Three adjustments that helped the Celtics down the Bulls
Joe Mazzulla shone in the coaching battle against Billy Donovan.
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Nicknames are a staple of the NBA ecosystem. Search up any current or former player on Basketball Reference, and you’ll find a string of nicknames associated with that player. Some you will know, others you won’t. And on occasion, some will make you audible laugh out loud.
Well, today I propose a new nickname for Mazzulla: The Chiropractor.
Why? Because he’s always making adjustments. And usually, those adjustments make us feel good afterward.
On Thursday, the Celtics produced a flat defensive performance against the Chicago Bulls. Their effort was uncharacteristic, and the result was far from desired. However, the league was kind enough to give the team a form of mulligan, with both rosters squaring off again on Saturday.
This time, the Celtics handled their business courtesy of stellar work from The Chiropractor himself.
Before we examine some of Mazzulla’s adjustments, check out today’s podcast. My new cohost, Billy Calabrese, and I jumped on the mic earlier today to discuss some of the things I’m about to explore (deeper) here, along with some interesting points and observations from the game. However, some technical issues mean this episode was only posted as audio.
Ok, away we go!
Defense
A key aspect of the Bulls’ win on Thursday was their ability to get out and run in transition. They consistently got into their actions early, allowing them to get high-quality shots off at will. On Saturday, the Celtics did a much better job of forcing them to work out of the half-court, which allowed them to lean into their point-of-attack and switchable defensive systems.
The Celtics did this in two ways.
First: by cross-matching Jrue Holiday onto Nikola Vucevic, allowing one of Jayson Tatum, Kristaps Porzingis, or Al Horford to guard on the perimeter. This ensured there was length to contest early shots, often forcing Chicago to search for a second action or to put the ball on the floor.
Second: By consistently running a double-big lineup, ensuring there was size and length across the floor. It’s hard to push the pace against a team that can contest shots from behind or to the side of you, especially when they’re getting back and building out from the paint or are contesting on your hips.
Once the Bulls were in the half-court, life became very difficult for them, and possessions like the one below became commonplace.
After Horford scrams Tatum out of the matchup with Vucevic, look how much length is across the low helpline. Boston has Tatum, Kornet and Horford all in the vicinity to help or contest a shot.
That type of size can take an offensive player out of rhythm. They’re going to let shots go sooner than they would like. They’re going to look for ways to bail out of drives. Or, they’re going to force things and play with less control. The result is often the same — the shot comes up short or is too heavy and makes for an easy rebound.
If Chicago tried to counter by playing in a five-out to stretch the Celtics' defense, Boston would have Tatum and Brown in the corners to provide explosive help defense and secondary shot contests, along with White and Holiday at the slots to dig and pressure the dribble.
Here’s that same play but annotated for some additional clarity.
However, Mazzulla wanted to include a curveball, too—likely for data-gathering purposes. So, we saw steady help from zone defense. Yet, unlike other times we’ve seen the Celtics run zone, they morphed between coverages on the same possession. They could start in a 2-3, flow into a 3-2 and end back in a 2-3. By being fluid with the type of coverage they executed, the Bulls had very little room to try to bust the Celtics open.
Between these three tweaks: Added length, more double-big, and some zone looks, the Celtics were able to set their terms of engagement, controlling the flow of Chicago’s offense while funneling them into taking shots Boston is willing to live with.
If you’re looking for proof of concept, the fact the Celtics held the Bulls to 98 points should be more than enough. That’s when the Celtics are at their best, and it’s when they look like a championship-level defense.
It’s also worth noting that since Porizngis returned to the Celtics rotation on Nov. 25, the Celtics sit fifth in the NBA for defensive rating.
A rotation change
Before diving in here, I want to shout out Billy Calabrese for bringing this up on today’s podcast. One of Mazzulla’s bigger adjustments was how he distributed playing time, with Tatum being a benefactor of the change.
Tatum played 6 minutes in the first quarter. Then, he played consecutive 12-minute spans in the second and third, before eating another three minutes and 41 seconds in the fourth — when the game was already won.
Here’s how those minutes looked in terms of rotations, courtesy of PopcornMachine.net
If you’re wondering what ‘HV’ stands for on this chart, it means help value, which is assists + rebounds.
There are two key takeaways from the rotation we saw last night.
Rather than having one of Tatum or Brown leading the second unit, Mazzulla opted to keep two of his ‘big three’ on the court for the majority of the game. Of course, there were stretches with just one ‘star’ but those were balanced with additional help from Holiday, White and Pritchard — all of whom can handle an increased workload.
The Celtics heavily leaned into a double-big rotation, giving more size and length to limit the Bulls success at driving and finding an open shooter in the corner (an issue on Thursday) while also having more length to pester ball-handlers on offense.
Furthermore, having Tatum spend more time with the second unit was a reversion back to what worked last season. Yes, Brown has been improving when leading that unit and his 8 assists during this game were another sign of his ever-developing playmaking, but Tatum brings a level of comfort with those guys that kept everything flowing in the right direction.
Offense
On offense, the Celtics stuck to their usual methods to generate open looks. However, there was a clear focus on challenging the Bulls at the rim. The data backs up that approach. According to Cleaning The Glass, Chicago is 29th in the NBA for the number of attempts they allow at the rim, with opposing teams using 37.7% of their offense within four feet of the basket. They’re also 24th in the NBA for rim defense, allowing teams to shoot 68.5% around the cup.
As such, it makes sense that the Celtics took 55 two-point attempts in this game. The Bulls lack the rim protection and rim deterrence needed to contain a high-level driving and slashing team for a full 48 minutes.
Plays like this give-and-go between Tatum and Brown were too easy. The lack of defensive resistance makes you wonder how the Bulls were able to steal the previous matchup and why the Celtics didn’t pressure the paint sooner.
Still, when the Bulls did put up some resistance on defense, Boston would counter with a mid-range jumper from some of the best mid-range shooters in the NBA.
A simple rip-screen (back screen) into a stagger action got Brown open around the elbow, and as we all know, he’s money when pulling up off the bounce in the mid-range, especially around the free-throw line extended. For reference, Brown is shooting 40% on middies this season.
To round out this offensive look, here are a couple of actions that I enjoyed.
Korver Screen
The Celtics have added Korver screens into their overall offensive approach this season. Here, you can see Brown set the Korver for Porzingis.
A Korver screen is when the player who is supposed to receive a screen sets one for the original screener (if that makes sense) — so watch Porzingis here; he sets up to screen for JB before coming off JB’s pick instead.
Pistol Keep
Pistol, AKA Miami, is a side DHO where the DHO receiver then comes off a ball screen — so a DHO into a pick-and-roll. On this action, the Celtics line up like they’re going to run Pistol/Miami. However, Porzingis reads the action and opts to flow into a ‘keep’ — meaning he doesn’t hand the ball off.
Holiday curls off Porzingis, taking his defender and creating some confusion within Chicago’s overall defense, which created the space for KP to get an easy shot off in the mid-range.
21 Down Slip
Here we have a guard-to-guard hand-off on the wing. Holiday sets a down-screen after the DHO but slips before the contact, creating some confusion that results in White getting traped. From there its an easy pass for an easy bucket to keep pace with the Bulls early in the game.
THE HAMMER
As my co-host Billy Calabrese said, Jalen Smith is in danger of getting dunked out of the league.
That’s all for today, folks.
Side note: I’m still toying with different approaches and posting times. An unexpected consequence of moving my work to this newsletter has been a sudden search for identity — I’ve always been the Xs and Os guy, but I want to be more than just that. Hopefully, I’m getting closer to finding a balance. Oh, and finding a rhythm to keep consistency…that’s something I’m really beating myself up about right now.
Your feedback is always helpful.
Catch you tomorrow.