Robb: Bucks were ready for Brad Stevens' wizardry on final play call

MILWAUKEE -- Jaylen Brown was having the game of his life. Jayson Tatum had scored 18 points in the second half. Yet, in the closing five seconds of the Celtics’ 104-102 loss to the Bucks, the basketball ended up in the hands of Marcus Morris, who needed to make a play with the game on the line.

Morris ultimately missed a tough fadeaway jumper over Khris Middleton as time expired as the hosts managed to escape the Bradley Center with a 104-102 victory and tie the series at two. While the Celtics were fortunate to even be in a position to win the game in the closing seconds after trailing by as many as 20 in the second half, there are some fair questions that are understandably being asked about the final play call by Brad Stevens, including: Why go to Morris when the young guys had it going?

The truth is Stevens was wisely looking for the win in regulation. But after taking a closer look at this play design, the Bucks looked like they were ready for what Boston had coming.

Long-time watchers of the Celtics may have got a sense of team’s primary option on the inbound play. The long lob to the far wing sets up Morris for an isolation situation against Middleton as one option. Tatum makes a good pass to get the ball to Morris in the mid post, but the real action starts from there -- Terry Rozier starts in the backcourt and tries to use an Al Horford screen at the top of the arc to get a catch-and-shoot 3 after a kick out pass from Morris.

It’s a play that the Celtics have run with great success over the past four years during end-of-game situations.



The play call here was the right idea. Getting an open look for the 3 was an ideal option on the road for Boston, rather than trying to finish off a win in overtime after expending so much energy to come back in the second half. The problem was the Bucks were actually ready for what the Celtics had coming.

On the initial action off the inbounds, Malcolm Brogdon gets switched on Al Horford after Horford screens for Jaylen Brown.



 

The element of surprise is a big part of the play after the initial pass by Tatum to Morris. Sometimes, defenders collapse on Morris. Other times, they simply turn his way to help. However, Brogdon immediately ditches Horford, failing to pursue him as the big man sets a screen on Bledsoe that ends up being a bit too far out from the 3-point line.



Instead, Brogdon simply waits on the right wing for Rozier to come around that screen. Once Rozier turns the corner on the screen, Brogdon is ready to jump on him immediately at the arc. He knew he was going to flash for the pass and just waited for the switch.



Having Horford on Bledsoe would have been a nice mismatch to go to, but there wasn’t enough time for that. To his credit, Morris figured out quickly that Rozier wouldn't be open and got off a shot from a spot he wanted. He’s a 43 percent shooter in the midrange this year, and had made a couple looks from those spots in the second half despite a lackluster 4-of-14 shooting night.



“We were looking for a pindown over the top and then a pindown for Terry Rozier,” Morris said after the game. “I saw that they switched it with a longer defender on him. I looked up and had to take a shot. I thought it was down. It came out of my hand pretty clean.”

“Brogdon jumped out and switched, Morris read it right,” Stevens added. “Morris got up a really good look. I feel really good about that with five seconds left in the game. They do so much switching, and I thought our guys, the goal of that is to get both guys on one side. Brogdon did a good job of staying under Al. But then, you always have the option of going 1-on-1 there on the other side with nobody there, which is not the worst thing in the world either.”

While Morris may be the better shot creator than Tatum or Brown in that situation, the fact he dealt with Middleton on this sequence was a tough break for the C’s. The lengthy 6-foot-8 wing is probably the best defender of the Bucks closing five. He knew what was coming once the ball went to Morris, and was ready to stand his ground.

“Brad Stevens throws a lot of different things at you, and everyone has to ready for those plays,” Middleton explained. “Once I see the ball go up in the air, I realized I was going to be isolated with Morris. I just tried to contest it.

“He took a lot of tough shots. He’s a tough shot maker. I just tried to challenge it. He got me with the same movie in the first half and made it. This time I just tried to challenge it, use my length, and I thought it was good from my view and it went a little bit long.”

While the Celtics may have been better off targeting an inferior defender on the final play like Jabari Parker (who end up getting switched onto Brown in the corner), it’s a guessing game for the coaches to determine who will guard who heading into that final play. Without any more timeouts to use, the C’s had to roll with the play they had, and they ran into Middleton.

Brown, despite his career-night, harbored no ill will for not getting an opportunity to touch the ball in that sequence.

“We got the look we wanted,” Brown said. “We thought they were going to front him. They didn’t, but we still got a great look. It’s a shot that (Morris) makes 1o out of 10 times. It just didn’t go in tonight.

“So, Game 5. Keep moving forward.”

Stevens has had such incredible success with late-game plays throughout his short NBA coaching career it’s a little surprising when an opponent is ready for what he has coming. It’s no knock on Stevens, really. You can second-guess going to Morris if you want. But he’s been making ridiculous shots all year long in spots like that. He’s fully capable in that spot.

The Celtics still got off a decent look, and that’s never a sure thing when you inbound the ball with five seconds remaining. Credit goes to the Bucks on this one. They scouted Boston well. As a result, they put the pressure back on the C's Game 5 and forced Stevens to perhaps a little bit more outside of the box for next time.