Kristaps Porziņģis takes his place in the locker room when he speaks after matches, speaking in detail about what he saw on the pitch. It’s a fireside chat for X’s and Os’ junkies.
After the Celtics beat the 76ers Making a season-low 22 three-point attempts, he described how Philadelphia guarded him, even standing up and showing how the Sixers were tacking rather than turning directly against his screens.
“I saw that they saw that I was jumping and they were turning early, so right away the guard comes with me so that we don’t get an advantage and I stand on the perimeter,” said he declared. “As the game went on, I started hitting underneath, getting the screen underneath and starting to roll. JT and DWhite, they found me a few times, or we had a mismatch and we punted from there, or sometimes I just roll and bring a few guys in and then we can get some outs, because help is coming. So you just have to create little advantages in those situations…we have to be a smart team where…boom…if they start doing that, we go for it and we still need to have the answers.
Jaylen Brown called it being the smartest team — ddiagnosing defenses on the fly, finding a creative solution, and repeating this process until the opposing team adapts. Then Boston moves on to the next set he works on. This may produce different shots or results each time, but the Celtics have an answer for every defense, especially with their diverse personnel.
This has allowed Boston to win in different ways and have an offense that looks more sustainable than last year’s three-point approach. The Celtics rank No. 1 on offense by nearly two points per 100 possessions over No. 2 Indiana, and have won 14 of 25 shooting below 36 percent from three, a marked improvement from 19- 20 last year.
Porziņģis recalls a conversation he had with Brad Stevens last month about how easily teams, including the Celtics, were guarding the big man during his NBA debut with the team. Knicks. Asked by CLNS Media/CelticsBlog To reflect on the time he had such mastery of how teams guarded him, to the point where his response became almost instantaneous, he pointed to Stevens’ strategy.
“He said it, it was OK, because he’s going to shoot threes if a big guards him, we can put Marcus Smart on him or a guard who’s going to be on my knees, be super physical,” recalls Porzingis. “I struggled with it early in my career, and then I started to understand it. And then there are the turns, they give me the pop, then they take it away. So it takes time. At this point in my career, I’ve seen all the coverages, I know the different things they’re going to throw at me and I’m just a much more complete player at creating advantages out of those situations…I’m always looking for ways to improve, to anticipate things, to see who’s going to keep, what they’re going to do. It’s a game within a game.”
Jayson Tatum and Brown followed the same process several years later, first becoming the primary ball handlers between 2020 and 2022, then diving into the attention that comes with being a team’s top option. They studied double teams, blitzes and how they could get around defenses by driving and kicking. Smart infamously called on them to achieve more, and they spent long film sessions assessing their patchy improvement.
Brown, after the arrival of Derrick White and Jrue Holiday, asked to stay involved in the facilitating dynamic after one of the biggest disappointments of his career in Game 7 against the Great playing that role. He responded by committing his fewest turnovers per game since 2020 (2.3) and developing a rapport with Porzingis.
This system also naturally resolved one of the biggest questions at the start of the season: how the team’s stars were going to sacrifice themselves. Who would get the most shots, and when? Joe Mazzulla would no longer have to answer this question. He could always point the finger at matchups, and the Celtics, during their recent 11-game winning streak, reached a relentless level exposing them. If you couldn’t defend on the opposing side, Boston would find you and run you off the field. Porzingis has become the most devastating post force in the league and Brown has in recent weeks begun to regularly bring smaller players to the rim.
The Celtics shot 53.8% targeting Jordan Clarkson on Tuesday, 64.7% against Anfernee Simons, 63.6% against Bradley Beal in Phoenix, made all six shots they took against Steph Curry and a whopping 73 .3% with Luka Doncic on guard at the start of the month. Boston converts 57.5% from eFG.
“We don’t want to push too hard…that’s why JT deserves a lot of credit,” Porzingis said. “If they switch and they have a guard on me, I know this guy and DWhite, all these guys are going to give me the ball five times in a row if necessary. This is the type of team we are becoming. If we see something we like, we selflessly turn to that player or situation, and we return to it again and again until the other team makes an adjustment. Then when they make an adjustment, boom, we have something else to do. That’s what’s cool about this team and I don’t want to go on a rant, but to be honest, that’s how I feel and that’s why we have so many wins.
Boston players, including Brown, praised Mazzulla for instilling that mindset and allowing them to play that fluid style. He compared the offense to football concepts in their fluidity, and even took routes off the football field when he visited Patriots coaches Bill Belichick and Jerod Mayo last year.
Mazzulla has also been flexible, saying after the last win against Philadelphia that he wasn’t focused on making a certain number of threes. It’s about making the right shot, he said, a change from last season when he called three-point attempt rate basketball’s most important statistic after he thought it caused the Celtics’ 28-point collapse against the Nets last March.
Mazzulla also mentioned another change after playing the Nuggets last week, noticing the layers of offense needed to get past a defense trying to take down threes. In a film session before the Portland game, he implemented this approach and watched Tatum execute the five points he set for him, praising the performance that allowed Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser to rain on three against the team that allowed the sixth fewest attempts. Mazzulla talked about side-by-side, three- or four-possession plays, having often said the Celtics needed to take the first open shot in 2023. It’s not promised another one would come, he said.
“When you have talent and a lot of talent, you have to challenge them and hold them to a very high standard, but also make them see the game in a way that it is, I can rely on my talent, but I can be even better if I look a step or two ahead and almost anticipate,” Mazzulla said. CLNS Media/CelticsBlog last month. “I think some of the best players in the NBA, over time, talk about how as they’ve gotten older, they’ve adjusted their mental approach to the game. When you study that and you want to help your guys grow, I think that it’s part of the game… it’s because of our guys, they really put a lot of time into it as a team. Awareness of game management, what goes into starting a run, what goes into ending a run, what goes into executing a play call, noticing coverage changes .
The sometimes tough 76ers game became Mazzulla’s favorite game of the season. The Celtics created downhill paths with all three unavailable against the shifting level of defense that devastated Boston in its biggest loss of the season against the Clippers at home. This approach, the most effective at sticking to shooters, remains a potential weakness in the playoffs, even if only a small number of teams are capable of executing it against the Celtics. The emphasis on pacing began in December, in part to combat this phenomenon.
The game didn’t mark a transition to the three, Boston has still attempted 40 or more threes in four of its last seven games since. This average (42.3) still places them first in the league in this sequence. Between post-ups, mid-range shooters and a whole range of screens and sets, the Celtics have all the answers to win a championship. They just need to find them when they need them.
“(Opponents) could change, they could maintain, they could go small, they could double down,” Brown said. “They are trying to figure out what the cure is to succeed against us. We are able to adapt, we are versatile, we are able to read the game differently… We are a more organized team this year. We have actions, we think about the game… we take our time, we identify the gaps and we play the game the right way. I think it’s one of the best years we’ve done that since I’ve been Celtic… achieve fast, but play slow. Recognize what they’re in, how they protect you, where the advantages are on the field, and then take your time… don’t allow teams to try to spoil the game.
“We are the most talented team. We also have to be the smarter team.
