BOSTON — It was a dominant victory for the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night. They welcomed the Golden State Warriors to TD Garden, though it was a shell of the team that could have been.
With Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler III, and Al Horford all sidelined, it was left to former Celtic Kristaps Porzingis and Draymond Green to carry the torch. And though Porzingis started the game with two emphatic blocks, that momentum didn’t last long.
He got his tribute video, and the TD Garden crowd gave him a rowdy ovation, but the Celtics owned the night.
So, what happened?
1. Jaylen Brown’s patience
For the second straight game, nobody could tough Jaylen Brown. He was a ghost and a battering ram all rolled up into one. Somehow, he managed to float through any defense the Warriors threw at him while also bullying his way to the line for nine free throw attempts (he made all nine).
The most impressive part of his performance on Wednesday was Brown’s patience. It’s been an integral part of his game all season, but lately, he’s slowed down his pacing even more.
“Just seeing and reading the game, and taking advantage of my opportunities,” Brown said. “But yeah, [I] definitely have slowed my pace down a little bit.”
Here, he completely fools Gary Payton II. Payton is waiting for Neemias Queta to set the screen, so he jumps to his right in anticipation, trying to get ahead of the play. When Brown sees this, he immediately drives left instead.
Then, once he gets downhill, he puts his body into Quinten Post. He waits for Payton and Post to jump, pulls back, and scores an easy layup.
But the secret ingredient to this play was everything around it.
“Today, in the first half, they kind of stuck to our shooters, out of respect for those guys,” Brown said. “They shoot the ball incredibly well, and those threes add up. So, they were like, kind of leaving me on the island, so I had to take advantage of that.”
Watch that play again. Look at how little help Payton and Post get in the pick-and-roll. Green is glued to Baylor Scheierman, Pat Spencer is glued to Jayson Tatum, and De’Anthony Melton is glued to Payton Pritchard.
Golden State doesn’t want to send help because Brown would just throw a kick-out pass for an open three.
“To me, they’re the best spacing in the league,” Steve Kerr said before the game. “With all those great isolation players, Pritchard included in that, when they start to drive, you really feel it when you play against them live. The guys on the opposite wing, it feels like they’re at half-court. They got multiple guys who can shoot from out there, but so many guys who can put the ball on the floor.
“With, obviously, Jayson and Jaylen. But Derrick White is a great penetrator. And Pritchard. So, you’re so spaced out. So, it’s really a matter of, are you willing to give up shots to certain players? You really have to know personnel. You have to be willing to give up shots to certain guys, but other guys, not so much. And if you’re not in tune with recognizing personnel, and you’re not in the right spot, they’re just going to kill you.”
Here’s another great example of Boston’s elite spacing giving Brown room to work (and how Brown used patience to get a bucket).
Brown has Brandin Podziemski guarding him on the wing. So, he slowly starts backing him down. As the seconds tick off the clock, Brown doesn’t rush it. He takes his time.
Gui Santos shows a brief flash of help, but other than that, the Warriors left Podziemski on an island because they don’t want to help off shooters. So, Brown takes advantage of that, bullies him into the post, and gets an easy bucket.
Brown’s patience has been on another lately, and the Celtics’ spacing is giving him acres to work with.
He finished the game with 32 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals while shooting 11-of-20 from the floor, 1-of-4 from deep, and 9-of-9 from the free-throw line.
2. Getting Jayson Tatum going
Since returning from his Achilles injury, Jayson Tatum hasn’t exactly been at his peak of efficiency. And heading into Wednesday night, a lot of his three-point attempts weren’t coming in the flow of the offense.
That improved on Monday night against the Phoenix Suns, but it was even better against the Warriors.
Tatum’s first shot of the game was a drive into the paint that was sent packing by Porzingis. But after that, he got some space on the perimeter.
Santos got caught on a Queta screen, and Porzingis sank back in drop coverage. That was a mistake. Tatum pulled up for a wide-open three, which he made.
And from there, the Celtics got him into a rhythm.
“As the games go on, you get more reps, you get more in a routine,” Tatum said. “Feel more and more comfortable each game, and you just kind of play in the flow.”
Tatum’s next three-point attempt was a pull-up three above the break after coming off a Queta screen. These types of threes quickly became his bread and butter last year.
Then, his third three was the best of the night, because it was a product of simple, yet beautiful, Celtics offense. All it took was a flare screen1 from Queta to spring Tatum loose, and Pritchard hit him with a picture-perfect pass for an open triple.
(1Flare screen: A screen set to allow an off-ball player to move away from the ball to another position on the perimeter. You can see Queta set it on this play for Tatum to shift over to the left wing.)
These are the types of threes that will help Tatum get into the right flow as he continues to readjust to NBA action. Boston’s offense has a few new tricks up its sleeve this year, and Tatum is already settling in.
“I mean, it's a few different sets, but it all boils down to pace and respecting each other's space,” Tatum said of Boston’s offense this season. “It's a few concepts that we play by or play through, obviously, depending on the matchups and who we have on the floor. We play to our strengths. So, that's just the main thing.”
Tatum ended the game with 24 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, and one steal while shooting 7-of-15 from the field, 5-of-11 from beyond the arc, and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
3. Why Jayson Tatum takes so many threes
It’s the elephant in the room. And to be brutally honest, most of the people who are complaining about his three-point volume are always going to hate it. But it’s not going anywhere.
There are a few things that go into it.
First and foremost,
