The Morning After: 5 Observations As Celtics Beat Pelicans

Five observations from the Celtics 28th win of the season!

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Boston Celtics took care of the New Orleans Pelicans. So, if you’re like me, your coffee tasted especially good this morning. Even more so in this bitter cold snap we’re having (or at least I’m having on this side of the pond).

New Orleans came into this game with the worst record in the Western Conference and one of the worst in the NBA. Still, they played hard, and they tried to pile on the misery for a Celtics team that has been stuttering of late.

Jayson Tatum clearly had no intentions of letting the Celtics slip again, though. His overall performance was fantastic, as was his aggression when looking to score — from wherever he wanted, I might add.

Still, the Pelicans found ways to keep themselves in the game, primarily due to Dejounte Murray turning into Steph Curry for the night. Still, this is where the Celtics are right now — they’re getting everybody's best shot, and games are going to the wire as a result.

Despite the gritty nature of the game, Boston made some interesting adjustments, and some fun chess games took place. Let’s take a look at some of my ‘morning after’ observations.

#1 Attacking from the wings

Whether it was attacking the weakside low-man to create kick-out opportunities or generating space in the mid-range to exploit Yves Missi in drop, Boston found success when working from the wings. Interestingly, some of that success came from putting Tatum or Kristaps Porzingis into an off-ball role — while other times, it meant allowing Jaylen Brown to bully-drive his way to the cup.

The above play was an indication of how the Celtics were going to exploit the Pelican’s drop defense. Rather than having Tatum or Brown handle the rock off a high screen, where Missi could shuttle between the free-throw line and baseline, Boston looked to attack with angles. That way, Missi’s ability to rotate his hips and change direction was going to be tested.

The Celtics have run these wide pin-downs for Brown over the past 18 months. However, I don’t recall too many instances of Tatum receiving them. Furthermore, putting Porzingis as the screener was a smart decision, as it creates a significant amount of gravity, especially when Murray is switched onto the big man and Missi is mismatched.

Regardless of who is curling off the pindown, the idea remains the same: get them the ball at the elbow, where they can either pull up in space or attack a drop big off the bounce. I will always feel comfortable when Tatum is pulling up in rhythm off the catch. Aren’t you?

Here’s another example of the Celtics looking to exploit the wing. Tatum gets the ball in a high post-up around the slot. Rather than face up and look to drive the lane or ISO into a stepback, he scans the floor — as we’ve become accustomed to. Jrue Holiday flows into a weakside pin-down/pin-in, creating a sort of hammer action, springing Porizingis free to shake out of the corner and get an easy catch-and-shoot opportunity.

This time, the shot doesn’t fall. However, the process is solid. It’s also nice to see Boston running some off-ball screening plays after a couple of stagnant nights on that side of the ball. I like the hammer variation, too. It works well, especially with KP, who is tall enough to see over the defense and potentially hit Holiday with the post-entry pass if he creates an advantage for himself.

Ok, I get that two of the clips I’ve shared didn’t end in a bucket. That wasn’t by design. But I’m a big fan of process over results. Plenty of making originated on the wing, but it would be disingenuous only to share those.

I liked the above clip because it returned to an Ime Udoka staple: The elbow zoom action. A zoom action is a corner pin-down into a DHO and is one of the most common sets in the league. Placing the DHO around the elbow, rather than at the top of the perimeter, gives it the elbow part of the name — go figure, lol.

By running this action at the elbow, Brown is able to curl off the DHO and immediately pressure the interior defense, especially as he’s only a step or two away from instantly getting into the paint. He’s proven capable of powering his way to the rim or countering with a step-back in mid-range. Kornet’s roll quickly gives the Celtics a presence in the dunker, while Horford popping out to the corner offers a release valve if needed.

Sure, the Celtics run actions off the wing in every game, and at times last season, it was a staple of their offensive approach — which is why this stood out to me. It wasn’t because the Celtics were attacking from the wings; it was because they were running actions on the wing, and they were doing it with a higher frequency than we’ve seen for the majority of the season. Why were they doing that? Well, this leads me to my next observation…

#2 A shift in mentality

Building off of the last point, the Celtics came into this game looking to get downhill and pressure the rim. This has been a notable shift in recent outings.

In Boston’s last five games, their rim-frequency has looked like this:

vs. Pels: 37.4%

vs. Kings: 23.9%

vs. Nuggets: 36.8%

vs. OKC: 29.8%

vs. Rockets: 30.9%

As a team, the Celtics are averaging 30.2% in rim frequency, which means in two of their last three games, they’ve added a significant amount of focus to getting downhill.

Some of those rim attempts came via actions on the wing, while others came via dribble-drive penetration or high pick-and-roll actions within the offense's flow.

Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Sam Hauser have all been struggling from deep in recent games. Adjusting the offense to pressure the defense, force rotations and/or collapses and then build in some drive-and-kick offense to generate open looks makes sense. After all, the Celtics have some of the best slashers in the league, and it’s not like Holiday can operate in the dunker spot or in the post.

Also, we can’t forget White’s ability to generate offense via floaters, which seems to be the only aspect of his shooting that is still operating at a decent level. Still, slumps happen, so I’m not out here panicking just yet.

I swear!

#3 Jaylen Brown’s Playmaking

Against the Kings, Brown had multiple possessions where the blinders went up, and he got tunnel vision. I pointed a few of those possessions out in Saturday’s article. And while I stand by the point that Brown’s struggles were part of a bigger issue within the Celtics approach during that game, it was awesome to see him bounce back with a strong performance as a passer.

Not all playmakers need to be hitting swing passes to players two or three passes away. Making the right read often means making the simplest one. Brown’s ability to put the defense on skates, create panic and generate rotations make him a strong candidate to lead a drive-and-dish-based offense. Against the Pelicans, Luke Kornet was Brown’s primary recipient.

I have no data or proof to back up my claim here, but screw it…This has got to be a top-3 or top-5 pass of Brown’s career. The flamboyance, the confidence, the timing and accuracy — I saw that pass and instantly posted it to Twitter — because it stood out as a great example of the growth he’s made in that area.

Sure, his lob pass to Kornet was nice. And he had the below wrap-around pass to Kornet, too. However, there’s something about the clip above that tells me Brown was on a mission to prove his assist numbers from earlier in the season weren’t an anomaly but rather, a sign that he’s evolving with the ball in his hands.

According to NBA Stats, Brown is third on the Celtics roster for total assists with 152. That’s 20 ahead of Jrue Holiday with 132 and 8 behind Derrick White with 160. Tatum leads the team with 192 dimes.

Here’s how Brown’s assists have been divvied out this season, per PBP Stats:

• 23 for Horford

• 18 for Holiday

• 16 for Porzingis

• 14 for Tatum

• 20 for White

• 8 for Kornet

• 14 for Queta

• 24 for Pritchard

• 2 for Tillman

• 9 for Hauser

• 3 for Walsh

• 1 for Peterson

The reason I’ve shared this breakdown is because I’ve seen a lot of discourse surrounding Brown’s ball-handling over these last few days, with multiple references to him not being a willing passer. As we can see from the above numbers, Brown has gotten everyone involved to some degree and is one of the most active in terms of assists.

Of course, if we wanted to disprove that narrative, we would need to explore other factors, such as the fact that Brown has driven 435 times this season and passed out of the drive on 148 occasions, giving him a 34% pass percentage.

We can potentially look at Brown’s overall playmaking and decision-making at a later date, which will likely be around the All-Star Break. For now, it’s felt worthwhile to point out his performance as a passer, especially as it could be argued I was critical of him over the weekend.

#4 Defending Zion Williamson

On the season, the Celtics are 9th in opponent rim rate, with opposite teams generating an average of 30.2% of their offense within four feet of the basket. Last night, the Pelicans only got to the cup on 21.3% of their offensive possessions, they shot 69.2% on those possessions.

Considering the Pelicans had Zion Williamson available and the fact that he’s the closest thing to a real-life Hulk that we’ve seen on the basketball court, the Pelicans’ inability to pressure the rim was a surprise. What I found most interesting, though, was how Williamson struggled to see his shots fall, regardless of where he took them from.

Here’s a quick glance at his matchup data from last night:

This was my favorite Horford vs. Zion moment, and while it came early in the game, it wasn’t the only impressive defensive possession. Nevertheless, I want to point out that while the matchup numbers look impressive, they don’t always tell the whole story.

Take a look at the play below. While Horford was registered as defending the shot, the presence of Porzingis helped put Zion in a tough situation.

Defense is a team stat. Matchup or no matchup, you defend as a team, whether that’s helping defense, shrinking the floor, or calling out coverages. Everyone has their role to play on that side of the floor…Still, Horford did the business on Zion, reminding everyone of the value he brings, even when he’s not making a splash on the offensive end.

With that in mind, the Celtics did a solid job of shrinking the floor on defense, especially in terms of containing drives and cuts. Limiting Zion, CJ McCollum and Dejounte Murray from pressuring the rim was an important factor heading into the game. And while Murray got it going from deep, you can live with those shots knowing that performance was an exception to the rule he’s set this season.

I’ll leave you with this defensive possession from Tatum, which occurred during some non-Zion minutes. He stepped up to a drive to help lock down the middle of the floor and give a rim protector time to roam into the paint and establish their presence.

#5 Sam Hauser’s Minutes

Here’s Hauser’s minutes over the past five games:

vs. Pelicans: 8:53

vs. Kings: 12:54

vs. Nuggets: 17:43

vs. OKC: 11:05

vs. Rockets: 19:24

When healthy, Hauser is a core part of the rotation. I usually expect him to play around 20-24 minutes per night, maybe more if someone is out or he has it going from deep.

However, Hauser has been dealing with back spasms this season, and they appear to be affecting his shooting (career lows in 3P% and 2P%) and defense and limiting his playing time on the floor.

The Celtics need Hauser to be the best version of himself if they want to be the best version of themselves. His shot-making off the bench is a core part of the overall strategy, especially when pairing him with Payton Pritchard. The gravity they pose creates a level of spacing that’s hard to replicate with other lineups.

I’m refusing to worry over Hauser’s long-term health (as it pertains to this season) but do hope that his janky minutes distribution in recent weeks is part of a scheme to keep him fresh and help him manage whatever pain or spasms he’s dealing with.

Still, on nights like last night, where it’s a gritty affair that comes down to the final couple of possessions, it’s fair to question what impact a fully healthy Hauser could have made throughout the game.

Final Thoughts

I get that one win isn’t going to turn the tide. The Celtics are firmly in the middle of a difficult situation. However, they played their asses off last night. They fought on defense, executed well on offense, won some battles in the margins and made adjustments when necessary.

If Boston can keep that level of energy and effort moving forward, it’s not hard to envision them embarking on a bit of a winning streak and getting their swagger back heading into the All-Star break. Or at least, I hope!

What were your thoughts from last night’s game? Let me know in the comments!