The Celtics made quick work of the Brooklyn Nets last night, quickly piling up points off misses and ultimately building a 46-16 lead after 12 minutes of play.
On the surface, it looked like Boston buried Brooklyn under a barrage of 3-point bombs. At one point they were 8-8 from deep, and they ended up setting a home record for threes in a game. Look at the first quarter box score and it’s easy to come away from it thinking McDLT -- one side was hot, one side was cold, end of story (I only make the most current references in my writing).
But that's not how it went. Sung to the Bee Gees “More Than A Woman” (a very current popular song), this was … more than hot shooting … more than hot shooting to meeeee.
Sorry for the earworm … Let’s take a look at how they really built this lead.
Jaylen Brown get the ball in the post, spins baseline, draws two defenders, and finds Robert Williams cutting baseline and dumps it off nicely for a dunk.
2-0 Celtics, 2 points in the paint.
Tatum gets the rebound off a Royce O’Neale miss, drives up the left side, crosses over Nic Claxton, and finishes on the right side of the rim. There is little resistance and no help. This is a running theme.
4-0 Celtics, 4 points in the paint
Brown is the biggest exception to my piece during this early run. This is a flat-out pull up jumper in transition (PUJIT, as we like to abbreviate in basketball nerddom). Brown said after the game he was looking to drive but they gave him the open looks.
He was the hot shooter, and he hit the shots.
7-0 Celtics, 4 points in the paint, 3 points from 3
This is an early key moment in building the blow out. It’s 7-3 at this point and Kyrie Irving has slapped the ball away from Al Horford and then Horford missed a little fadeaway in the lane.
If Brooklyn takes it down the other end and makes it 7-5 or 7-6, the confidence would probably start to shift a little bit. Instead, Robert Williams swoops in for the offensive rebound.
These little mini turning points happen in a lot of games. These little hustle plays can add up and make life tough on a team, which is exactly what happened to Brooklyn.
9-3 Celtics, 6 points in the paint, 3 points from 3
Another Nets gets rebounded by Boston and Tatum is running the ball up the floor. This is a hot knife through butter. He crosses over Joe Harris, splits two defenders at the rim, and lays it up.
11-3 Boston, 8 points in the paint, 3 points from 3
This falls because Brown showed up to the arena engulfed in flames.
You don’t even look at that shot in the film session. When it goes in, it’s a wow shot. If he tried that on a cold night and missed, he’d be eviscerated for it. Such is life with a star player.
14-3 Boston, 8 points in the paint, 6 points from 3
Note: Jacque Vaughn takes a timeout after this shot. That didn’t workout well for him.
This play is hilarious. It’s also partly due to Robert Williams.
Look at Irving and Claxton pointing at White, but neither of them doing anything about it.
Then look at O’Neale, who has picked up Williams, and watch him back up further, and further, and further, out of fear that White will throw Williams the lob.
When anyone talks about ways Williams helps that don’t show up in the box score, this is one of them. He created a lane for White just by existing on the floor.
16-3 Boston, 10 points in the paint, 6 points from 3
Another offensive rebound for Williams. He’s clearly in the middle of a lot of good things as this lead is being built.
18-3 Boston, 12 points in the paint, 6 points from 3
This isn't the same as Brown’s 3-pointers. Brown is on fire. This is one built how we all want them to be.
Mismatch in the lane, it gets into Horford, Tatum slides over to the pass, catch-and-shoot 3. I’ll take those all day.
21-3 Boston, 12 points in the paint, 9 points from 3 (1 shot off paint touch)
Now the 3-pointers are starting to fall, but once again, this is how you want Boston taking them.
Tatum puts his shoulders down and gets into the paint. Horford’s man reacts to the drive, leaving him all alone. Tatum sees it and returns the favor. This is a warm up shot.
24-4 Boston, 12 points in the paint, 12 points from 3 (2 shots off paint touches)
Okay now we’re into the “they can’t miss” portion of the program. This just a Tatum side-step 3.
27-4 Boston, 12 points in the paint, 15 points from 3 (2 shots off paint touches).
At this point, we’re off to the races. The Celtics got hot from here and it was never fully in doubt.
As you can see, the majority of the early lead came off either points in the paint or paint touches leading to kick-out 3-pointers. The final first quarter tally here was:
46 points
20 points in the paint (plus two free throws off and-1s)
24 points from 3-pointers (two off paint touches and a third off a drive/kick/swing that didn’t quite get to the paint but had the same effect)
Did the Celtics get hot? Absolutely. But they started off by attacking and getting to the rim, then taking 3-pointers off that.
Obviously, the Nets were not well equipped to handle this kind of attack, but this is the style of offense they need to play more consistently. I had a big fear that the Celtics would see this poor defensive lineup in front of them and loaf through the game and make it harder than they needed to. Instead, they got downhill, got to the rim, and let everything flow off that.
So as tempting as it is to dismiss this game as a “they just got hot” game, I’m looking at it as an encouraging sign of recognizing what was in front of them and taking it to the defense.
“I liked that we were aggressive on both ends,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “We weren't reactive, we were proactive and I think that led to some really good things.”