I don’t believe the Celtics are even close to reaching their full potential, which I think should be scary for the rest of the league.
I’m not sure if they're going to get there. In fact, I’d venture to say few teams really do reach their absolute ceiling, for a variety of reasons.
But the Celtics occasionally show some glimpses of what that might be. To me, we caught a little bit of that in the fourth quarter against the Lakers, when Boston outscored the Lakers by seven over six minutes, getting nine buckets from Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzings, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford. Six of those buckets were assisted by three different guys.
This is what Celtics basketball is supposed to be. This is the power of a team this talented. This is how it happened.
8:26: Horford 25' 3PT Jump Shot (6 PTS) (Holiday 6 AST)
Boston had forced a miss and was coming back five-on-four when Holiday pitched it back to Brown for a shot Brown has taken a million times as a Celtic. But Brown sees another advantage and gives it to Sam Hauser.
Hauser draws two defenders and gets it to Holiday. Now Taurean Prince has to step in from the corner and D’Angelo Russell is late to react to the kick out to Horford. That's as wide open a look as Horford is going to get, and he drills it.
Four different Celtics touch it (one of them twice), getting the defense to scramble. Brown gives up a good look in search of a great one early in the shot clock, a perfect mentality for a team with the fourth quarter lead. Search out the best percentage look, and that's a wide open corner bomb from a guy who specializes in them.
7:58: Brown Tip Layup Shot (18 PTS)
Celtics in transition again and Brown gets rewarded for making a good decision.
LeBron James and Horford are behind the play, so it’s basically four-on-four. Brown sees three defenders and Payton Pritchard heading to the right corner. So what does he do?
He could have gone to the corner like so many players do, which would have allowed everyone on the Lakers to just pick up. Instead, Brown cuts to the basket, bringing Russell with him and opening up a spot in the corner for Hauser to run to.
When Jarred Vanderbilt also decides to go to Brown, Holiday makes the easy read to Hauser in the corner. Brown is in position to get the putback because Hauser shoots with such high arc and soft touch that his misses don’t always fly off to the free throw line like other 3-point shooters.
Seriously, look at how soft that ball comes off the rim. Good positioning by Brown and ultimately Horford to do the dirty work and get the tip.
7:19: White 4' Driving Layup (14 PTS)
Simple pick-and-roll with Porzingis, with Brown and Tatum providing the floor spacing.
The right play here was actually a kick out to Tatum. Vanderbilt over-committed, so the kick to Tatum was either an open corner 3 or a swing to Brown.
But White is also very good at basketball and that space was just enough to sneak the layup past everyone. If you look closely, he wrong-foots his jump, leaping off the right foot on the righty layup. That's usually a left foot jump, but by wrong-footing it, he throws off the timing of the shot blocker.
That's a tiny little trick that's easy to miss, but shot blockers know the cadence of the one-two step before the jump. By jumping off the one, Davis is a tick late.
6:49: White 2' Cutting Layup Shot (16 PTS) (Porzingis 1 AST)
Tatum springs White free as the screener. Brown and Holiday hold the corners and Austin Reeves gets hung up on the Tatum screen.
Look at White throw the fake as he lands. It doesn’t have to be a big fake. It’s just enough to get Prince off the ground.
Shout out to LeBron for doing nothing defensively on this play. This is the dirty little secret about all the gushing about LeBron right now. Obviously he’s still amazing, and yes he makes big defensive plays, but people don’t talk about how selective he is in using his energy now.
5:57: Tatum 13' Turnaround Fadeaway (21 PTS) (White 9 AST)
Porzingis actually probably should have popped here, but it works out because LeBron was comically bad on this play again.
Prince passes Tatum off and Anthony Davis ends up on him. This could have been a quick double team, but watch LeBron completely lose Holiday. Tatum is loading up for the shot and LeBron is thinking Holiday is in the corner.
Instead, Holiday has rotated up. Porzingis probably should have given Tatum an outlet in the corner but no matter, because LeBron’s confusion gives Tatum an open look on the block.
This is going to have to become a fourth-quarter staple for Tatum. This shot right here is going to have to become money like Paul Pierce’s elbow jumper.
4:50: Tatum 3' Running Alley Oop Dunk Shot (23 PTS) (White 10 AST)
Nice steal from Porzingis and yet another LeBron mistake.
Watch White, right before he gets to halfcourt, take the quick look to see if Tatum is running with him. That quick peek is why he fires the alley oop so quickly. In that instant, he knows once he gets the ball, it’s just him, one defender, and Tatum.
Slowing the play down, you can see White’s glance shifts just before the ball touches his hands. He sees Austin Reeves in no man’s land, and the oop is easy from there.
Derrick White’s processing speed is amazing.
4:12 Tatum 4' Layup (25 PTS) (Porzingis 2 AST)
THIS IS HOW YOU CAN ATTACK MISMATCHES WITHOUT HAVING TO BE THE PICK AND ROLL BALLHANDLER!!
Oh, sorry, I got carried away there for a second.
White sets the pick on Prince because the Lakers are switching and Reeves is the target. They get the switch they want, Tatum buries him in the paint, and Porzingis delivers an absolute dime from a tough angle.
Seriously, kids, do not make passes from that angle without safety goggles and a spotter.
Tatum makes a strong move, LeBron makes no effort to block the shot, and it’s a bucket.
Poor Austin Reeves.
3:43: Holiday 3' Driving Finger Roll Layup (18 PTS) (White 11 AST)
I repeat … Poor Austin Reeves.
Holiday just busts his ass baseline. Porzingis is occupying Anthony Davis’ attention and Reeves is in a weird spot that prevents Davis from committing to the block.
But let’s pretend he did. Then the pass would have gone to Porzingis in the corner and quickly to Brown who would have been in the paint at that point.
Brown, by the way, was DYING for that ball to come off the front of the rim. He was going to dunk on both Davis and Reeves and oh my GOD would that have been a highlight.
Porzingis got live that dream on the next bucket
2:57 Porzingis Tip Dunk Shot (26 PTS)
This is why you attack the basket. Three Lakers focus in on White’s drive, which gives Porzingis the opening he needs top slide right around Prince and get the nice, soft rebound for the putback slam.
Kinda funny how the White floater and the Hauser 3 have the same soft bounce off the rim. That's how soft Hauser’s shot is with that arc.
The final play in this sequence is Brown drawing a foul and hitting a free throw. He missed two freebies in this sequence so it could have been worse for the Lakers.
The beauty of all these plays is nothing was forced. They wanted to attack Reeves but it didn’t have to be Tatum or Brown that did it.
And that's why this team can be so much better. If they can get to the point where they just organically attack the matchup issue on the floor without it having to be Tatum or Brown calling for it on a screen, they can start piling up points like they did in this stretch.
I loved this six minutes of basketball. Everyone did something, and they did it with fluidity and pace, trusting each other, giving each other multiple options, and finishing plays. And even within this stretch there were things they could have done better.
And that should be scary for the rest of the league.