Off-ball screening is the Boston Celtics biggest weapon

Mazzulla-ball is right here, and it’s a lovely sight. A extremely analytically primarily based offensive method that has seen the Celtics turn into some of the fearsome perimeter scoring groups within the NBA, whereas additionally pressuring the rim at a jaw-dropping price.

Discuss to any Celtics fan, and so they’ll let you know they’re in love with the workforce’s offense to start the season, and so they’re particularly proud of how Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are thriving in roles which have much less particular person playmaking located on their shoulders. Mazzulla-ball goes deeper than capturing tons of threes and liberating the workforce’s finest gamers although — it ensures each member of the rotation has an opportunity to be a featured offensive weapon, and that these with out the ball stay an integral cog in every particular person possession.

And that’s the place our focus might be right this moment. Not on the makes and misses, or the gamers who’re getting alternatives to shine, however reasonably, the off-ball actions which are making all the things else potential. The selfless, non-trackable, oft-overlooked actions that gel all the things collectively.

Let’s begin with the above possession, a transition play that sees Sam Hauser splash by way of the web with a shot straight off the catch. On first look, it seems that Derrick White is the creator of this bucket, participating his defender earlier than discovering Hauser on the weak facet. Nonetheless, Luke Kornet actually had a hand in creating such a wide-open look, streaking in direction of the nail earlier than setting a flare-ish display screen for Hauser to float in direction of the slot earlier than releasing the shot as quickly as he feels the ball touches his arms.

Kornet virtually took John Collins fully out of that defensive possession, and it resulted in a non-contested jumper, the place Hauser solely started to really feel the defensive strain as he was releasing the shot — far too late to have any important impression on the capturing trajectory or launch velocity.

Right here’s one other instance of utilizing off-ball screening actions to generate some separation from the protection because the Celtics look to create a capturing pocket for considered one of their three-point threats. This time, we see Boston run an ‘STS’ motion, which merely means ‘display screen the screener’ the place the preliminary display screen setter then receives a display screen themselves. On this occasion, it begins with Hauser setting a ‘wedge screen’ for Jayson Tatum, earlier than receiving a down display screen from Kornet.

The advantages of this motion are two-fold. Initially, Hauser’s display screen forces Dejounte Murray to change off Tatum, which provides Tatum a mismatch if he appears to assault off the dribble (ought to he obtain the ball, after all). And secondly, Kornet’s display screen consumes Murray, giving Hauser the area wanted to re-locate onto the perimeter and get his shot off with out the necessity to modify for a defending stampeding towards him on a close-out.

It helps that Boston has probably the greatest gamers within the league (Tatum) spacing the court docket within the nook too, as a result of the Atlanta Hawks, or some other workforce, will all the time be cautious of serving to off of Tatum, thus creating further area during which the Celtics can assault or look to display screen a defender out of possession.

Moreover, the Celtics are benefitting from having so many capturing threats this season, a lot so, that their off-ball screening has ensured a big majority of Boston’s pictures are both ‘open’ or ‘large open’ — let’s check out the numbers to substantiate this earlier than we proceed with our dive into the movie.

On common, the Celtics are taking 87.3 pictures per sport, 48 of that are both open or large open, that means roughly 55% of their pictures are coming and not using a defender shut sufficient to impression capturing movement and/or shot trajectory. So, it might seem the attention check is being upheld by the statistics.

Okay, again to the movie.

A staple of Boston’s half-court offense this season has been utilizing Spain pick-and-rolls as entry units, that means Mazzulla has his workforce operating this motion as a option to get the protection in movement whereas giving the ball-handler a number of choices, with the first three being: hit the rip screener who’s popping onto the perimeter (the popper), fireplace a move into the rolling large man, or drive on the protection your self and take no matter it’s they offer you.

Most groups within the league run Spain pick-and-rolls as an motion, the place they’re seeking to rating straight off the play. Boston, nonetheless, is usually utilizing it as nothing greater than a decoy motion to create wrinkles of their opponents’ protection, earlier than making the required reads to seek out or create an open capturing alternative, both from deep or on the rim.

As we will see within the above clip, Al Horford is the preliminary screener, with Tatum occupying the position of ‘popper’. Because the motion unfolds, Derrick White sees a direct line to the bucket and forces himself into the paint earlier than extending for a one-handed lay-up off the glass.

Beneath, we will see the Celtics going again to this Spain entry, this time with Kornet and Payton Pritchard because the screeners. We get the same outcome, with White driving the lane and pressuring the rim earlier than getting the shot to fall. Nonetheless, if the protection had collapsed, Pritchard would have been a dependable outlet above the break, and Kornet was hovering round for the dump-off move — one easy entry ensured the Celtics had a number of methods to counter how the protection wished to play them.

The ultimate off-ball screening motion we’re going to take a look at has been one other staple of Mazzulla-ball: the weakside stagger twirl.

Just like Boston’s utilization of the Spain pick-and-roll, the Celtics are utilizing twirl actions as a weakside decoy and/or entry into their half-court offense. The premise of using a twirl motion on the weak facet is that it engages three defenders within the motion, leaving the robust facet comparatively open for an assault off the dribble or by way of a baseline reduce from the participant occupying the nook.

Within the above clip, Grant Williams is the beneficiary of such robust facet spacing and does his finest Malcolm Brogdon impression by driving the rock straight to the rim, earlier than getting a powerful end by way of contact.

In fact, the opposite advantage of using stagger twirl entries is that shooters usually discover themselves with mismatches, as does the Tatum or Brown, who are sometimes a part of the motion, merely to make sure the protection takes the bait on the decoy and provides the weakside motion the specified quantity of consideration.

Mazzulla has the Celtics operating a number of types of stagger entries, from stagger zoom actions to triple staggers spaced from the nook to the highest of the perimeter, all of which have the identical thought — create mismatches and get shooters/slashers open with time to make the subsequent learn.

We’d not be deep into the season, however we’ve seen sufficient to know that Boston’s offense has taken a dramatic leap, each by way of type and substance. Mazzulla is empowering his workforce by redefining what an egalitarian offense ought to seem like, and the way that sort of offense needs to be utilized to its most impact. However most significantly, Mazzulla has his workforce doubling down on the little particulars, and that’s why the off-ball screening is so profitable and frequent.

Curiously, we’re but to see the Celtics at full energy this season, so it will likely be enjoyable to see what different concepts Mazzulla implements all through the season, after which, when the playoffs finally roll round, we’ll get to see much more of his playbook and I for one, can’t wait.