thought is for Boston to have one thing deliberate once they get the ball again.
This one is a conventional ATO although and it’s a glance Stevens favored on full-court ATOs. The ballhandler begins as the one participant above the free throw line. Two shooters house to the corners, whereas the wing (on this case Jayson Tatum, nevertheless it’s typically been Jaylen Brown) comes up with the large holding within the dunker spot.
Now, watch when Tatum catches the ball. The choices are many. He can hand it off to Malcolm Brogdon as he cuts off the cross. That might give Brogdon a head-start at getting downhill. If the strongside nook defender helps, Brogdon has a simple kickout. If the large rotates, he can dump it off to Luke Kornet. If the large rotates and the other nook drops in to cowl for him, Brogdon can hit Sam Hauser. If everybody rotates, there must be a simple pitch again to Tatum.
However none of that occurs. Tatum feels Josh Okogie has his hips turned to assist on that Brogdon reduce, so Tatum spins to take it himself. As a result of Brogdon stops his reduce and flares to the wing, Tatum has all the identical choices as Brogdon would have had. On this case, the defenders all largely keep house, Tatum will get Okogie on his bottom and it’s a layup:
8. A lot for Blake Griffin solely being efficient if he performs as soon as every week. Griffin was pressed into motion for a second recreation in a row as a result of Al Horford being within the well being and security protocols. And Griffin stepped up once more.
Sure, he exploded for a dunk final recreation, however that is Griffin’s recreation now: the pick-and-pop. And since Griffin can cross, it doesn’t sluggish up the offense if the protection closes needed to him. Right here, he’s left wide-open and knocks it down in an excellent Horford impression:
To ensure that Griffin to play for Boston, he has to carry up within the workforce’s switching defensive system. There’s actually no room for somebody who can’t defend and maintain their very own. That is nice one-on-one protection in opposition to a difficult wing scorer in Mikal Bridges:
9. They aren’t at all times those ending performs, however Marcus Good and Derrick White are fairly commonly establishing these finishes. Boston’s offense is buzzing alongside as a result of Good and White, mixed with Malcolm Brogdon, are giving the workforce high-end playmaking each night time.
A few times per recreation, White will get within the paint and hits Luke Kornet with a late cross for a simple end on the rim like this:
White is so good in transition. He’s at all times received his head up to pick a driving lane or to discover a teammate. Good rhythm-dribble from Grant Williams within the nook workplace right here too:
That is simply fairly basketball. All of the off-ball motion is usually window dressing. However the protection is pulled away from the weakside nook by Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams’ gravity. With Deandre Ayton dropping to guard in opposition to the reducing Brown, Blake Griffin sidesteps to get simply sufficient of a display on Torrey Craig. From there it’s nearly Good dropping the dime excessive to White:
Some groups name this a “pivot pitch” as a result of the passer pivots from the publish to pitch it to the shooter or cutter. It doesn’t matter what you name it, it’s a pleasant cross from Good to Brown, who stops on a dime for the jumper:
If you wish to be a high-level playmaker, you need to have the hook cross to the other nook in your arsenal. Excellent cross from Good to Griffin right here:
Oh look, it’s that second time per recreation that White units up Kornet:
10. The Celtics highway journey is off to a 3-0 begin. Boston now will get an additional time off earlier than a Finals rematch in opposition to the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night time. It’s the primary ABC Saturday Showcase of the season and there will probably be plenty of hoopla across the recreation. It’s an opportunity for the Celtics to at the very least semi-exorcise some demons from the way in which final season ended.
However, in actuality, it’s simply the subsequent recreation. The Celtics are centered on the larger image by staying grounded within the speedy. They will’t erase what occurred within the 2022 NBA Finals on Saturday night time, nor can they win the 2023 NBA Finals. However they’ll beat the Warriors to safe a profitable journey and prolong their win streak to 4 straight video games. That’s the main focus for Saturday.
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