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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 group.
We’ve discovered loads about this 12 months’s group over the previous 5 video games. There’s much more left to be taught. We haven’t seen the whole lot Mazzulla and his teaching employees are engaged on. What now we have seen is extremely encouraging.
Let’s dive into as we speak’s takeaways.
#1 Stifling defensive stress
The Hornets turned the ball over 24 instances. Most of these errors have been pressured. There was a big onus on intense ball stress from the Celtics rotation. Energetic fingers, strong point-of-attack protection, and fast switches pressured the Hornets into uncomfortable conditions.
Charlotte struggled to take care of the stress. Breaking down the Celtics’ protection was an excessive amount of of a tall order. Right here’s an instance of how Boston appeared 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 stress 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 change gears and soar 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 stress is turned up, it’s suffocating. You possibly can see it by means of the display.
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 in transition. The thought is to assault the protection earlier than it’s arrange. An early display can drive a disastrous mismatch or blow a wide-open protection.
Boston opted to run loads of double drag, with two screens in transition. Generally, these double screens are staggered. Generally not. What’s necessary is that they work. Two drag actions caught my eye within the first quarter.
Within the above clip, the Celtics go to their drag sequence and run a easy drag slip, with Jaylen Brown slipping the display to stress 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 most of the time.
Generally it is smart to string actions collectively. A number of actions in succession bends the protection. Switches happen. Rotations are pressured. And out of the blue, 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 speedy succession.
What’s enjoyable is the Celtics are nonetheless enjoying with tempo when operating these units. They’re simply seeking to assert management over their opponents and generate high-quality seems within the course of.
#4 Speaking nerdy: Fast Flip
Final season, the Celtics ran a ton of fast actions, also called vast actions. These are early offense units which might be designed to generate mismatches or early scoring alternatives. Mazzulla will probably implement his fast sequence all through the upcoming season. Having Kristaps Porzignis because the display additionally offers the Celtics some new choices.
A fast motion is when the large man units a display for the off-ball wing in transition. The off-ball wing then comes off the display to get the ball in the midst of the court docket. Within the above play, the Porzingis “flipped” his display to provide Boston a pick-and-roll motion, permitting Tatum to make the most of the display and create house for a mid-range jumper.
#5 Neemias Queta’s elbow actions
Neemias Queta has turn out to be Celtics Nation’s new fan favourite. The energetic large man has impressed when given the chance. Throughout his minutes towards the Hornets, Queta’s work on the elbows caught my eye. Underneath Ime Udoka, Al Horford was utilized in elbow actions, particularly in dribble hand-offs, to create house across the nail and supply rim stress 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 probability bucket.
Using Queta across the elbows after which having him roll to the rim might be a tough state of affairs for defenses to take care of. Defenders want to modify 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 might 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 appeared to stress 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 stress 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 each side of the ground has been encouraging over the past 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 along with his scoring skill and skill 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 remains to be at his finest when using a screener. Nonetheless, 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 large man earlier than releasing the lob-pass for Queta. No pick-and-roll. Stable positioning and physique utilization.
On this clip, Pritchard makes use of a display. He comes over, attracts two, modifications course to create a passing angle, and fires a one-handed bullet move to Queta for a straightforward 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 Swap
Over the previous few seasons, the Celtics have averted scram-switching when there’s a mismatch within the publish. 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 potential. Underneath Brad Stevens, the Celtics had loads of success by scramming out of mismatches. It will likely be fascinating to see how often the Celtics look to make the most of the sort of change throughout the upcoming season.
Right here’s an instance of Porzingis scramming Derrick White out of a mismatch on the sturdy aspect block. White rotates over to the weak-side nook. The Celtics collapse on the drive, and growth, 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. Nonetheless, it’s egregious that White isn’t thought-about a top-100 participant. I’m positive we will 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 photographs. White’s presence within the Celtics beginning lineup is an unimaginable calming issue, and he continues to develop in affect and impression.
I liked White’s efficiency towards Charlotte. And I’ve liked 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 turn out to be persistently accessible. 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 abilities of their rotation this season. If the slot drive is persistently accessible, 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 towards the Knicks. Not lengthy to attend!
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