10 takeaways from a statement night in the desert against the Suns

#1 – Jaylen Brown initiating 5-out offense

With Jayson Tatum resting, Jaylen Brown was anticipated to steer the offense final evening in Arizona — and he did. First, he acquired himself going with a few made threes, however extra importantly, he initiated the offense for the entire crew. Proper after his first two buckets, he began the offense early from the aspect, in a 5-out setup.

With this set, there’s a variety of spacing, and the robust aspect nook is empty, which adjustments the same old defensive construction. With Brown scoring, the Suns’ protection collapses round him, and he can discover open teammates. On the primary play beneath, his no-look cross to the nook creates the hole that results in an open shot.

On the very subsequent play, it’s the very same setup, however this time the primary cross goes to the highest, creating an open shot within the nook. What goes round comes round.

Later within the recreation, Brown ran high-quality pick-and-rolls with Luke Kornet, exhibiting the enhancements he’s made in his deal with, passing, and courtroom imaginative and prescient. Whereas his scoring effectivity has been beneath common all season, his playmaking has been one of many yr’s nice surprises.

His passing from the post-up has been lethal as a result of many defenses concern his isolation recreation. From the publish, Brown can overpower his defender whereas wanting over his shoulder to seek out the open man. One other nice instance beneath: a skip cross from the post-up that finally ends up being one other triple for JB.

From an empty-side motion once more, Brown gave us the dunk of the evening. Giving him the ball in rhythm with a lot area is how the Celtics ought to scheme round him. It’s environment friendly, and simple on the eyes.

But, Brown wasn’t the one spotlight in Phoenix, because the Celtics moved the ball fantastically all evening.

#2 – Celtics ball motion

Led by Jaylen Brown, the Celtics shared the rock masterfully final evening. With 33 assists, they took benefit of the Suns’ lack of defensive mobility and proved as soon as once more that the ball strikes quicker than our bodies.

The help numbers are fairly spectacular: two gamers had 5 assists, two had 4, two had three, and Derrick White completed with seven. Nonetheless, the help of the evening goes to Baylor Scheierman together with his Rajon Rondo imitation.

#3 – Kristaps Porzingis drives

Later in the present day, I’ll publish an extended story on Porzingis’ latest offensive adjustments. What stood out final evening was his willingness to drive and never simply accept three-pointers. Total, he took solely one-third of his photographs from past the arc and was in a position to generate eight free throws.

Right here, for instance, as a substitute of capturing a catch-and-shoot or posting up for a mismatch, Porzingis fakes the cross and drives to the rim, utilizing his lengthy stride to get into the paint earlier than pulling up for a ravishing floater after slowing all the way down to rise over Nick Richards.

Groups are so frightened by his capturing that Porzingis growing a bent to pretend may open new routes for the Celtics’ offense. Right here once more, he fakes — and it utterly breaks the defensive shell. Kevin Durant falls behind the play, and Oso Ighodaro is caught off guard and too late to assist.

The Celtics prefer to run pick-and-pop with Porzingis, which is already exhausting to cease. If he begins to drive from these conditions too, issues are going to get much more sophisticated for his or her opponents.

Extra on Porzingis’ new offensive function later in the present day on CelticsBlog.

#4 – Slowing down Devin Booker

Regardless of a disappointing season for the Suns, Devin Booker’s particular person numbers stay among the many greatest within the league. Alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jalen Brunson, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard, and Zion Williamson, he’s one of many few gamers within the league with each utilization and help charges above 30%, on over 59% true capturing effectivity.

So when the Celtics held him to 14 factors on 45% true capturing, it mentioned so much about their skill to decelerate the Suns’ offensive star. However how did they do it?

Nicely, Jrue Vacation and Derrick White did an incredible job. The All-Star needed to cope with fixed strain from the All-Defensive backcourt duo, and there was no escape. Booker nonetheless delivered 10 assists, however his scoring was taken away — and the Suns’ offense struggled due to it.

#5 – Al Horford’s March insanity

Possibly March is when Al Horford rises and turns into the perfect model of himself? Again in school, he gained back-to-back NCAA titles with the Florida Gators, dominating March two years in a row. As soon as once more, this season, March appears to provide him some further juice.

Listed here are Al Horford’s factors per recreation by month:

October: 9.2
November: 9.7
December: 7.7
January: 6.0
February: 7.6
March: 12.3

Alongside these 12 factors per recreation, he’s averaging almost 4 assists, one block, and one steal. Total dominance from the veteran since late February.

However this isn’t a coincidence. Over the previous month, Horford’s offensive and defensive roles have shifted. As an alternative of sticking to the drop protection we noticed early within the season, he’s been switching rather more. Offensively, he’s getting extra touches within the paint.

After a protracted season, Al Horford seems prepared for the Playoffs.

#6 – Luke Kornet to the rescue

Will he ever cease being superb? I hope not. Final evening, on a selection pick-and-roll motion for Phoenix, Kornet rotated from the weak aspect nook to dam the shot with two palms — with out fouling.

Wonderful.

Later within the recreation, it was the alternative: he sprinted from the paint to the weak aspect nook to dam Cody Martin’s three.

Is there something he can’t do defensively?

#7 – Yeah, three is healthier than two

Talking of threes, the Celtics gained the numbers recreation. They allowed Phoenix to function within the mid-range — and the Suns have been tremendous environment friendly from there. Taking pictures 60% on lengthy mid-ranges, they’d probably the greatest performances of the season in that zone. However 60% from two equals 1.2 factors per shot.

In the meantime, the Celtics made 43.5% of their threes, good for 1.3 factors per shot. And so they generated 46 three-point makes an attempt earlier than rubbish time, in comparison with simply 10 lengthy mid-range photographs for the Suns.

The Celtics knew precisely who to depart open — and the place.

#8 – Leaving the Suns open

Certainly, whereas the Celtics allowed Kevin Durant to take his contested twos with out doubling him, they gave the remainder of the Suns a free cross to shoot from deep. Ryan Dunn, Cody Martin, and Royce O’Neale have been handled as non-shooting threats, giving the Celtics defensive flexibility.

With one or two non-shooters at all times on the ground, Boston was in a position to crowd the paint and power Phoenix into the photographs they didn’t need. That defensive technique led to a 49.3% eFG for the Suns — whereas the Celtics posted a 66.2% eFG.

#9 – Spain pick-and-roll towards the Suns

It’s a enjoyable element, however the Phoenix Suns have been the crew that popularized the Spain pick-and-roll within the early 2020s with Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and Deandre Ayton. So, it was ironic to see the Celtics run the identical play final evening. One instance stood out: Jaylen Brown was the second screener — one thing uncommon.

His robust display pressured assist from the weak aspect, opening up Derrick White for a 3. It made me surprise how rather more offensive juice the Celtics may unlock from Brown through the use of him off the ball extra typically — particularly as a screener.

#10 – Ending robust

As Nate identified, the Celtics went from 32–15 to 54–19, ending the season robust and sharpening their instruments for the Playoffs.