The Celtics played an unexpected tight game against the Houston Rockets on Sunday night. There aren’t many people who thought this was a particularly great win, especially given the back-to-back against Dallas on Monday night.
But it’s a win and there's always something good to take out of a win.
In this particular case, I’m going to focus on how flowing through Kristaps Porzingis helped Boston get past some bad shooting, opening up the floor and giving Boston a virtually unguardable option.
That is, after all, why they got him, right?
Here are all the elements that make Porzingis dangerous:
He’s 7-foot-4
He can hit 3-pointers
He can operate in the post
He can set good screens
The impact of all of those can be seen on this play, a dunk by Derrick White.
His height comes into play because he’s guarded by Aleperin Sengun, who is not the quickest guys in the world.
His ability to hit the 3 is what forces Sengun to take a step towards Porzingis, who has popped out behind the line … essentially just stepping out of White’s way.
HIs ability to post shows up in the defensive strategy, which is not to switch that pick-and-roll (also, they don’t want Sengun switching onto White).
And obviously, he set the good screen to trigger all of these things.
There are a couple of ways Boston got Porzingis the looks he needed from deep, especially once those first couple fell earlier in the game.
This is a play Boston runs a bunch, and it ends with Tatum screening for Porzingis to get clean look behind the line.
The play is disguised to look like a stagger screen for Jayson Tatum to come up and get the ball. Houston is switching on the perimeter, so while Dillon Brooks passes Tatum off to Jalen Green, Green is sticking with Tatum when it looks like Porzingis is screening to spring Tatum. So all Tatum has to do is impede Sengun’s progress.
That frees Porzingis to get a clean look.
The beauty of this play is the multiple reads Boston can make to break it if they sniff out the Porzingis shot. If Sengun plays up higher to avoid getting screened, Tatum can cut and either get a layup or a post up on Green. If help comes from the corner, Jaylen Brown would be open for a 3. If they decide not to switch, Hauser can break to the hoop for a potential layup. The options allow for the play to be disguised pretty well, and the execution gives Porzingis the look they want.
When the opponent is in a drop coverage, they can take advantage of Porzingis’ quickness to get him behind the line with space.
When someone like Cam Whitmore, who is 6-foot-7, ends up on Porzingis, the move is to get him into the post.
This isn’t your dad’s post up. Porzingis tends to start further out because he’s playing on the perimeter a ton and he’s rarely looking for post ups as the first option. Whitmore is doing a good job of getting into Porzingis’ airspace and using his strength to not get backed down.
Porzingis is able to get to a comfortable spot using his dribble, and his big, swooping dip and raise up is meant to draw fouls. It certainly looks like an uncalled foul on this one, but either way this is a spot on the floor where Porzingis generally thrives.
“When teams are switching on and off-ball and pressuring us the way they did, a pressure release with the ability to play on the post is, I think, something that we have to continue to develop for the long term success of our team,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game.
Porzingis isn’t going to back a lot of players down, and that's a downside to going to him in the post. This is why he’s perfected that arm swing foul-drawing technique. He wants to turn those possessions into points one way or another. Amen Thompson is 30 pounds lighter than Whitmore and while Porzingis was more aggressive with the smaller player, it still wasn’t a full backdown.
And so he has to use his height to an advantage in a slightly different way.
Shooting over the top of a smaller player adds an element to Porzingis’ game that allows him to get to those spots in the paint. The threat of that shot opens up the upfakes and drives.
Shots like this are part of why the Celtics can morph into different styles to win tough games. If Porzingis can find the mismatch, Boston can get away from the struggling shooters and let Porzingis get going.
“It’s a big difference maker when teams start switching us and try to slow our offense down,” Jaylen Brown said. “We can always just go and find KP on those mid-post isolations and he's great in those areas. So going forward and getting ready for the postseason, that's stuff that we want to continue to sharpen up. But we got to trust in the world and tonight we wanted to keep finding him. The big fella got going tonight and helped us win this game.”