The NBA postseason is a chess match. Good teams know each other inside out and find a way to attack the weakness within an opponent over and over until something changes, whether it be strategy or personnel. Brad Stevens has had great success on this front throughout his career when he has a team buying into his direction and scheme from top to bottom (i.e. not last season) and it’s been a crucial factor in the C’s surprise 37-15 start to the season.
While Sunday’s Thunder-Celtics matchup was not a playoff matchup on paper, it was about as close as you were going to get in the regular season. Both teams were at full strength (minus Rob Williams) among their core players and everyone had been playing terrific basketball for the last few weeks. The Celtics came in with six straight wins and the Thunder had four straight. Both teams had won nine out of 10. Each team came in rested as well (no back-to-backs lately).
Sure enough, the strong play continued in the head-to-head battle for much of the night it was a back and forth affair for three quarters with both teams trading punches, leading to a tie game entering the fourth quarter.
For most teams in Oklahoma City, a tie game with 12 minutes to go has been bad news. The Thunder have been the best fourth-quarter team in the league (+9.9 net rating) thanks to the NBA’s best defense in the fourth quarter (100.1 points allowed per 100 possessions).
A healthy Celtics lineup was not fazed by this situation though, scoring 28 points and leading by as many as nine points late in the fourth quarter on their way to holding on for a 112-111 win. Late mistakes on offense made the final score much closer than it should have been as the visitors had this thing pretty much wrapped up (or should have) after building a nine-point lead (110-101) with just under two minutes remaining.
The creation of that advantage came largely due to a tactic that Stevens primarily saved for the fourth quarter. He saw the weakness in theThunder defense and was determined to have his versatile lineups attack it at every opportunity.
The trouble spot for OKC? Danilo Gallinari.
The veteran was his normal efficient self on the offensive end in this one, scoring a team-high 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting while attacking mismatches against the likes of Kemba Walker and others. That scoring output did not make up for what the C’s did to the Italian sharpshooter in the fourth quarter, however.
The Thunder trailed just 95-91 when Gallinari re-entered the game at the 7:36 mark of the fourth quarter. Over the next five-plus minutes, the Celtics outscored the Thunder 15-10, building a nine-point lead in the hostile environment mostly with their efficiency on the offensive end. The visitors scored 15 points on 11 possessions during this run, a 1.36 points per possession mark (which would be the best in the NBA).
The formula for that success from Stevens? Attack Gallinari in any way possible.
Going after Gallinari was easily apparent on the biggest plays of the run as Walker drew Gallinari in switches on back-to-back possessions which led to 3s for the All-Star guard. That’s a familiar tactic for any guard when a slow-footed forward like Gallinari is on the floor. Walker starts here with a simple isolation into a pull-up 3.
Kemba??? pic.twitter.com/DBxY0y0QfQ
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 9, 2020
Kemberrrrr pic.twitter.com/p4Cejk7OPt
— Max Carlin (@maxacarlin) February 9, 2020