It’s not a close Celtics game unless I’m asked by someone here or on social media some variation of “why are they putting the ball in Jaylen Brown’s hands in tight games?”
It’s a fair question. I used to wonder that myself sometimes. But the nuance of the NBA has been made clearer to me through experience and conversations with people around the league, the more I understand how the regular season is used, especially by good teams.
Just like Boston’s zone defense, which has been up and down so far this season, there is going to be a need to go to different things at different times in the postseason. That zone will come in handy for, like, three possessions with a game on the line, and that will make all the regular season attempts at it worth it.
The post-ups we saw early in the game were great, but those are more fourth-quarter looks that Boston will need to answer teams’ runs and hold off late charges. I wouldn’t be shocked if Boston snuck those in early in the game so teams might miss them when scouting Boston’s fourth-quarter film.
Or maybe Joe Mazzulla was trolling Kendrick Perkins.
Either way, good teams use regular season games for a lot of these kinds of things that go beyond “what are they doing to win this game right now?”
Brown getting late-game ballhandling reps certainly falls in that category. Is Brown QB’ing the offense for seven straight possessions the way the Celtics want to close out a critical Game 5 against the Milwaukee Bucks? Probably not. But if they want to try hiding Damian Lillard on Jrue Holiday, using Brown to initiate a set or two as a trigger for getting Jayson Tatum a post touch on an off-ball switch could be the best option.
There are many reasons to get Brown reps initiating the offense, even if he has been spotty in those possessions. He struggled against Miami, but he was better against the Nets. Brooklyn had cut the lead to six, but the Brown-led offense helped push the lead back out to 14. It also led to a couple of turnovers that opened the door to a Brooklyn comeback, but even those had positive elements to them.
Let’s take a look.
You can see from the graphic that Boston has been in a slump here, so this is a critical stretch. Boston wants to create advantages on the floor, and Brown’s quick decision to get rid off the ball off the blitz does just that.
The skip pass to Al Horford gets everyone turning their heads. Cam Thomas and Dennis Schröder both see Payton Pritchard open but they leave Derrick White. He gets the open look specifically because he set the screen for Brown, Brown accepted the double-team, took it all the way to the hash mark, and got rid of the ball.
Here, he just attacks the retreating defender because he knows he has a lot of space, thanks to Horford and Tatum in the corners. He has a passing option in Holiday along the baseline depending on how the defense reacts. Schröder sees Holiday and decides to play the pass on the drive, so Brown makes the read and lays it up.
Thomas getting over to anticipate Brown using the screen is what opens this whole thing up. Jalen Wilson being off balance helps. There's nothing wrong with Brown making this read. It’s a testament to the power of the talent Boston has.
Notice here, again, they're bringing Thomas into the action. He’s the weakest defender on the floor, so they kept attacking that matchup. Again, Brooklyn blitzes, which is great practice for Brown. Mazzulla should send the Nets coaching staff a nice Edible Arrangement for giving Brown very necessary reps against blitzes.
Again, Thomas has to go find a man after Brown moves the ball, but Schröder has to wait because he can’t leave White alone under the basket. He flies out to Tatum but out of control. Tatum, to his credit, steps into a nice in-rhythm baseline jumper.
The fourth quarter is about getting buckets. I’m happily throwing the math out the window in the fourth with a lead because the more the ball goes in, the harder it is for the other team to make a run.
This is Boston’s third straight basket and the lead is back to double digits. All three were made possible by Brooklyn trying to blitz Brown and get it out of his hands. Brown has made three good decisions so far. And he’s getting good reps where’s really drawing the doubles away from his teammates to create very difficult rotations.
Again, Brown rejects the screen and goes right by Wilson.
This play works out, but it’s probably Brown’s worst decision of the bunch. He turns the corner and steps like he going to take the layup but help comes over. He knows where Horford is supposed to be so he throws a little bit of a prayer to that spot and it works. However, this is where Brown needs to play off two feet.
Once he gets here…
… he needs to jump stop and either go up strong, or make a good read based on the defense. The jump stop and two-foot play is an in-control move and something that Brown has struggled with over his time in the NBA. If he’d done that, he could have picked an open teammate. Even though this worked, there's more luck involved than there should have been.
Once he gets it back, he gets to his spot and hits a signature shot for him.
Another good decision and good timing on getting rid of the ball as they delay the double. It’s telegraphed, so this was easy to see coming, but Brown makes the right play. The corner 3-pointer from White is generally a good shot, even though this one was pretty deep in the corner and a little bit rushed. He’s hit that shot before, and he practices these kinds of shots every day.
This time there's no blitz. It’s a straight switch and Holiday ends up with the mismatch on him so he posts Schröder. Brown makes a smart play with the give-and-go, and it works. The only issue is that Brown fumbles the return pass.
Okay, that's a turnover. The end result isn’t good. But that's a great read and something he needs to continue doing in those situations.
To me, this play averages out the other play where he lucked a pass to Horford. That play should have been the turnover because it was not executed well and this play should have been a layup or an assist (White was open, which might have been where Brown’s eyes were when he tried to gather the pass). That stuff happens in the NBA. I’ll take this decision in this situation any day. That play will work out more often than not.
This is another turnover on the offensive foul. This play is probably the culmination of all the relative success Brown has had in this stretch as the primary ball handler. He got too overzealous and out of control. Attacking that mismatch is good, but being too aggressive was the problem. Schröder loves to bait guys into this play.
So points for recognizing the mismatch, but demerits for how he did it.
All in all, this was a more successful stretch as a fourth-quarter ball handler for Brown. The process was generally good and it helped Boston rebuild a big enough lead that they could absorb the Brooklyn answer. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better. And it’s something they can build on.
The Celtics will go to this more as the regular season rolls on so Brown can hone some of these skills. He’s getting better as the pick-and-roll ball handler, and that progression will come in very handy as Boston tries to hunt mismatches in the playoffs. The more varied the offense can get, the harder it is to guard the Celtics. This hasn’t been the strongest part of Brown’s overall game, but getting more comfortable in these situations makes Brown and the Celtics that much more dangerous.