Handling business

The Boston Celtics handled their business and recorded their ninth straight win

The Boston Celtics won their ninth straight game on Tuesday evening. They dispatched a Joel Embiid-less Philadelphia 76ers team. Don’t get it twisted, though; the game wasn’t as easy as the scoreline would suggest.

Nick Nurse’s team found some success with small-ball lineups. They pressured passing lanes, ran in transition, and looked to drag the dropping big onto the perimeter. For stretches, those small-ball rotations allowed the Sixers to cut into Boston’s lead and hang around in a game they had no business hanging around in.

Then, the Celtics shifted gears. It started with a run in the third quarter. However, a 15-0 flurry in the fourth put the rubber stamp on the game. I have just published my 10 takeaways from that game for CelticsBlog. You can check that out here.

I’ve spent a few weeks trying to figure out how the game coverage in this newsletter is going to look. I don’t want it to mimic the work I’m doing elsewhere. But I also don’t want to ignore the fact a game has taken place. I’m sure over time, with feedback from all of you, we will settle on something that works. For now, though, I’m going to throw ideas at the wall and wait to see what sticks.

The clover awards

After each game, I’m going to hand out six clovers distributed over three players. Each is for a player who made a solid impact — either offensively, defensively, or in the margins.

☘️ Kristaps Porzingis: 23 points, 12 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 assist

Porzingis held his matchups to 41.2% shooting. They went 7-of-17 from the field and 1-of-7 from deep. He also forced two turnovers and got a block. That’s the beauty of having Porzingis on the floor. He also had the most shot contests by any player on the Celtics, with NBA Stats tracking 12 different instances.

Unlike typical drop-coverage big men, he has the hip flexibility to change directions at pace, thus allowing him to hang with forwards and wings on the perimeter. He’s not always going to stay in front of them, and his screen navigation can be problematic, but when he’s closing out to shooters after switching, his size and length make him a valuable event maker on that side of the floor.

First of all, let’s credit the communication likely taking place in this clip. Watch as Derrick White tracks Nic Batum’s cut, rotating over to become the low helper while being in position to defend a potential shot or drive. Without looking behind him, Al Horford knows he needs to recover onto the post to pick up Mo Bamba. That comes from communication.

Now, on to Porzingis. He switches the action upon slight screening contact. Buddy Hield likely believes he has a mismatch. Porzingis recovers after Hield’s side-step to create space and impact the shot release. Oftentimes, that’s all you need. If you can make a shooter release their shot earlier or later or even add two degrees to the trajectory, you’ve done your job. The aim is to make shots more difficult. To make them uncomfortable.

On offense, Porzingis did a great job of getting to the line. He went 12-for-12 from the charity stripe, shooting 100%. The fact he was able to pressure the defense so consistently speaks to his versatile offensive skillset and how the Sixers struggled to deal with his size and scoring ability. I liked his pick-and-pop with Jayson Tatum earlier in the game, though.

Credit to Tatum here, too. He’s becoming a master of dragging his dribble after coming off screens, which, given his scoring gravity, is creating openings for the big man or shooters ’ secondary cutters.

☘️☘️Jayson Tatum: 29 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 block

Tatum’s impact came in multiple forms. We should be used to his all-around game by now. I said this in my takeaways piece, but the fact a 29/11/8 game is seen as normal for him, is precisely why he’s one of the most complete players in the league.

Still, if I had to pick an area of his game that stood out the most, it would be his playmaking. It wasn’t until the Celtics decided to flip a switch that he embraced scoring at a consistent rate. For the rest of the game, he was teeing guys up — either with his passing, screening, or spacing the floor and drawing attention.

What stands out to me about Tatum’s passing — both from last night's game and in general — is the improvement in his processing speed. He’s recognizing things quicker now. He’s seeing angles that he didn’t see 18 months ago. And he’s trying things without worrying about the outcome. He’s playing with freedom. The above entry pass to Horford is a great example of Tatum’s growth.

Tatum receives the pass in transition. No dibble. Scans the floor. Sees Horford has a dominant position on the block and is commanding his space. Floats an over-the-top pass with pinpoint accuracy, and boom, easy bucket.

Outside of his passing, Tatum also displayed a willingness to get downhill. He was 1-of-7 from deep. Rather than trying to press with his three, he switched things up and used his size and strength to get wherever he wanted around the rim.

The above clip came toward the end of the game. As such, I’m not too bothered about the isolation possession. Still, Tatum’s change of pace to beat his man and his strength to keep his line as helpers stunted toward him in the lane is mightily impressive. Of course, his decision to pressure the rim with increased frequency also led him to get to the free-throw line. He went 10-of-11 with those opportunities.

☘️☘️☘️Derrick White: 6 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 3 blocks

I’m a sucker for an all-around performance, and that’s exactly what Derrick White provided the Celtics last night. He held his matchups to a game-high 25 DFG%, limiting his opponents to 4-of-16 shooting from the the field. He also contested 10 shots, ranking second behind Porzingis.

White brings a versatility you seldom see from the guard position. The kicker is that Jrue Holiday is one of White’s only rivals in terms of versatility and multi-faceted production at the guard position, and they both play on the same team. That’s tough.

Can we appreciate the fact that White is guarding Tobias Harris in the above clip? He’s giving up size and strength. However, he manages to remain connected, absorbs contact, reads the spin move and gets the block around the rim. Just a few moments later, White was back at it with another block, this time on Paul Reed.

White’s playmaking and off-ball movement were both important aspects of his performance for the Celtics. I love how he’s doing everything at a high level without feeling pressured to try and put up high-counting stats. Some nights, his number is going to be called, and he’s proven he can handle the additional workload. On the other nights, he can still be the most impactful performer on the floor, just in different ways, as we saw last night.

Today’s podcast

Earlier this week, the Celtics found themselves in the news cycle. The Athletic’s Jared Weiss released an amazing article surrounding Joe Mazzulla’s trip to my side of the pond, where he visited Pep Guardiola of Manchester City Football Club. On Today’s “Green With Envy” podcast, Will Weir, Greg Maneikis and I discuss how Mazzulla’s coaching style and the Celtics’ play style has likely benefitted from Mazzulla’s love for soccer. We also discuss his desire to implement some of the patterns he sees as translatable from one game to another.

Other topics on the agenda were Draymond Green’s comments on Jayson Tatum’s MVP candidacy, and the Blake Griffin discussions that surfaced on social media following Derrick White and Payton Pritchard appearing on the “Pardon My Take” podcast.

Pledges are turned on

I’m probably going to keep mentioning it moving forward, too. I have turned pledged subscriptions on for this newsletter. Pledging doesn’t mean you’re going to be charged anything.

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Some programming notes

I missed the last few days — which is a pain, considering I said I wanted to increase the posting frequency of this newsletter. I’m not perfect. Sometimes, I get in my head — as I have about how to balance game coverage here and elsewhere. I'm back to the grind now, though. So, you will be hearing from me again tomorrow.

Just to reiterate: Some posts will be short. Some will be deep dives. Some will be film studies. Others might just be to check in with everyone and see how you’re all doing. Nevertheless, I’m serious about this, and it’s time to turn up the heat.

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