Video Breakdown: Looking at the 'deeper levels' of the Boston Celtics halfcourt offense

I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the Celtics are a little less talented than they’ve been in the past. That means things aren’t as easy as they were before. 

I know. That's pretty high-level analysis. 

The Celtics need to find a way to generate points. They're doing some of it by forcing turnovers, some of it is crashing the glass, and some of it is via the yeoman’s work from Jaylen Brown. 

But as much as it seems like he’s trying to, Brown can’t do it all by himself. Even the fastest teams in the league spend at least three-quarters of their time in the half court. Execution on that end is imperative to a team’s success. 

The Celtics aren’t bad at it, either. They're 10th in the NBA, scoring 1.005 points per possession in the half court. Anything above one point per possession is good. Denver leads in half-court possessions (because Nikola Jokić) at 1.084 PPP.

They're doing okay, and they're doing it differently. 

"In the past, we just had a lot of talent where, if we had the matchup we liked, and we got it, pretty much the play was over," Derrick White said at the team's Thursday practice. "Now, it might not be there for the first action, so just trying to find that next one. How we can continue to use the whole shot clock to move the ball and get a good look every time down."

How indeed? 

“I think here's a little bit more continuity to it, Joe Mazzulla said. "There's deeper levels to the concepts that we have. There's a multiple-action layer to the concepts that we have to generate different kind of advantages."

Let's take a look. 

The Celtics like to run halfcourt sets with multiple screens, like this one. 

They staggered screens for Payton Pritchard and Jaylen Brown, getting Brown an open look. So with that scouting report out there, they are expanding on that ... adding a layer. 

So much of this is misdirection. 

Anfernee Simons makes what is called an Iverson cut, which is from one wing to the other to get the ball. He gets a couple of screens, but they're more to just get the defense thinking. Luka Garza's screen for Simons is actually a ruse to turn around and screen for Josh Minott, who uses the screen to set a ball screen for Simons. 

Minott ends up wide open in the corner, but Simons flows it into a reversal back to Pritchard as Garza sets another screen, followed by a roll to the hoop. Pritchard attacks behind him to draw two defenders, creating a two-on-one. Simons attacks that again, drawing even more attention to give Pritchard space at the top of the key for an open 3-pointer. 

So let's review here. 

The initial action created an open guy they didn't see. The next action pulled a big into the lane on Garza's cut. The next one drew defenders into the paint on Pritchard's drive. Then another one pulled them in further, giving Pritchard a clean look. 

It's like kneading dough. They just kept pulling defenders in deeper and deeper to create an open look. 

Now let's look at a play that looks the same, but suddenly gets very different. 

So we have a point guard at the top, the Iverson cut, a screen from the guy at the left elbow, and ... 

Oh ...

Now Walsh turns and runs an empty side pick and roll as Queta runs to set a pin-down for Pritchard. The Celtics have created their two-on-one, and now it's Queta in space making a great read. 

He saw Michael Porter, Jr. helping off Simons but knew he had Walsh in the left corner. So, like a quarterback looking off the coverage, he looked straight at Simons in order to make sure Walsh was open. 

This might be the best read I've seen Queta make and Walsh makes a great individual play to finish things off. 

How the defense is playing you determines which play you'll run. This is why NBA defenses vary their coverages so much. If they don't, teams would exploit coverages all night long. Here's a simple way the Celtics exploited what Brooklyn was doing:

The Nets had their big at the level of the screen and were chasing over the top to try to blitz ball handlers and force turnovers. The Celtics were turning it over a ton, so this strategy made sense, but this play exploited it with one simple cut. 

Jordan Walsh is occupying attention in the corner. Pritchard is at the right hash mark. The pick-and-roll with Queta is run high to pull defenders out of the way because the Celtics know they're sticking with White. That means Queta has to be accounted for in the middle. 

With Walsh one pass away, it can't be his defender. It has to be Simons' guy who steps in. And because of the angle of the pass, it's easy to believe that Pritchard is trying to find Queta in the middle. Instead, the ball flies past Queta for an open 3-pointer. 

The Celtics have run this play before. 

Walsh didn't start as deep in this one, but it's same thing. The set depends on timing and getting the defense you're looking for. Of course, if it's not there, the Celtics could just run a dribble handoff for the guy in the right corner and flow into a motion offense. 

"I think it's gone well for our guys, when we make those reads," Mazzulla said. "We have moments of the game where it's really good, and there's moments where we're still kind of missing the read, and that kind of messes up the timing of it. But yeah, I would say just deeper levels to the concepts that we have and a little bit more of a controlled attack at times.”

Here's another example of a controlled attack with good timing. 

This is what's known as Zoom action. Except the Celtics added a couple of layers to it. 

Zoom is a popular action where the play is for the guy in the corner to come up and get the ball with room to either drive down the middle or find a roller in space created by confusion. Its hallmarks are a pin-down into a dribble handoff.  

But just putting White in the left corner in front of a veteran NBA team like the Clippers and Ty Lue is obvious. They might as well flash the play on the jumbotron. So the Celtics disguise it by starting White in what looks like a horns set, which is when teammates set up on either elbow to start the play. 

White then runs into the corner to look like a floor-spacer as Pritchard and White prepare to run a high pick-and-roll.

DECEPTION! 

As the pass is made to Queta, Walsh flips around to set the pin-down. Now Queta is in position for the handoff. 

HIs roll down the middle creates what's known as a "single-side bump," where one defender has to decide between covering the rolling player or the shooter. At the same time, Ivica Zubac is in drop coverage, so John Collins bailed to go cover the 3-point line. But then Zubac had to account for Queta ...

... remember when I said this set created confusion?

White finished the play with a floater, one of is favorite shots. 

"I think we’re getting so much better and more purposeful in our actions and figuring out how we can attack teams," Queta said. "It’s a big difference from the beginning of the year to now. ...  I think we’re on the right path and we just want to keep on improving, because we’ve still got room to grow."

And one other note about this: This is still playing with pace. 

The Celtics aren't running up and down the floor, and these sets do take up a good amount of time, but the ball is moving well, and there is good tempo to it all. Even if they're not always getting a ton of possessions out of things, they are still playing with pace in these kinds of half-court sets. 

The Celtics are getting incredibly creative in running their offense because of the talent drain. They have had to add twists to traditional things and layers to confuse the defense. As the season goes on, some of these sets will get fine-tuned and they might even be further disguised. It takes time to get it all right. 

"I enjoy just coaching and teaching the guys," Mazzulla said. "These guys have a competitive character, but they also care about the details and really learning. And so practices have been a little bit longer. Film sessions have been longer. They've been more detailed. But it's because the guys have a willingness to learn, a willingness to want to be disciplined and execute. So just having that process of teaching and putting the guys in the right spots and having them be excited about just learning and getting better is a good environment.”