The Celtics continue to get crafty using various offensive approaches
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla and his team are finding ways to win on a nightly basis. No matter what the matchup, the mentality remains the same. If the plan isn’t working, the Cs are adapting in order to secure victories.
Sure, the Celtics were coming off a ten-day road trip, which resulted in a 3-1 record against Western Conference teams. While they had arguably one of the toughest stretches of the year, Mazzulla emphasized the importance of building mental toughness. It’s not everyday you’re favored to win against a two-win team by 17 points.
Facing a team that was in the midst of a 27-game losing streak, the Celtics made it clear they were still going to put up a fight. However, so was Detroit. While it wasn’t an easy task, Boston drastically changed their game plan by the third quarter. Down by 19 points at the half, Boston found ways to execute and seal the victory down the stretch.
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“To me, I’m not worried what happened in the first half. That’s going to happen from time to time,” said Mazzulla. “I’m more worried about how we respond to it. It says more about our guys how we responded to the second half.”
It’s no secret Boston wants to kill teams beyond the perimeter. First in the NBA in three-point attempts (43.1), the Celtics have now fallen just outside the top ten in three-point percentage (37.3 percent).
Hitting just 16.7 percent of their three-point shots, they were getting wrecked on the boards, paint points, and simply turned the ball over one too many times. It was so terrible, Derrick White even changed his shoes by the third quarter.
For Tatum, he couldn’t find his stride in the first two quarters — shooting just 2-8 from downtown wasn’t going to cut it.
As for his message at halftime, Mazzulla was straight forward. “I think if you focus on the details and the execution, you can chip away at it,” Mazzulla said. “We got some stops, we chipped away at it, we got some easy baskets, and then it became a game.”
Twenty seconds into the second half, Jayson Tatum was quick to find a mismatch in the paint against Jaden Ivey.
The ability to play tight defense and protect the rebounds led to quick outlet passes down the court. On the defensive end, allowing just 20 points in the paint, compared to 34 in the first half was critical. By making slight defensive changes, Boston beat them in fast break point opportunities 14-11.
To be aggressive in the post was vital, but to create the mismatches among several players was a death sentence for the Pistons. Running double bigs, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday were able to post up and cook past Cade Cunningham in the paint. In fact, their first 12 points in the second half all came inside the perimeter. Porzingis and Tatum combined for 23 points alone in the third quarter, compared to Detroit’s 16.
Finding that momentum and figuring out defensive coverages and offensive gaps changed the narrative for the rest of the game. Outscoring Detroit 35-16 in the third quarter, 83 percent of their made shots came inside the paint. Sometimes, it’s finding the easy baskets, and for Tatum, he easily can beat anyone one-on-one. Again, he found the ability to drive past Jalen Duren for the and-one.
I love the increase in Tatum’s post game, and his ability to draw the fouls on smaller defenders. His increased strength and resiliency has really made a difference in his post up game.
For Porzingis, he continued to set screens for the ball handler, which continued to create the mismatch down low. For The Unicorn, he finished with a season high 35 points, eight rebounds and one steal on 13-21 field goal shooting. His size advantage gave him the capability to create turnaround shots, which helped put the Cs in front.
“KP did a great job getting to his spot, forcing the crossmatch, forcing mismatches.” said Mazzulla.
While the first half gave me slight flashbacks from last season in regards to the missed shots and turnovers, their ability to change the tune was impressive. I strongly agree with Mazzulla that success will look different night to night, and we have too much talent to rely on strictly three-point shooting.
