The Boston Celtics blew a 30-point result in the Atlanta Hawks. They obtained their 10-game win streak snapped. They fully misplaced focus. They scored 44 factors within the first quarter and 44 factors within the second half.
All of that’s true. And none of it would matter in two weeks.
What is going to matter in two weeks is Boston’s crunch-time offense, and as soon as once more, it devolved into isolation basketball towards Atlanta.
With 40 seconds left within the sport, down by one level, Jaylen Brown dribbled the ball on the wing. He waited and waited and waited, however the Celtics’ play by no means materialized. In consequence, he chucked up a contested three because the shot clock ran out. It missed.
“I didn’t love the final shot that we obtained,” Brown mentioned. “I feel we type of waited too late. I used to be ready for the motion to type of develop. However the clock was winding down, it was taking an excessive amount of time.”
Brown and Jayson Tatum made some big-time mid-range buckets down the stretch out of one-on-one matchups. To their credit score, the Celtics attacked the mismatches they needed to and located their spots.
They discovered success with some easy screens, however as quickly as their preliminary plan obtained shut down, they froze.
When the ball is zipping round, gamers are setting screens away from the play and preserving the protection on their toes, the Celtics have a bonus. When the offense will get slowed down, the protection will get locked in, and gamers have time to react to what’s in entrance of them, Boston usually forces up a nasty look out of necessity.
However the Celtics didn’t see offense as their largest drawback, slightly, their protection led to offensive difficulties.
“I feel that they only had time to set their protection,” Tatum mentioned. “They saved scoring. We didn’t get as many stops as we did firstly of the sport. So, these conditions come about a variety of instances once you’re taking part in towards a set protection, clearly as a result of they had been scoring, and we weren’t getting as many stops as we might have preferred.”
Boston really appeared happy with their late-game offensive execution.
“I feel we had been fairly respectable,” Kristaps Porzingis mentioned. “I feel JT was doing an ideal job getting some buckets for us. I feel we might have been smarter in a few conditions on protection. We gave them simple free throws.”
That’s all true.
Boston couldn’t cease Atlanta within the final three minutes of the sport. They had been foul machines.
The Hawks obtained factors on all 5 possessions they obtained down the stretch. Whether or not it was from free throws or an offensive rebound, they discovered a option to rating.
The one time the Celtics obtained a board after a missed free throw, they adopted it up with a Tatum turnover that led to a Bogdan Bogdanovic three-pointer.
Atlanta obtained an opportunity to arrange their protection within the half-court each time, making life harder for the Celtics. However that’s not an excuse for iso-ball.
Why accept non-action off the ball? Spacing is necessary, however when the Hawks blow up two screens in a row and depart Brown floundering on the wing, why say, ‘Dang, I assume we’ll simply go iso now’?”
The answer is to get into the play faster, which Brown admitted as a difficulty, besides, when the Celtics discover matchups they like, that’s nearly all the time the top of the possession. They stay and die with he mismatch as everybody else on the court docket stands and watches as in the event that they purchased a ticket to the sport.
That is how Boston runs nearly their total offense. Within the early levels of the sport, Tatum is often capable of crack the protection and discover an open shooter. However as the sport progresses and groups get much less and fewer prepared to depart their guys, Tatum is commonly compelled to place up robust mid-range photographs.
He and Brown made issues occur towards the Hawks, besides on what was a very powerful offensive possession of the sport, however the basic idea makes no sense.
Perhaps the Celtics are hiding their playing cards, saving their drawn-out units for the playoffs. Perhaps that is Joe Mazzulla’s manner of getting Tatum and Brown some late-game, tough-shot reps in earlier than the postseason. Perhaps they’re comfy dwelling and dying with their stars within the ultimate minutes.
Once more, this sport didn’t matter, however these inquiries do.