3 keys to the Celtics evening up their second-round series

Ideally, they will be heading back to Boston with a 2-2 record.

It was tough sledding for a while. Losing games one and two put the Boston Celtics under some real pressure. Saturday’s win, where the Celtics were the best version of themselves, was a reminder of what this team can do when its back is against the wall.

Honestly, I’m disappointed we didn’t see Luke Kornet barking as he ran up the court in Madison Square Garden. The “Road Dogs” were out to play. Maybe he’s saving that for later in the series. Or maybe, the Knicks are too dangerous to antagonize — especially with the series still in the balance.

The Celtics will be back on the MSG court later today. Their goal is to tie the series and head back to Boston, looking to take control. To do that, they need to execute at a high level and stick to the game plan that saw them dominate game three.

Here are my three keys to the game.

Keep working the paint

It doesn’t matter whether the Celtics see some shots fall early or not; the paint is the key to everything they do well. Be it post touches, drive and kick, or pressuring the rim, good things happen when they get into the paint.

The whole point of playing a five-out offense is to space the floor. Using the space to manipulate the defense is page one of the playbook. With the amount of scoring gravity on the roster, the Celtics consistently force rotations or collapses when they get into the paint.

Furthermore, if the Knicks continue to put Karl-Anthony Towns in drop, or at least a step away from the action, the Celtics have to take advantage. Look at the above clip, where Towns is below the level of the screen, and notice how easy it is for Jayson Tatum to read the floor, in-out cross to reject the screen and then punish the defense as it begins to rotate.

It’s the same with post-ups. I’ve said it a bunch this season — getting Tatum, Jaylen Brown or Kristaps Porzingis into the post is a surefire way to create high-quality catch-and-shoot opportunities on the perimeter. Why? Because the defense either sinks, double-teams or takes its attention away from the perimeter. If that defense chooses to stay home, then you have an elite mid-range threat going one-on-one; you take those odds.

The Knicks are going to adjust their defensive coverage. They will likely use OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges to pinch on the wings, and increase their remit in terms of gap help. Nevertheless, both Towns and Mitchell Robinson are primarily drop defenders, and they must be exploited when operating away from the screen. If New York tasks them with pushing up, throwing an extra screen into the mix should help eradicate any additional pressure.

Embrace the stagger screen

In games one and two, the Knicks looked to protect Jalen Brunson by having him “show and recover” on the perimeter. In essence, Brunson would jump out at the ball-handler before recovering back to his original man, limiting the Celtics’ ability to hunt him on switches.

During game three, the Celtics went back to what worked against the Orlando Magic, when they were fighting to avoid being forced into a switch: stagger screens.

This clip isn’t the greatest example, but it does help illustrate the point I’m making. By having Brunson as the second screener’s defender, he’s forced to accept the switch onto Tatum. If Jrue Holiday had made contact with Bridges, then Brunson would have been on an island against Tatum, which is precisely where the Celtics want him.

Running more staggered screening actions can help Boston isolate the defender it wants to exploit. Yes, the Knicks will adjust, and then it’s on Joe Mazzulla to make his own tweaks. Still, we saw the effectiveness of leaning on stagger actions during the latter stages of the Magic series, and got another glimpse on Saturday.

The beauty of having two screeners on these actions is the optionality it provides. You can have one operate as a roller while the other pops. You can have one veer into a pin-down or some other form of screen while the other short-rolls — there are countless combinations. Anytime you can keep a defense guessing and force them into trying to pre-empt what’s about to happen, your offense is usually in a good place.

Here’s hoping the Celtics continue to stick with what works, especially when it means getting Towns or Brunson to defend in space or deal with a mismatch.

Cut and move, cut and move

A big issue in this series's opening two games was the offense's stagnancy. Players stood around, waiting for isolation play, or watching as the Knicks' defense flustered to engulf the ball-handler.

Game three saw the Celtics revert to their usual approach — move until you create the mismatch, post touch or scoring opportunity, and then play out from there. Not every cut needs to be designed for a bucket, either. There’s incredible value in sacrificial movements…As we looked at a few months back.

I don’t care where the cuts or movement comes from — just that it comes. Even the simple slot cut from Brown in the above clip helps unlock a possession that New York had done well to defend.

"I don't think anybody on our team or maybe even in the league can get into the paint like I can, especially when I'm moving and my body is feeling the way it should be," Brown said in his postgame news conference on Saturday. "That's my goal, just to get into the paint, finish, make them help, make them collapse and then just find my guys for open reads and play from there."

Those extra hard runs, cuts, or screening options can unlock a possession that’s otherwise destined to fizzle out. And for the Celtics, who clearly need to keep building on the momentum from Saturday, the easier looks they can get, the better things will be for them moving forward.

Final thoughts

As the Celtics prepare to step onto Madison Square Garden's court once more, these keys could be the difference between evening the series or falling into a potentially insurmountable hole. The blueprint is clear: attack and/or create out of the paint, open up the playbook (specifically in terms of screens) to exploit mismatches, and embrace moving without the ball when things start to slow down in the half-court.

There’s no guarantee that these three things will lead to a win, but they will definitely keep things close. The Celtics are the better, more talented and more experienced team. They have a reason to play with a chip on their shoulder and must figure out how to head back to Boston with the series at 2-2. Then, we can start looking at how they can take control of their own destiny.

Let me know what your keys to tonight’s game would be, and why!