The Celtics are learning how to win again. It’s a process that begins fresh at the beginning of every season, especially with a new coach.
Joe Mazzulla showed off some of his coaching chops with a pair of last-second plays. One worked, one kinda almost did. Here’s a closer look at what he pulled off.
The Celtics set up with Marcus Smart at the free throw line, Al Horford at the near hashmark and Jaylen Brown at the far hashmark.
Horford cuts to the far corner to space the floor, while Smart fake setting the screen for Brown. That gets Donovan Mitchell to take a little step to his left so Smart can go get the ball without a challenge.
Now Brown is in the near corner, Horford is in the far corner, and both are occupying guys to create the wide open lane.
Jayson Tatum gets play like a wide receiver trying to break free from a cornerback off the line. Smart is way up high, making sure Mitchell can’t sag. He and Dean Wade are both trying to read Tatum, but Tatum’s juke leaves Wade leaning one way while Tatum breaks free and goes the other.
Wade is toast. Mitchell does nothing. In a film session, I’d tell Grant Williams that once he sees Tatum break right, he should shoot up like he’s looking for a pass to maybe freeze Jarrett Allen for a tick.
Allen nearly got to that shot. We can certainly argue that it was a foul, but either way it was a nearly flawlessly executed play. Tatum broke at the right time so Brown’s man couldn't make a break for the rim. Smart was at the right height. The personnel was right. It worked perfectly.
In fact, it worked so well, the Celtics gave Cleveland a similar look at the end of overtime.
Tatum in the backcourt again, but the setup is different despite the same personnel. It’s Tatum in the same spot but everyone else is on the baseline.
It certainly allows Brown to match up against Wade, the worst defender on the floor. The Cavs are smart to put Allen on the inbounder because his long arms make it hard for Smart to inbound the ball and put it any closer to the rim.
After the game, Brown said “we had a lot of space in the middle of the floor and it was pretty much just give me the ball and make a play, and I came up short. … It felt alright. I wish I caught it a little closer where I could have got to my spot.”
His spot is that right elbow, about three or four feet closer, so nice job by the Cavs to keep that from happening.
Considering the circumstance, getting the ball to Brown one-on-one against Wade with a couple of seconds there is about as good as you can get.
I can nitpick not involving Tatum and not using even the threat of him in the play. Maybe he could have broken for the basket and you fake Brown setting a back screen for an alley oop to see if two guys go to Tatum and leave Brown a little more open. But the counter would be that doing so would add a player to all that empty space and complicate things.
I can also nitpick Brown’s decision against Wade and say he should have crossed back over left. He so badly wanted to get to that right hand that his decision was to take one big dribble to clear as much space as possible.
Right here, I think the play called for a crossover dribble left to shake Wade, who had all his momentum going to the right:
Again, it’s a nitpick. In the moment, Brown has less than three seconds and is trying to get the most comfortable shot he can get. For all his accomplishments, he hasn’t been put in this position a lot, so he doesn’t have a ton of experience in that spot.
“I had two seconds. Two seconds is enough time to get a good look but maybe not,” Brown said. “I didn't love it but I got a clean look, it was a makeable shot, I can knock that shot down. I've hit it before. Just came up short.”
It can also be argued that a right-handed shooter crossing over left leaves himself exposed to a blocked shot if the defender reacts well. I wouldn’t expect Wade to get to that shot, but I’d listen to that argument.
I do like that Mazzulla trusted Brown to take that shot. The play call got a star player a makeable look with just a couple of seconds left, and that's about all you can ask for in a tough spot like that.
Overall, Mazzulla drew up one great play to get a dunk that tied the game. He drew up another that got an okay look that might have been a better one in a different circumstance. It didn’t fall, but the coach gave the Celtics’ stars a chance in that situation and it’s about all you can ask for.