If there's one constant with the Celtics, it’s that they don’t like making things easy.
The bleary-eyed Bostonians nearly put everyone in the Garden to sleep with their early performance. It took about 34 minutes of gameplay for their coffee to fully kick-in, but once it did, they took off.
“We woke up at halftime a little bit,” Ime Udoka joked after the game. “But, nah, overall offense really woke up, playing with the pace that we wanted to, taking care of the ball. … We had 10 turnovers at halftime, only four in the second half. They're one of the top transition teams so we were hurting ourselves there in the first half. And really penetration and getting downhill. We know this is a team we can attack in the pick and roll and get downhill, and I think some guys started a little slower than others.”
Maybe we can excuse guys for not rising to the occasion out of the box in a 12:30 game. Chances are no one on that floor got more than a few hours of sleep heading into this, so a little time to shake out the cobwebs is understandable.
But no one in Boston wants to give these guys that benefit of the doubt. Frankly, they haven't earned it. To most, this game was just another in a pile of inconsistent messes. The only thing that separates this one from the rest is the recovery late in the third quarter and into the fourth.
This was a win, and to borrow a phrase from the coach, no one on the team is going to apologize for not winning in perfect style. The hope here is that guys see the lessons that consistently present themselves.
The biggest one, glaring like an old Vegas casino sign, is that attacking the basket should always be their primary focus. No matter how much you think that 3-pointer is a good look, if there's time on the clock to search for a better option, then dribble or pass the ball trying to find it.
“At times early in the game you’re settling for contested ones, and you’d like to attack more there, but guys are also confident and guys that usually walk into those 3s are high-level shooters,” Udoka said. “But at times we don’t want to bail out a team that’s not the best defensive team. We don’t want to let them off the hook, and that was the message after the first quarter, and really at halftime, was to continue to attack, be aggressive there and then you’ll get the wide-open kickouts. … you just got to continue to harp and show them the shots we can get and not just settle at times.”
There are few reasons why guys settle for jumpers. It definitely happens when guys are tired or disinterested, which the Celtics seemed to be early on. Attacking the basket takes hard work, which makes the consistent settling for jumpers a bit maddening. Sometimes good defense forces teams into jumpers, but that's not what this was. Once the Celtics started to see that attacking worked, then they decided to put in a little bit more effort. Especially Jayson Tatum.
“I think he saw Dennis (Schroder) and (Jaylen Brown) and some of those guys get downhill and he kind of followed suit there. But it’s what we wanted him to do from the start,” Udoka said. “It was good for him to be out and see other guys do it and he just got in attack mode. And when he's aggressive like that, getting to the free throw line, getting to the basket, it makes us a much better team obviously.”
Tatum dropped 27 points without hitting a single 3-pointer. The Celtics only hit 10 in the game and two in that fourth quarter stretch where the lead ballooned to 17. They saw a soft spot to attack and they went at it full bore.
“Getting downhill, getting to the cup, drawing fouls, and just making the right play, it just kind of opens everything up when you start playing with that kind of pace,” Tatum said.
Aaron Nesmith, a self-proclaimed “absolute sniper,” is still apparently adjusting the sights on his rifle, but his fourth quarter attacking and energy were part of the catalyst for Boston. He attacked closeouts to move the ball and soften up the defense, and he actually filled a lane during a fast break instead of flaring out to the corner to finish with a monster dunk and foul to light up the crowd.
“Whether shots fall or not, the energy and intensity that he brought changed the game with that group,” Udoka said. “I thought those guys finished it out great. … that group was rolling and we stayed with it in the fourth quarter.”
The Celtics were never going to be a great offensive team, but they have spent a lot of this season making it harder on themselves. Some of this is the growing pains of a young team being asked to play out of their comfort zones with inconsistent lineups.
But it’s as obvious as it has ever been that attacking and finding ways into the paint creates the best opportunities for this team. No matter who is in or out, no matter who the opponent is, attacking the basket rather than settling for jumpers makes life easier.
“(Tatum is) great when he attacks the basket,” Schroder said. “Of course he’s a guy who makes difficult shots as well, but when he attacks the basket like he did today, he’s really really hard to guard. Opens everything up for everybody else. JT and JB have to do that a little bit more.”
