The Celtics' Defensive Revival Jump Starts 18-point Comeback

Mazzulla's adjustments to the 1st half mishaps push Celtics + quick MIN-DAL takes

The main narrative around the Boston Celtics throughout the playoffs has been that they’ve had the easiest road to the Finals (even though they haven’t yet reached them), but then again, they’re now playing in the Eastern Conference Finals without their starting center Kristaps Porzingis and without their 2nd (usually 3rd) string center in Luke Kornet.

I really do wonder what would’ve been the takes and narratives had the Celtics actually lost this game. The first half was looking really poor for them, partly due to the effort on defense, but partly due to the bad defensive setup. I’m not sure who would be to blame for that, but in the 2nd half they corrected that big time, and in my opinion and my eyes, Mazzulla should take credit for that.

Kornet and the guard habits

It might seem silly that the Celtics miss Kornet’s 10ish minutes a game, and in the end the Celtics managed to turn it around big time without him, but it’s all about the habits.

Jrue and White are some of the best chasers and through-the-block defenders in the entire league, but of what use do you have two of them running over the screens constantly when ahead of opposing players (Nembhard and TJ) is wide-open paint with plenty of space to go to the rim.

Nembhard and McConnell have abused those mishaps in the first half, they constantly got relatively easy and open shots, and in situations when they were well-defended, they managed to outsmart their defenders.

It took them 2 and a half quarters, but the Celtics adjusted to the fact that Horford isn’t an elite rim defender anymore, that they’re missing Kornet, and that Brissett and Tillman can’t perform in Kornet's role as well (even though they had some good defensive reactions, but rim defense is no joke).

Here are the adjustments that I’ve noticed:

• Jrue and Siakam defender switching when TJ/Nembhard have the ball - in 1st half Jrue was chasing over the screen, and whoever was guarding Siakam is never playing in drop. That allowed them to have a bunch of empty space

• Jrue and White going under the screen when TJ is playing pnr with Turner (and sometimes switching that as well!) → pretty self-explanatory, but they went over the screen several times which makes their life only harder

• The entire Celtics team helping a lot more on the Pacers’ guard drives —> especially Jaylen Brown who really stepped up his defense in the 2nd half. Great help and great D on switches

The Celtics didn't really have any offensive issues

Yeah yeah, the Celtics have dribble-dribble-dribble-shoot possessions, but every team has them. My opinion is that they've reduced that significantly in this game. I don't think that possessions where Brown and Tatum work on lower opponents count as those "black hole" possessions as well - so if someone argues that is a poor possession - I'd tell them they're wrong. I'd always like either of them ISOing up TJ/Nembhard.

Even in the poorest run by the Cs in the 2nd quarter, they kept playing good offense, but they simply missed a bunch of wide-open shots, and that's normal when you rely on 3-pointers. The funny thing is that they were shooting even poorer in the 2nd half, yet they've turned it around (because of defensive switches).

To prove my case that the Cs had good shots - they've had 22 wide-open 3-pointer attempts in this game, while the Pacers had 22 triples overall... With that, they've also had 22 open shots (closest defender 4-6 feet away from the shooter). As I said, they kept generating good drive-and-kicks.

One can raise a question of whether Tatum should be more aggressive and direct when playing in a pick-and-roll with Horford, but if the Pacers are constantly hedging, why not just dump it off to an open shooter?

And the last thing that definitely "proves" is that the Celtics didn't struggle with offense. Their ORTG for the game was 121 (slightly above their playoff average), and first half ORTG was 118 (slightly below average).

Game Winning Plays vs Game Losing Plays

I've mentioned that Jrue and White had a "rough" game for their standards, or for standards of a championship-caliber team. White allowed 13/21 FG and Jrue 7/14 - that's a much higher number than the usual ~45% they allow.

But then in the 4th quarter, they delivered big time with plays that secured them a win. Jrue slipped on screen and scored an easy layup, scoring an and-one, stealing the ball late, White rotating on defense, and constantly contesting shots (he also had 4 blocks). The difference that was already felt in G1 was just amplified in this one in terms of playoff readiness and maturity.

Incredible shot-making by the Pacers that died off

We often connect shot-making with 3-pointers already, but the skill of "shot-making" can be shown in any part of the court. I think that the Pacers were over-performing in the 1st half, despite the defensive lapses by the Cs.

I've mentioned already that TJ and Nembhard absolutely ran the show in the 1st half (and half of the 3rd quarter). They kept making shots in short mid-range, some of them were well contested, and some were in the form of fade away, but all of that just seemed "easy".

Not only for them, but also for Turner and Siakam who were constantly abusing mismatches. I've mentioned that there were plenty of defensive adjustments by the Celtics, but still, sometimes you have a shot that you knocked down in the 1st half, and it just won't fall in the 2nd one.

The effect of late-game decisions

When you look at the series from the current standpoint, it is basically over. As we know, no one ever came back when down 3-0 in a series.

When you look at it from a hypothetical aspect, the Pacers could've very well been up 2-1 had some late game plays turned out differently in their favor (you could've said the same thing but against their favor in the NYK-IND series though).

Sometimes that's just luck, but sometimes those little things that experienced playoff teams have already gone through. Carlisle isn't a rookie coach, but in my opinion, the way he handled the endings of G1 and G3, and the way he benched everyone in G2 is a really bad look.

MIN - DAL Quick Takes

I’ve watched game 2 only in “All Possessions” format in the League Pass app, but I do have some thoughts about it.

• The Wolves involved Rudy a bit more by allowing Conley to create plays, and run the offense. They should do more of that, and use Rudy’s vertical presence, as his standing reach/wingspan/height just towers everyone on the floor.

• There is not enough talk about just how good Daniel Gafford and Derrick Lively have been. I know that Luka and Kyrie are some of the flashiest names in the NBA, but without Gafford/Lively’s skills and finishing around the rim on offense, and their gigantic defensive presence, the Mavs are nowhere near the team they currently look like.

• But yeah, along with that, the difference in Kyrie+Luka playmaking in comparison to Conley+Edwards is also staggering. Luka creates plays out of nothing, and the way he manipulates defenses is still insane to me. He and Jokić are on their own level right now.

• Edwards is still struggling in creating his own shot, but his passing is still okayish. But I don’t think it’s his fault, they’re not getting him in situations where he can attack mismatches. Like, why wouldn’t you try to get him matched with Luka? Luka defended ONLY 4 SHOTS according to the defensive box score. That’s inexcusable in my opinion, if they don’t involve him in every offensive play in G3 (similarly to what the Celtics did with Haliburton in G2) I’m going to be deeply upset and disappointed. Especially since Luka is apparently hobbled by some injury

• The games are still awfully close, despite KAT’s ice-cold shooting and Edwards being a non-factor in terms of shooting. That’s good-and-bad. Bad because it means they wasted great games by role players (McDaniels in G1, Reid in G2), good because it means they are a good and strong team.

With that last bullet, I’d just like to mention that this series isn’t over, it’s nowhere near that. But the Wolves have to put KAT and Edwards in easier situations, they must find easier mismatches for them. I’d even say that Towns is of bigger importance because if he can get in rhythm he can be an enormous threat from the 3-point line, as that has been unfortunately (for Wolves) non-existing.

I’d also like to see more aggressive weak side help on pick and rolls in order to force skip passes by Luka/Kyrie. Go gamble on 3-pointers but try to stop those rolls. But that measure should be taken if KAT/Edwards are still cold.

Anyway, the series is still close, let’s see how will it unfold.