BOSTON — Everything looked good until it wasn’t. And then it was again. And then it wasn’t. Sunday night’s game between the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves was a true back-and-forth affair, but the Wolves got the last laugh.
Chris Finch unleashed a web of defensive maneuvers for Joe Mazzulla’s Celtics to untangle. But each time they untangled one knot, another appeared. And the end result was a 102-92 victory for Minnesota.
But how did it all unfold?
1. The Rudy Gobert effect
Ball pressure was the buzzword of the night on Sunday. The Wolves forced the Celtics into a lot of mistakes and long-winded possessions, and they did it by forcing their ball-handlers into tough decisions.
But it all started in the second quarter.
“They started off the game in one coverage, then they switched, and we weren't alert enough,” Jaylen Brown said. “Or they just, they went smaller. They tried to blow up hand-offs, and in that second quarter, we just was two lackadaisical with the ball. I was two lackadaisical with the ball.
“We just wasn't good enough. It's definitely a game you can look back and wish you could have some possessions back, because I feel like we were in a position to win that game. But we didn't play Celtic basketball tonight.”
Rudy Gobert started the game for Minnesota. And when he’s on the floor, the Wolves play in drop coverage. This gave the Celtics clear lanes to get downhill, but once they got there, it was a sticky situation.
There’s a reason Gobert is a four-time Defensive Player of the Year. He’s not a perfect player by any means. His offense leaves a lot to be desired, and he struggles to defend the perimeter.
But think of Gobert like a high-end, defense-first Kyle Korver. Instead of three-point shooting, Gobert’s ability to anchor a defense from the paint is his golden goose.
So, when Gobert was in the game, the Wolves put him in drop coverage. He sank toward the basket in pick-and-roll, giving Boston a false sense of security.
“I feel like I had some good looks at the basket, but even being a little bit more patient,” Brown said. “I don't feel like I was as patient as I needed to be this game for my team, and I feel like that ultimately cost us.”
With Gobert on the floor, the Celtics still found some success. Or, at the very least, they contained the Wolves while scoring enough to have a lead. Gobert was a -7 in his 9:22 first-quarter minutes.
But in the second quarter, Minnesota went smaller. They changed their coverage, upping their pressure on the ball.
2. The first defensive change
As Brown noted, the Wolves changed their coverage in the second quarter. Rather than sticking to the same drop defense that saw Gobert sink toward the bucket and keeping one on the ball, they sent additional help.
Gobert still played 8:34 in the second quarter, but the few minutes when he was off the court were when Minnesota’s defensive shift really showed up.
Look at how attached every single Wolves defender is to this play. On and off the ball. They’re all connected to whichever Celtics player they are guarding.,
When Gobert is on the floor, Neemias Queta could set a screen and give the ball-handler an open lane into the paint (albeit with Gobert waiting at the rim). On this play, since the Wolves went small, Kyle Anderson immediately blitzes Brown.
On this play, it’s a similar story. Julius Randle reads the Derrick White-Jayson Tatum screen, jumps the action, and puts himself exactly where White was about to dribble.
Again, the Celtics had gotten used to drop coverage with a big man in the paint. But when the Wolves went small, they started sending serious pressure at the ball.
In the second quarter alone, the Celtics turned the ball over nine times, and the Wolves scored 14 fast-break points (5-of-6 shooting).
3. Fourth-quarter offensive woes
The 3:36 Gobert was off the floor in the second quarter was enough of a sample size for Finch to roll with, because when the fourth came around, Gobert only played 36 seconds.
Minnesota doubled down on the ball-pressure-heavy, small-ball defense that worked for them so well in the second.
“I think when they went small to start the fourth,” Mazzulla said. “They had Gobert out there [before].”
In the second quarter, the ball pressure led to Celtics turnovers. In the fourth, it just stonewalled Boston’s offense.
“Their physicality and presence just messed up the timing of our offense,” Mazzulla said. “I thought we got our advantage late in the shot clock, weren't able to get a good shot, and I thought we just missed some layups, and missed some shots as well. Yeah, I thought their second unit, with their physicality and their ability to pressure the ball, hurt the timing of our execution.”
The timing of the offense. Advantages. It’s all a chess match.
Boston’s goal is always to gain an offensive advantage as soon as possible. They want to create a two-on-one. Force their opponent to send help so they can create kick-outs for open threes, easy passes to big men in the paint, or quick swings around the horn to find a gap in the defense.
But since the Wolves were pressuring the ball so heavily with their small-ball group, it was hard for Boston to create as many advantages.
“Getting the ball into the scoring area, getting into our action early in the shot clock, creating the advantage that we need early in the shot clock, trying to get more than one advantage within the possession,” Mazzulla said.
The Celtics attempted 26 shots in the fourth quarter. Of those 26, 10 came with 10 seconds or less remaining on the shot clock. And when you account for transition opportunities and Luka Garza missing three straight layups in the paint, and the number of effective half-court possessions Boston got dwindles even more.
“That's where the games connected,” Mazzulla said. “You want to get stops, be able to get out and run, and get in transition, so you don't have to play against that [tough defense]. And then, can you move them off your body with multiple actions? So, a little bit is, obviously, I could have went to different play calls, and then just executing our stuff off stops.”
This play isn’t a perfect example, but it’s a small piece of the puzzle. Watch the way Donte DiVincenzo fights around this Queta screen.
White ends up getting a decent floater chance at the rim, but DiVincenzo’s willingness to battle around the Queta screen to prevent a Payton Pritchard three-point attempt denied the Celtics an advantage.
And since Anderson was sticking to Queta like glue, they couldn’t get much separation there, either. He was up at the level of the screen, taking away the drive. Unlike Gobert, who plays in drop defense.
Then watch this play. The Wolves get scrambled in transition, so the Celtics should have an advantage, right? Well, kind of.
Jaylen Clark immediately sees Hugo Gonzalez getting a pass, so he shifts up. Then, Bones Hyland moves into the paint to guard Queta. By the time the ball gets to Pritchard in the corner, DiVincenzo is already there.
White ends up making Naz Reid bite on a pump-fake, giving him a lane to score, but Minnesota stopped the Celtics in transition. Their defense was on top of it from a team perspective.
It was a similar story on this play from a communication standpoint. Look how on top of things the Wolves were.
Anderson switches onto Pritchard in the pick-and-roll. That leaves DiVincenzo on Queta, but the Wolves don’t want that. So, as Queta rolls to the rim, DiVincenzo calls for Clark to switch onto him.
They don’t want that, either.
When Queta gets into the paint, Clark, communicates with Reid, who shifts over, sending Clark to the corner to guard Gonzalez. At that point, it’s late in the shot clock again, Minnesota’s defense has reset, and Pritchard ends up taking a step-back three.
“I think they just played faster,” Brown said. “They just was more physical. Tried to blow up hand-offs. Tried to blow everything up. We've seen it before, we just didn't match it tonight.”
4. Leak-outs and missed layups
Live-ball turnovers are always a soul-crusher. In the second quarter on Sunday night, the Wolves’ 14 fast-break points helped them climb back in the game.
But as was the case in Boston’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night, sometimes, missed layups are just as bad as (if not worse than) turnovers.
On Sunday against Minnesota, the Celtics shot 25-of-57 (43.9%) in the paint, including 19-of-33 (57.6%) inside the restricted area. They missed 14 shots right under the rim.
It’s going to be