If Ime Udoka’s career goes the way he hopes, there will be 20 some-odd years of postgame articles that begin with some variation of “and then Udoka called a timeout and lit into his team.”
I’m pretty sure this is my fourth one already. By now you probably know what I’m talking about even if you’ve never seen it for yourself (they’re usually in commercial when it happens).
A pissed off Udoka calls timeout, barks at some guys coming off the floor, and sits down in front of his players to deliver some choice words before joining his coaching staff to determine the next course of action.
When I asked him about it after the game, you can tell he was chuckling behind his mask. It’s a thing now. And it keeps on working.
It was 90-88 Detroit with less than a minute left in the third quarter when Udoka called the timeout. Exactly one full quarter later, it was 113-99 Boston, and Detroit had not made a single field goal.
“Our whole defense is based off 1-on-1 and guarding and it was too many straight line drives, blow-bys, and low pickup points on shooters where they were too comfortable,” Udoka explained after the game. “So that part took us some time to get there. We showed the clips at halftime, talked about it, we were much better, but sometimes it takes longer than others. It's not gonna happen and be pretty every night.”
No, it’s not. It’s also not great that they had to flip a switch for the second straight game. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice that they did, and it’s nice that they can.
“That's the defense we've been playing these last couple of games. That's who we are trying to pride ourselves on,” Marcus Smart said. “We slipped in the first three quarters and just tried to make up for it in the fourth.”
Let’s hope that doesn’t become a habit. Now that the Celtics are good again, it’d be disappointing if they reverted back to some earlier issues that used to cost them. It wasn’t that long ago that we bemoaned their tendency to play down to teams without justification. Now that their winning percentage is above .600 (one of only 10 teams in the league), they shouldn't get back to that habit because they can.
“The majority of it is on us. We are trying to build on something to be great and games like that are moments for us to prove our maturity and progression to be able to come out,” Smart said. “I know it's a game where we've had a couple games with some exciting games, exciting moments and then we come into a game where it's grind and that's what we have to thrive. So it's majority us but you have to give those guys credit as well.”
That is a fair point to make. The Pistons are tougher than their overall record shows. They have a rookie point guard who has all the makings of a future superstar and some complementary pieces that are starting to figure some things out.
“(Cade) Cunningham is a hell of a player, obviously, and he was going to work a little bit, but we got better as the game went,” Udoka said “Jerami Grant just teeing up shots, pickup points too low, not paying attention to detail on certain guys, and so we wanted to increase our physicality first off, and then we junked it up a little bit, went after them, and sometimes that sparks some energy with the rotations, blitzing guys, taking it out of their hands. It came at the right time. We can lock in at times when we need to, and to hold them to single digits for the most part in that quarter was impressive, and it came at the right time.”
The Celtics had three steals in the first 2:11 of the fourth quarter, each one turning into points for Boston. Frankly, Detroit was lucky that Boston’s half court offense wasn’t clicking or else garbage time would have come much earlier.
Of course, as always, there is some luck associated with good defense. Jumpers Detroit was hitting earlier in the game stopped falling, but the Celtics helped that along by making the Pistons work harder for what they were getting.
Forget how many shots Detroit made for a minute. The best indication of Boston’s defense in this game is how many they took. The Pistons took 24 in the first quarter and 26 in the second, with eight offensive boards to pump that number up.
In the third quarter, they took 18 and then just 15 in the fourth, with three total offensive rebounds in the second half.
That's called locking down. If they wanted to, they could have broken a team record for fewest points allowed in a fourth quarter, but that's not something that's important. What’s important is that they found a way to change the game faster than Clark Kent becoming Superman.
Still, I think we’d all be happier if they could spread the defensive dominance out a little more evenly next time.
“They still made some tough shots in the third quarter, but really were huge in the fourth quarter the way we guarded,” Udoka said. “I told the team that's what can be frustrating as a coach, is that you guys can do it. Sometimes it takes longer, but you got to grind out wins and I think good teams find a way to get it done.”
