The number one storyline coming out of the Nets series for the Celtics was their defense. We knew it was good coming into the playoffs, but the way it stifled Kevin Durant was eye-widening stuff.
“Everybody, every time was engaged in the positions they needed to be, in the spots that we needed to,” Al Horford said of their defense. “And that started with Jayson with us, with Jayson Tatum and the way that he rose up in this series and took on the challenge. This year, defensively, he's taken a huge leap. And we've all seen it. But it's just special to see because he was the one that set the tone for us.”
Tatum in the second round will be asked to reprise his defensive masterclass against Durant; to use his length and quickness to be the point-of-attack defender on Giannis Antetokounmpo. The hope is that he can bother Antetokounmpo into some of the same mistakes as Durant.
Here's one minute of Jayson Tatum playing great defense on Kevin Durant in the first round pic.twitter.com/hzSFmkzEkY
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) April 29, 2022
It probably won’t look the same, for a variety of reasons. Most notably, Giannis is younger and fresher than Durant. The 33-year-old Durant had been playing more than 40 minutes a game, topping the 40 minute mark in 11 of the 19 games she played since returning from injury in March. The 27-year-old Antetokounmpo has played 40 minutes once all season. Also, Durant and Antetokounmpo are different kinds of players with different kinds of teammates.
“There are some similarities in the teams and how they try to score, so we have had some carryover from that series and the way we're gonna defend,” Ime Udoka said Thursday. “But they are a very different team in how they attack and transition and on the glass and what with their shooters. So Giannis is very different from Durant and (Kyrie) Irving, but a few of the things that we did well against Brooklyn carry over to this series.”
Dare Milwaukee’s role players to beat you like Brooklyn’s and they just might oblige
“(Antetokounmpo) makes it really tough because of how aggressive he is and how he can get in the lane to not only create for himself, but create for those other guys and he deserves a lot of attention and those guys are sitting there ready for him to serve it up on a platter,” Marcus Smart said. “In a sense, it's similar to Brooklyn, but in a sense it's different. Where there was a lot more guys on Brooklyn we could help off of, this one, you gotta be cognizant of those shooters because they're shooting the ball very well.”
With more firepower on the perimeter, there will be more pressure on the initial defender to stay in front of Antetokoumpo. The key isn’t to stop Giannis every time he has the ball as much as it is to turn him a few times.
That means literally getting the ball handler to turn and change directions. If Antetokounmpo is trying to drive right, Tatum needs to slide over and stay in front so Gianis physically turns his body and starts to go to his left.
This is important because it takes time, slows him down, and forces him to zig-zag his way across the court. Even if he eventually shakes free, it’s not a straight-line bull rush that turns Celtics defenders into bowling pins. Every change of direction will be a win for Tatum and the Celtics.
And every time Antetokounmpo turns, or slows, or gives the ball up, it will turn the dial up on the Celtics defense because it will often be Tatum, the team’s top scorer and future MVP candidate, doing the dirty work to make it happen.
“I’m proud of him for just selling out and giving his all, especially on defense this year,” Robert Williams recently said. “I’m proud of my dog for stepping up, and when you got leaders like that, we’ve got to follow. … When you see JT sitting down at halfcourt, ready to play defense, everybody behind him. We got his back. It’s a great way to lead and I feel like it’s the best way to lead.”
Tatum has always had some level of defensive acumen. He knew as a rookie that playing defense was going to be his best chance of seeing the floor. He had a knack for finding his way into passing lanes and being a competent part of a successful defensive plan.
But this year has been different, especially during the second half of the season. The entire team defense has been incrediblle from Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart to presumed All-Defensive team center Robert Williams, to everyone in between. Top scoring options like Tatum often seem exempt from such efforts, but not on this team. And Tatum sees the defensive end of the floor as the possibility for something more.
“Something that I've gotten better at as I've gotten older; as my body has developed from my first year til now, lifting more, gotten stronger,” Tatum said. “As I've gotten older and my game's progressed, just wanting to be as best as I can. A complete player, playmaking, scoring, and playing that side of the ball. Cause not a lot of people do it, so it's just something to try to separate myself.”
It’s working. He took on the challenge of Durant and his reward for that is a matchup with Antetokounmpo, but he’s taking that challenge head on.
“It's pretty amazing, just from Jayson's rookie year to now where he is,” Horford told Boston Sports Journal. “He's put himself in the conversation as an elite player because of that, because he's defending and the load that he's going offensively and how he's reading the game. …I've just been very surprised with his evolution as a player.
"He's been a winner since he's got here, and now he's leading us. He's leading us in this quest of us trying to win this 18th championship.”
