The Morning After: Celtics Maul Warriors In 40-Point Humbling

The Boston Celtics set the tone for the rest of their West Coast swing.

What a way to bounce back.

What a way to send a message to the rest of the league.

Beating the Warriors is one thing. Doing it by a 40-point margin is another. Sure, this isn’t the Golden State team that dominated the NBA during a historic run. And sure, they didn’t have Draymond Green out on the floor. Still, they stuck to the blueprint that gave them success earlier this season.

Yet, unlike last time, the Celtics took that blueprint, ripped it into hundreds of tiny pieces, and threw it in the air to re-create the Sixers confetti moment.

I don’t know about you, but I came away from this game looking like this:

Before we dive into some observations and takeaways from last night’s game, I wanted to plug today’s YouTube video. I’ve been working super hard to up the production value on these, and we’re starting to see some growth! If you haven’t yet, tune in and subscribe! I’m chasing monetization over there as I continue to rebuild.

With that out of the way, let’s dive into last night’s game!

#1 Empty Side Actions

If you’ve been tuning into this newsletter for more than the last week, then you would have seen me referencing the Warriors’ defensive blueprint against the Celtics. That was the first time (this season) we saw a team pick the Celtics up at the logo and send high traps out of the PnR. It also led to teams finding ways to consistently rattle Boston on the perimeter. Oh, and if you haven’t been here for more than a week, then WELCOME :)

Well, to nobody’s surprise, Golden State looked to rattle the Celtics early, junking things up and being an all-around pain in the ass in the passing lanes. Rather than leaving the Celtics to try and figure things out on their own, Mazzulla was quick to implement a slight adjustment, and from there, the Warriors’ high-pressure defense became far less of a threat.

Last season, empty-side actions were a core part of the Celtics' strategy for limiting traps during early offense. By removing a player from the corner, you’re also removing a defender. When you run screening actions on that empty side, teams have to send help from elsewhere. So, not only is there additional room for the ball-handler and roll man to attack, it’s also harder for teams to send help when a big rolls or slips the screen.

While the above clip doesn’t end in a bucket, it serves as a good visualization of why empty-side actions can help relieve some of the pressure a high-intensity defense aims to create.

The possession begins with Horford in the corner — which is solid, considering he’s knocking down corner 3s at a 40% clip from there. However, when he comes up to set the screen, he creates an empty-side action with no help defender in the strong side corner.

Notice how Horford sets his screen with his back to the weakside baseline. This gives White a lot of space if he rejects the screen (which he does) and could give him room to turn the corner if his first step generates enough separation.

Steph Curry does a great job of denying the ball screen — which is something the Warriors excel at as a unit — so White spins off his man and drives into the space created by the empty-side action. Watch how both defenders look to go with White before realizing that would force a weakside rotation. As such, Curry is forced to switch to Horford, with Looney sticking with White.

By making this simple adjustment, the Celtics eased some of the pressure Golden State was trying to apply and created multiple high-level scoring opportunities. It was the first move on Mazzulla’s chess board and set things up quite nicely.