The Memphis Grizzlies came to town with a plan.
“(It) caught us off guard, of course, but that's how it is,” Kristaps Porzingis said after the game. “Leaving Jrue (Holiday) wide open, which is kind of something we've seen for the first time. Jrue was really open, and I think it caught him off guard. Teams are willing to try all kinds of crazy stuff to try to steal one. And they did that tonight.”
Earlier in the week it was Porzingis who talked about wanting 40 shots a night but sacrificing because this team is so good. Holiday got to live out Porzingis’ dream against Memphis, getting up 26 shots because of how he was defended. Too bad his shooting was a little bit of a nightmare.
“Gotta keep on shooting. I’m too wide open not to,” Holiday said after the loss to Memphis. “Honestly, I kinda liked it. It’s been a while since I’ve been shooting that much. Just gotta see one go in and two go in and from there the floodgates will open. But I’ll continue to shoot.”
It has been a while. Since March 29, 2023, to be exact, when he took 30 shots on his way to 51 points. He’s never taken 17 3-point attempts, though. He’s never taken more than 13. He disagreed that he was thrown off by the plan, though.
“They’re literally dropping all the way in the paint and I’m wide open,” he said. “So yeah I knew I was shooting ‘em but I don’t see it as an issue. Some days you shoot it well, some days you don’t. Today wasn’t the best day for me but I’ll keep shooting.”
Maybe it was a subtle homage to Marcus Smart, the man he ultimately replaced here in Boston. Maybe he’s just having a rough start to the season and that's the end of it. Whatever it is, the Grizzlies decided to test the limits of how long it would work out in their favor.
“It's a bold strategy,” Joe Mazzulla said. “He's an All-Star who shoots over 40 percent from three. I think that's a risky one, and I thought he handled it great. I mean, we empowered him. We want him to shoot any shot that he's open.”
This is actually where things get fun for Boston. Every time they play in the regular season, other teams are probing to find weaknesses. Sometimes they blitz and trap, sometimes they play straight up, and sometimes, like on Saturday night, they stuff the paint and leave a guy known for burying certain shots open to take those exact shots. Everyone is trying to figure out what weird little things will work because playing the Celtics a normal way isn’t going to get anyone very far.
“I think that's a huge gift, because now we're going to see it again, and it's going to be great for us,” Mazzulla said. “I'm really happy that they did that for us, and I thought the teammates did a great job empowering Jrue to shoot — didn't make them all but we move on and I'm glad that we saw that, and it's going to be good for us.”
Beating the Celtics once is nice, but eventually, teams will have to do it four times out of seven games. That's when things get really tough.
In December, with Al Horford getting the night off and Sam Hauser leaving the game early with a groin injury, the Grizzlies did enough to leave Boston with their biggest win of the season. They get to celebrate the very disciplined execution of their game plan, the very incredible display of basketball by Ja Morant, and some clutch fourth-quarter performances from guys who haven't always come through in those situations.
And they should do that. They earned it. They're tied for second in the West, and they can look at this game as a confidence-builder that they have it in them to come up with a unique plan to beat Boston at home. If they do get that chance again, it will come in June, and that extra confidence will come in handy.
The Celtics are a pretty confident bunch, too. They didn’t win this battle, but they're always looking for ways to win the war. In their opinion, all Memphis did was advertise how the league views the Celtics, and what weaknesses are going to be attacked. That's why Mazzulla was thankful. It’s a useful bit of information that will now enter Boston’s preparation for games.
“Teams try to do magic tricks, pull rabbits out of their hat to try to throw us off,” Jaylen Brown said. “We've just got to be mentally strong, encourage each other and just play basketball. Take what the defense gives us, don't overthink it. … Tonight I don't think was the best indication of Celtics basketball. I feel like we fought to the end, but I think today's a night we put it behind us. We look at the film and get ready for what's to come in the future."