Even before Game 5 started, it was pretty clear where Brad Stevens' focus was ahead of the pivotal matchup Monday night.
The head coach was asked in his pregame media session about what the Celtics starters (88 points per 100 possessions in first four games of the series) needed to do to get better shots. He answered the question with some thoughts about the group's...defense?
“I think the biggest thing is we have to defend better at the start of the first and third quarters. That’s something we’re paying close attention to for sure,” he said.
Okay then.
While the C's defense has been stellar by the numbers all series long (101 points allowed per 100 possessions), it was evident Stevens saw the same film we analyzed on Saturday night, featuring a host of lazy closeouts, missed boxouts and spacing out from assignments. The eye test proved the numbers wrong in Game 4, or at least showed they should have been even better. Instead, the Celtics were allowing the Raptors to creep back into the series despite a huge discrepancy in offensive firepower between the two teams.
In Game 5, the playoff effort returned for Boston in a 111-89 romp, but a solution was also uncovered. The best way to slow down any offense is by taking out the head of the snake. In this series, that’s been Kyle Lowry, who had averaged 26.5 ppg and 7.5 apg in Games 3 and 4. While Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet struggle with consistency night-to-night, Lowry had willed Toronto’s offense with his aggressiveness to tie up the series at 2 with timely playmaking for himself and his teammates, earning him extra praise from the C’s before the game.
“I said going into this series that he’s an All-Star, but he might be the most underrated player in the league,” Stevens said. “I just think he’s a terrific defender, terrific leader, terrific effort player – offensively he puts you in a bind by getting fouled, making tough shots. He does every little thing that helps teams win. Somehow he’s been under appreciated. The more people watch him in these settings, the more he’s appreciated. He’s an amazing player, and certainly is a big engine for them.”
How exactly do you stop an engine like that? A good place to start is putting one of the best defensive guards in the league on him, which proved to be the biggest adjustments on the C’s defense in Game 5. Jayson Tatum had been Lowry’s primary defender all season long and had done a respectable job on most nights. However, with Lowry wreaking havoc off of pick-and-roll screens and handoffs all series long, Stevens saw a chance to make a small but needed adjustment: Use his best player at getting through screens (Marcus Smart) to go toe to toe with Lowry.
The switch sent Jayson Tatum to cover OG Anunoby, an assignment that helped slow down Lowry in a different way. Tatum is one of the best help defenders in the Eastern Conference thanks to his length and instincts, so putting him on a low-usage threat like Anunoby allowed him to be a consistent helper in the paint and disrupt drives by Lowry and other Raptors bigs.
Jayson both making the rotation over from the corner behind Theis rotating on the drive AND stealing the kick to the corner. Special defender pic.twitter.com/xvbc87g0jl
— Max Carlin (@maxacarlin) September 7, 2020
DENIED pic.twitter.com/ayQNZktkai
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 7, 2020
blocked again by Theis ? pic.twitter.com/h0vfEKY4me
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) September 7, 2020
