The Boston Celtics were back in the Auerbach Center Tuesday morning working on the plan that, they hope, makes Game 2 go a bit more smoothly than Game 1 against the Brooklyn Nets.
“I think areas we did well in, we have to emphasize those - getting out in transition, offensive rebounds, toughness factor,” Ime Udoka said after it was over. “(Kevin) Durant is going to come out more aggressive, (Kyrie) Irving got away from us a little bit and we feel like we can defend him better. … 15-point lead at one point, and going into the fourth quarter it got away from us, so we have to dig into that area, how we gave it back.”
Durant is probably Boston’s biggest concern at the moment. There's a strong feeling on the Brooklyn side of things that Boston’s one-point win would have gone the other way if Durant had just had his usual game. The Celtics did a great job of making life a little tough on Durant, forcing six turnovers, half of which came in the first quarter. They were tough, physical, and had active hands. They need to find way to do it again.
“We have to do a phenomenal job of staying into him because everything has to be tough,” Grant Williams said. “Not just him walking up and down the court, but him trying to just get a cup of water on the sideline. If you can be in his face some way, somehow, you can take him off his rhythm, take him off his game. … We can't let tough shots that he hits affect us mentally going on the other end or our defense."
While the Celtics are dealing with whatever Durant brings in Game 2, they also have to contend with Irving after a 39 point performance. There is a lot of room for improvement on Irving.
“It’s a matter of making sure that as a team we’re aware and not giving him the easy ones,” Williams said. “The ones that you allow him to see the ball going through the basket to hopefully feel more confident taking those same shots, the 3-balls that you kind of shake and raise, those guys, you want to take those away.”
That's easier said than done. Without Robert Williams (who is officially out tomorrow), the Celtics don’t have a fearsome rim protector. Daniel Theis can help protect the rim, but without that fear factor, a player like Irving can not only attack, but counter off his own attack to get clean looks. Boston’s task is to make him work harder, which Udoka feels confident in doing because of his time coaching Irving in Brooklyn.
“I think there's a huge benefit being around those guys coaching a lot of the same players,” Udoka said. “Durant and Irving are who they are and I know their mentality and how they approach the game. And so some benefits as far as me being with them and seeing how they kind of tick and how they've been guarded in the past.”
The Nets might make a few adjustments to their plan in Game 2, or they might feel fine with having a lead in the final seconds on a night Durant was not himself. Chances are Durant will come around, so Steve Nash might stand pat and see if his team can just power through some of its Game 1 issues and steal a split.
“We anticipate a few things, but if they don’t we have our basic coverages and make adjustments as well,” Udoka said. “We prepare for a few different things that they could do, and what they did well against us and how to attack that. Adjustments always come into play regardless of whether you win or lose. But in a close game like that you never know - stick to Plan A or try to deviate a little bit and try something different.”
FIXING FOURTH QUARTER FOLLIES
The Celtics were outscored 29-19 in the fourth quarter, with points 18 and 19 coming as the buzzer sounded. The win was nice, but the performance in that quarter was mostly poor.
“They made some adjustments as far as matchup-wise that we can attack a different way,” Udoka said. “They have been loading up on Jayson (Tatum) at times and so we want to get our spacing a little bit better from there, do some more off ball movement and actions that we had success with throughout the year and we can mix in the iso and the cross matches and all that. But we have looked at three or four different things, ways to attack them and felt like we only did two or three of them that well in the first game especially in that fourth quarter.”
On the positive side, Boston did turn things around and win, something they struggled with earlier in the season.
“Get some stops, getting out and running, spacing the floor. Obviously you saw those driving lanes with Jaylen (Brown). Jayson being guard a certain way opens some things up as well,” Udoka said. “It's a team that heavily loads up on penetration and the extra ball movement got us some really good looks, make or miss. I think the extra passes that stand out are Derrick (White) making the extra swing to Jaylen up top, and some of the dump offs. And then the things we did well were transition and the offensive rebounding all night, and I think that helped us out in the fourth quarter.”
One play in particular was the play before “the play,” where Brown drove on Bruce Brown and got a layup. The play call was actually for Tatum, but Brown read the defense and reacted.
“KD top-locked him,” Brown explained. You can see what that means at the beginning of the video. “He’s one of their rim protectors. And then the big was out guarding as well, and that’s the other rim protector. Once I saw them two not at the rim, I was like, man I’ve got a pretty good shot of scoring the ball right here, nobody’s at the basket. I was just being aggressive and scored a quick two, got back on defense, set our feet, got a stop and the rest was history.”
Brown, playing with a nose that bled throughout the fourth quarter and well into the night, scored nine points in the fourth and made several key plays down the stretch to calm the Celtics down.
“I got hit a couple times in the face. That’s playoff basketball,” Brown said. “Some of the plays you would like to see (fouls) get called, but at the end of the day it’s war out there. It’s survival of the fittest. You get hit, you get back up … that’s what I signed up for.”
The key to the comeback, says Brown, is trust that was built over the course of the season, which allowed them to make both the defensive stop and the final basket.
“Maybe early in the season as we were trying to figure out the new coaching staff, new players, new environment, some of that trust wasn’t all the way there yet,” he admitted. “And now you can see, like, we’re all trusting one another. And that’s very important to a team is trust. Knowing somebody’s got your back. And that’s something we’ve developed over the season. Building that chemistry, building that trust, that even if we make a mistake your teammate’s going to be there to have your back.”
SURPRISING SMART
Marcus Smart’s Defensive Player of the Year award presentation was a surprise to him, and it was engineered by his head coach.
A special moment today celebrating the heart and soul of our team, @smart_MS3 ☘️ pic.twitter.com/OPcgYbMmxt
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 18, 2022
“I was planning it behind the scenes, so obviously I knew about it before the coaching staff and the players,” Udoka said. He kept Smart in the film room by going over some additional clips of late-game situations.
“I was excited to get him out there knowing what was waiting for him. And so he was shocked and surprised and obviously happy about it,” Udoka said. “He said I got him good. So it's been a few now. April Fool's, a few surprise birthday parties, and we said let's keep having surprises on the way.”
The award is obviously special to Smart, but it’s something the whole team is enjoying.
“I can’t be more proud and more happy for Marcus Smart,” Brown said. “I’ve learned so much from Marcus, how to compete in everything on that side of the ball, how he changes the game. It says a lot for him to be the first guard since Gary Payton. That’s legendary. So Marcus just cemented his name as one of the defensive greats. Which we all knew, but now it’s etched in stone. I think that’s pretty exciting. So we couldn’t be more proud of him. We got to celebrate him yesterday at practice. I ain’t seen him smile like that in a while, so that was pretty nice.”
Said Grant Williams, “it was dope to see not only just the recognition he deserves because he works extremely hard, and he’s been in the league for eight years hounding dudes and one of those guys that if you ask anyone in the league, it’s not fake news. It’s not one of those where it’s like ‘Alright, he doesn’t deserve it.’ It’s one of those where everyone respects it.”
The Celtics being the best defensive team in the league this season is a huge part of what propelled Smart to the award. Team success is a huge part of all awards, so it’s something that team can be proud of as well.
“We've been great defensively all year. It could've been Rob, it could've been Al, it could've been JT,” Brown said. “All of those guys could be in contention for first team, second team or whatever. We've been guarding all year. So we celebrate our brother's success. But defensively, that's where we all know that we gotta hang our hat.”
KYRIE IRVING FINED
Irving’s multiple middle fingers and postgame profanities cost him $50,000, the most the NBA could fine him.
“It’s the same energy they had for me, and Imma have the same energy for them,” Irving said after the game. “I don’t want to attack every Boston fan, but when people start yelling [expletives] and all this other stuff, there’s only but so much you can take as a competitor, and we’re the ones expected to be docile and be humble and take a humble approach. Nah, [expletive] that. It’s the playoffs. This is what it is.”