The Boston Celtics are affected by elite three-level scorers on their roster. They will assault you in some ways and discover gaps in any protection thrown their manner. With the Celtics set to face a Dallas Mavericks group that struggles to protect the perimeter by way of impacting photographs, it is smart that Joe Mazzulla’s group might lean into some units which have labored nicely all through the season.
Stampede cuts
If the Celtics are going to attract a crowd on the perimeter, they need to look to punish the extra house with forceful cuts towards the rim. Dallas has been utilizing Kyrie Irving in an identical spot and did so to finish the primary quarter of Recreation 4.
If the Celtics are going to lean into attacking by way of stampede cuts, Jaylen Brown is the almost definitely candidate as a result of his explosiveness and the way a lot he appears to take pleasure in bully driving his option to the rim.
Above is an effective instance of how one can generate rim stress with out counting on perimeter-based actions. Everyone knows the Celtics will draw a crowd when operating PnR units with Jayson Tatum or Brown because the ball-handler. However what occurs when the protection is about within the half-court and each forwards are working off the ball?
On this clip, the Celtics get Tatum out of the dunker spot and onto the perimeter by way of a Zipper Minimize. On the weak aspect of the ground, Sam Hauser units a large pin-down for Brown, who curls over the display and stampede cuts after receiving the move. Discover how Hauser lifts out of the nook because the protection collapses to supply a passing outlet for a simple three.
By leaning into stampede actions, the Celtics will likely be testing the Mavericks’ means to guard the rim whereas additionally testing their reactivity on the perimeter. It’s a great way of punishing the protection for making an attempt to load up on the ball-handler whereas additionally discovering simple scoring alternatives that include the possibility of drawing a foul.
If the protection adjusts and appears to kill the drive, each Brown and Tatum are adept at countering by pulling up within the mid-range. As we’ve seen, the Mavericks are prepared to dwell with that shot, and don’t have an excellent observe document of impacting them at a constant price.
Horns units
One other option to leverage the Celtics’ three-level scoring is to lean right into a collection they’ve run all yr: Horns. Mazzulla has a deep playbook out of this alignment, all of which might result in scoring alternatives throughout the ground. Essentially the most prevalent choice is chin, which has been a staple all season however has not often been leaned on through the postseason.
The clip above is the essential chin set. It begins in a Horns alignment. The ball-handler feeds one of many gamers on the elbow earlier than coming off a display from the opposite participant and reducing on the non-ball aspect of the ground. That motion normally opens up a simple lane to the rim.
After all, if the protection reacts shortly, the cutter can flip right into a short-roll creator in seconds, utilizing the gravity of his minimize to hit an open shooter within the nook.
If the cutter isn’t able to obtain the move because of the protection studying the motion, the screener can movement right into a veer motion to open up a chin veer which provides the ball-handler a chance to get downhill because the protection recovers from preliminary rotation on the entry minimize.
The potential outcomes from this play are the identical as operating Chin. The first distinction is the stress it places on the cutter’s defender in the event that they’ve been bought on the display and have tried to go beneath or to try to cancel the display, which, as you may see within the clip above, can generate some extra house.
One variance with the UCLA motion that Boston has appreciated to deploy at instances this season is having the UCLA screener pop into house across the slot. The minimize then acts because the decoy, whereas the true motion is getting a shooter popping into house whereas the protection reacts to the specter of the minimize.
Stack actions: A.Ok.A Spain Decide-and-Roll
I’ll preserve this part brief.
Final season, the stack was a major a part of Mazzulla’s offensive playbook. This season, it’s been much less prevalent, and when the Celtics have gone to it, it’s been designed as window dressing earlier than the true motion befell. Nonetheless, given the Mavericks’ want to defend the perimeter, leaning into some stack actions may very well be an excellent ploy to generate some simple appears.
Hauser is normally the beneficiary of those actions. It is smart given his elite catch-and-shoot risk. Nonetheless, Payton Pritchard, Brown, Tatum and Porzingis all make sense on this spot, particularly should you really feel just like the popper (Hauser within the clip above) could must take a 1 or 2 dribble pull-up to assault a closeout.
Nonetheless, should you’re seeking to create house on the perimeter and lean into your id as a fearsome three-point group, operating stack towards a protection that struggles to affect the perimeter may very well be a smart guess.
I’m anticipating to see extra actions than those laid out right here. Nonetheless, these actions have labored towards questionable perimeter defenses all season and really feel like logical choices heading into the collection towards Dallas. After all, issues might change. Changes are half and parcel of the playoffs, and that features transferring away or towards totally different elements of your playbook.
Nonetheless, I’m excited to see how the chess battle unfolds and whether or not Mazzulla has been holding something again for this late stage of the playoffs.
CelticsBlog graciously allowed this text to be cross-posted from my “Celtics Chronicle” e-newsletter.
