How the Celtics Won a Defensive Chess Battle Against The Nuggets

The Boston Celtics came into the game with a clearly defined defensive game plan

After months of winter gloom, with ice cold weather and icy footpaths, I’m sitting in my office, enjoying the sunlight pouring in through my window. I used to dread Mondays — another week on the hamsterwheel of life.

Then I got lucky.

Then, I found work writing about basketball.

Now, I’m trying to grow this newsletter (and the YouTube channel) so that basketball is what I do between now and forever.

I love Mondays now.

I love every day, actually.

BUT! I would be lying if I said that the mornings after (or of, in my case) a win, aren’t that little bit sweeter.

Fortunately for us Celtics fans, those sweet mornings have been consistent for the past two years. The team rarely loses, and when it does, it halts the slide after two games. Winning never feels too far away.

On Sunday, in the second matinee game in two weeks, the Celtics did it again (no Brittany), defeating the Denver Nuggets to bounce back from two straight losses. Mike Malone’s team may not be the juggernaut they were in the 2022-23 season, but they’re a darn good team, boasting Nikola Jokic, who for my money, is the best player on planet Earth.

Even without Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, and with Jayson Tatum having somewhat of a tough afternoon, Joe Mazzulla’s team found a way to win. What I liked most, though, was the win came courtesy of a well-devised defensive gameplan — and that’s what we’re going to look at today.

Let’s start by adding some context.

On the season, the Nuggets are first in rim frequency. 38% of Denver’s shots come from within four feet of the basket. They’re also 10th in rim accuracy, knocking down 68.1% of their attempts. Simply put, the Nuggets pressure the rim and convert their chances.

Malone’s team is also 11th in transition frequency, accounting for 19.4% of the team’s total offense - almost 1 in 5 possessions. What’s more, they’re second in eFG% during those transition possessions, and fifth in points-per-game (25.9).

So, what did the Celtics do? They walled up in the paint, taking away the rim. That approach resulted in more kickouts, which in turn generated a higher three-point rate. Thus, the Nuggets were forced out of their usual playstyle and into Boston’s trap.

The numbers back this up — also, shoutout to Azad Rosay of CelticsBlog — we were both pointing this stuff out during the game. Great minds!

22% of Denver’s shots came at the rim — a 16% dip from their season average. And only 9.7% of the Nuggets offense came on the break — almost a 10% dip.

Instead, 48% of Denver’s shots came from deep, which was a 16.5% increase on their usual 31.5% three-point frequency. And while the tracking data isn’t available yet, I would hazard a guess that Denver’s drives — and pass frequency out of those drives — both increased somewhat.

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Watch the above clip. Note how the Celtics have three or four bodies around the paint, shifting as the ball moves, creating a wall within the restricted area. This is how the Celtics dictated their terms of defensive engagement. They knew the Nuggets could get whatever they wanted in the paint. So, they planned to force them into different looks.

Yes, this play ends in a late three. And yes, the Nuggets get the points. But, taking that three was the last thing on Denver’s wishlist. Malone’s team wanted the easy two. The Celtics didn’t let them get there.

Here’s another example.

Once Jokic swings the pass, the Celtics quickly shift. They have Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Jayson Tatum across the high help line. That allows the Celtics to dig at drives, switch on screens, and create pressure on ball-handlers and cutters. Luke Kornet and Al Horford are the back line defense.

Murray’s drive and kick allows White to sink — so now, the Celtics have three bodies in the paint to wall off the restricted area. Kornet contains the drive and boom, a contested floater outside of the Nuggets’ ideal area.

Once again, the aim was to limit an attempt at the rim, whether that meant giving up a short mid-range shot or something from deep.

The Celtics are a great defensive team when they’re engaged like this. I love seeing Tatum and Brown stunting from the elbows, proving some lightweight nail help.

It’s also worth noting how, in recent games, Boston’s gap defense has been on fire, leading to multiple steals, and that was another part of how the Celtics looked to contain the Nuggets.

We’ve seen a lot of steals like the one above in recent games. However, I’m also interested in how the Celtics have been generating deflections, because you can’t pilfer every pass, but you can disrupt the flow of an offense by getting your hand to the ball. Boston ended the night with 14 deflections — for reference, the Nuggets won that battle with 20.

The last aspect of how the Celtics defense contained Denver is their perimeter defense, more specifically, how they guarded PnR’s.

The type of coverage in the above clip is known as ‘up-to-touch,’ which means the screen defender is at or just below the screen level and can physically touch the screener. This positioning allows for flexibility—defenders can either switch, hedge, show, or drop depending on the ball-handler’s movement.”Based on how the play unfolds and who the ball-handler and screener are, the screen defender can choose to switch, hedge, show, or drop.

We saw a lot of this coverage against the Nuggets, which isn’t surprising considering the versatility within the rotation and the million ways Jokic can decide to hurt you.

Just like a good offensive possession, the best defensive possessions often mean blending multiple coverages together. Take the above play as an example. You can see Tatum playing up-to-touch, however, you can also see some switching and man on offer.

Yes the play ends in a make, but sometimes, good defense doesn’t = a stop, the same way good offense doesn’t = a make.

Throughout the night, the Celtics switched, played man, were up-to-touch and went into drop. However, the latter was a higher-level risk, as Russell Westbrook and Jamal Murray both have their ways of attacking the space left by a drop defense when coming off a screen.

Whether or not you consider the Nuggets to be a contending-level team this season, you can’t deny the threat they pose on a game-to-game basis. Jokic ensures that they’re never an easy out.

We can talk about the Celtics offense and their three-point heavy approach as much as we want. The fact remains that Boston’s identity is on the defensive end. With the postseason edging closer by the day, it’s encouraging to see Mazzulla and his coaching staff implement specific gameplans heading into a game — and it’s even more encouraging to see it being executed at a high level.

The Celtics’ defense won this game for them. They controlled the flow and dictated how the Nuggets were going to attack. When you can control the outcome in that way, everything else gets slightly easier.

Next up is the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. That game will bring its own set of challenges, especially as it’s a potential trap game. For now, though, we can start the week with some pep in our step based off a strong win against one of the better teams in the Western Conference.

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Shortly after the Nuggets game ended, the Celtics announced they had waived Anton Watson.

While I was sleeping, they added Miles Norris as Watson’s replacement. Let me know what you think of Norris, and whether you want a breakdown of what he brings to the Maine Celtics, and potentially Boston’s bench between now and the playoffs.

Catch everyone tomorrow!