Boston was working really hard at the start of the game. They were moving the ball well, making the Orlando defense move, and generating some really good looks over the first few minutes of the game. But the shots weren’t falling.
Halfway through the first quarter, Boston was 0-8 from 3. The passes were getting where they needed to be, but nothing was coming of them.
At that point of the night, against a team that just seems to match up well, on a back-to-back, it would be understandable if they got frustrated. It would have been unsurprising to see guys try to do it all themselves.
But something stood out. Something that kept Boston going.
They still had four assists, all on finishes at the rim. If the Celtics could just keep up the attack, the shooting was bound to catch up.
“I think that's something that we've been doing the last three or four games,” Joe Mazzulla said. “It happened in the first Cleveland game, where we didn't get off to a good start offensively, but we chipped away and chipped away. So I think it's just the mindset that the guys are building.”
A few weeks ago, after Boston beat the Atlanta Hawks, one of the questions asked after the game was about the Celtics assist rate, which was down from last season.
Last year, Boston assisted on 63.2% of their makes, good for fifth in the NBA. At that point of the season, it was just 58%.
In the seven games since then, Boston is up near 61%, regaining the feel they had last year for moving the ball. Against Orlando, it was 64.6%
“I think we came out, even though they came out swinging like the first shot they took was a three … it was well defended but he made it, and that can kind of be discouraging in that time,” Jaylen Brown said. “So it was like, ‘oh it's gonna be a long night,’ but we took those punches and kept throwing punches back and that's what we wanna instill in our guys. We fight, we make it hard for you, we play the game the right way.”
The right way is finding an advantage and exploiting it. Without Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Luke Kornet, the Celtics had a bit of an issue trying to deal with a huge team like Orlando. Before the game, Mazzulla said the team had to just find a way. They found it with their speed and passing.
Brown was part of both.
Just like the Jayson Tatum kick-ahead I highlighted before, one from Brown put a ton of pressure on the Orlando defense. The Magic went from having all five guys between the ball and the rim to just one. In the ensuing chaos, the Magic performed the worst trick of all: they lost track of Brown.
That's what good passing does. Whether it’s a strong outlet pass or just working the defense, the Celtics' passing wore Orlando down throughout the game. The Magic’s biggest strength became a weakness as the Celtics once again morphed to the situation at hand and played a different style to get a big win.
“I think we just are playing faster,” Brown said. “We had all guards, all smalls out there so our advantage was speed. … Today you see we had a lot of red zone attacks, we got the ball up the floor and we were able to get a lot of easy baskets but we started making those right plays, it makes the game easier that way.”
The Celtics piled up 31 assists in this game. The only game where they had more was the Chicago point-differential game where they got 36. They came in every variety, leading to simple jumpers, 3-pointers, dunks, and layups. And they just kept on coming.
“When you can get out and score early baskets in transition, it gets us cross-matched, and then I think it really sparks our defense,” Mazzulla said. “I think the advantage tonight for us was speed, and I think we use it on both ends of the floor. But that's just what we kept saying, is, 'We have the speed advantage, we have the speed advantage, we have to find a way to keep it."
Things may change Sunday when Horford and, possibly, Porzingis are available. That changes the dynamic some. But each few games brings something new out of the Celtics, and they've generally been pretty good about holding onto those things.
It’s generally referred to as growth.
“In the last 10 games (there) has been a different emphasis than in the first 10 games,” Brown said. “We’re starting to find a groove. We’re starting to play a little faster than we did when we started the year. You know what I mean? We're finding kind of that level and that balance and we're playing some real good ball right now. We gotta keep it up.”`