The Brooklyn Nets held the Boston Celtics to 93 points in Game 1 of their first round series, which might have been the biggest surprise to come out of the opener. The Nets aren't exactly known for their defense, and even though some of that narrative might have been overblown, the Celtics certainly played into it by missing easy opportunities to get good shots.
"We had some miscues, but not a ton. We’ve just gotta attack their switching better," Brad Stevens said after the game. "They’ve got a lot of athletic guys out there and prideful individual defenders. And they know how to play. So we’ve gotta be better at manipulating actions to get what we want.”
That quote says a lot, and it sums up a lot of what happened for the Celtics offensively in the second half. The three elements of that quote are:
- Attacking switching
- Prideful individual defenders
- Manipulating actions
Every one of those Nets stars can turn it on defensively. Kyrie Irving, James Harden, and Kevin Durant can each, when they are focused and put in the effort, can make individual defensive plays. Irving blocked Marcus Smart on a drive, Harden poked the ball away from Jayson Tatum, and Durant challenged a lot of Tatum's shots.
If the Celtics just try to bust those guys, they'll just ended up with tough shots that they'll either make or miss.
"They’ve got a lot of long athletic guys," Stevens said after the team's Sunday practice. "I don't think that there's a ton of people that you necessarily want to isolate."
But they are guys who will make mistakes once the ball is moved. It's up to the Celtics to make them make mistakes.
Attacking the Brooklyn switches can mean a lot of things. They are switching everything, which is leading to some interesting scenarios. Take these two plays, for example.
It's a very simple pick-and-roll between Tristan Thompson and Kemba Walker. Each time, the Nets switched without worrying about whether Thompson posted up Irving. Boston didn't, and didn't seem to care to, take advantage of that particular mismatch. Thompson post-ups are not going to lead to Boston wins in this series.
But baiting Thompson into going for those post ups are a concern for this series. The Celtics have some options in this scenario if Thompson will play along and not dive down into potential driving lanes.
1: A simple re-screen with Thompson: Instead of taking Irving into the post and screaming "mouse in the house," quickly re-set another screen on the other side. In that first play, the screen is set for Walker to go down the middle and Irving drops off. Thompson can quickly flip the screen, setting up a Walker crossover dribble, and force another switch. THEN he can roll hard to the hoop because Irving will step up to Walker. Harden will be on his left hip and that will force help from the opposite corner.
Walker will either (a) have a jump shot, (b) drive baseline and have the option of a pocket pass to Thompson, or (c) loft a pass up over Irving's head to Thompson. If he takes that last option, Thompson can either finish or whip a pass over to Evan Fournier in the left corner. Fournier will either be open or he'll whip one more pass up to Tatum if Tatum's man overreacts.
2: Slip the screen: Slipping the screen basically means faking the screen and diving quickly to the basket. When teams switch and both players are at the height of the screen, there is generally a brief moment where a player can dive to the basket. Here it is in the case of the second play.
Thompson needs to recognize that and get into that open space. If he won't then they need to play Robert Williams more in this situation so he can. Much like the first play, this would create havoc because Joe Harris would have to step up to stop the open dunk, leaving James Harden to guard two guys. Fournier would be wide open in the corner and he'd either get a clean shot off if Harden was slow to react or it would swing to Smart. Another option if Harden was overreacting would be to fake, drive, and see if (a) anyone recovered to the big and look for a lob, (b) see if there's a lane for the layup, or (c) look for Smart or Tatum as both rotate over behind him. Tatum could get an open look in this scenario.
3: Turn it into a hand-off or hand-back: This is more of a Robert Williams play, but the Celtics can start the big up higher and Walker can give it up to him and run the dribble hand-off that leads back into a pick-and-roll. It's a play Boston has run a lot this season, and the reason why it would work is that it would challenge Brooklyn to switch multiple times on the same action. The more decisions they force the Nets to make, the more likely it is that someone messes up and it opens up a sliver of room.
There are variations within all of these things, and this is all just off a simple pick-and-roll. The Celtics can also simply change who is setting the pick. They could go small and take Thompson off the floor completely. Maybe they go with Grant Williams as a spot up guy or they go super-small with someone like Aaron Nesmith in as a floor-spacer. Then Tatum or Fournier can set the picks and force Brooklyn to waver on who gets closely guarded. There are countless possibilities that Boston can go to and do something different than what they did in Game 1.
"We have a really smart couch, a really smart coaching staff that puts us in position to win games," Walker said Sunday. "We just have to do better on that end. All of that is in our game plan. We just have to go out there and execute."