Tatum Leads the Charge: 3 Key Takeaways from Celtics’ Win Over Blazers
And who said 3 was the magic number...?
Celtics 129, Trail Blazers 116
Jrue Holiday, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis all missed last night’s game due to injury.
Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Al Horford all stepped into the starting lineup.
This was Pritchard’s first start of the season.
Baylor Scheierman produced another impressive performance off the bench.
He’s playing at his own pace and looks way more comfortable on an NBA court than he did to begin the season.
His passing — which, along with his rebounding, is an underrated aspect of his game — appeared to impress a large portion of the fanbase.
More on this in a minute, but I really enjoyed mid-range Tatum.
The Tatum pick-and-roll was cooking, but what else is new?
His two-man game with Horford was back on full display. We looked at that PnR duo after the Thunder game, so there's no need to dive deep here.
This wasn’t really a playbook game, as the Trail Blazers like to muck things up and get into the ball. Was a fun tempo, though, and the Blazers are a fun watch.
Luke Kornet was his usual self
Lot’s of talk over his long-term future recently. In truth, he’s earned a bigger contract. After taking a discount for this season, I doubt he will do it again during the summer. Boston will either need to pay him or waive goodbye.
I really hope they pay him.
Of course, who can forget Sam Hauser and his eight-trey night?
With this win, the Celtics are now tied for the best road record in the NBA, tying the Thunder with 28 wins and 7 losses. This is also the Celtics’ second five-game win streak of the month and their fourth of the season (h/t John Karalis).
I thought we learned quite a bit about the Celtics bench guys, especially on the defensive end as they were forced to deal with Portland’s physicality and pace in transition.
The Takeaways
☘️Let’s start with the Tatum mid-range game.
This was Tatum’s shot chart from the Trail Blazers game. Clearly, he didn’t have it going from deep. However, in the absence of Porzingis, Tatum took it upon himself to work out of the post, either by ducking in after setting a screen or cutting off a screen to attack a mismatch.
When Tatum is switched onto a big, especially a slow-footed one like Donovan Clingan, he’s always going to have the advantage. However, if he’s not attacking that big off the bounce, it’s nice to know he can still find ways to create space and attack the mismatch
In this action, Tatum has the rock at the nail. Clingan is bodying up, so Tatum can’t go to work on the face-up. A pound dribble toward the elbow, followed by an escape dribble for the stepback, creates just enough space to hit the fallaway.
Maybe it’s the millennial in me, but I’m fine with Tatum taking these types of middies as long as they’re within the flow of the game and the shot profile makes sense.
Even when Tatum is trying to navigate to his spot, he always has the Dirk-esque one-footed fadeaway in his bag as a counter. That shot is money, especially in terms of getting it off — even more so against a young and inexperienced defense.
Talking of counters, check out this stop’N’pop fadeaway off a drive.
Watch as the defense pinches around the low block. Tatum’s drive has nowhere to go. Rather than picking up his dribble, looking to make a pass with around 10 seconds left of the shot clock, Tatum flows into his one-legged fadeaway to counter the defense.
Here’s a fun fact. That leg kick you see from Tatum was taken from Kobe Bryant. Back in the day, when Kobe was looking to find ways to improve his game, he studied how cheetahs had exceptional balance and hangtime due to how their tails gave them balance.
Kobe used his leg to mimic the cheetah’s tail, aiming to get more stability on his fadeaway, thus providing a clearer line of sight to the basket. Tatum has clearly studied Kobe’s body positioning on these shots and has got the body mechanics down pat.
For more info on Kobe’s exploration into the animal kingdom in search of improving his game, I wrote the script for this video, detailing why his fadeaway was such a weapon.
When Tatum leans into being a three-level scorer, he’s unstoppable. He’s become elite at knowing how and where to pick his spots. If he gets a big pulled up high on the floor, he’s cracking them off the bounce and getting to the rim. If you go under or get caught on a screen, he’s pulling up from deep. And, if you do everything right, he will eat the space in the middle of the floor and do what he did last night.
I thought this was a fun Tatum game. He was in his Kevin Durant x Kobe Bryant bag, and I was here for it.
☘️Baylor Scheierman Keeps Impressing
Earlier this season, I had Drew Peterson earning a spot on the roster ahead of the playoffs. He was getting some burn when the Celtics were short-handed and held his own during those minutes.
However, while Peterson was getting his chance, Scheierman, who is already on a full-scale deal, was putting in the hard yards down in Maine.
Now, it would appear Scheierman has leapfrogged Peterson and Jordan Walsh to become Mazzulla’s most trusted non-primary rotation guy. I can’t blame Joe either, Scheierman is showing far more versatility and appears to be the more complete of the three.
As a side note, if you missed my scouting report of Scheierman, now might be a good time to give it a peruse, as he’s showcasing a lot of the upside that I looked at in there.
Adam Taylor
We know that Baylor can hit the three. It’s been inconsistent at times, but over the past couple of weeks, we’re starting to see the shot fall. However, another aspect of his perimeter game is his ability to attack close-outs off the bounce.
Scheierman isn’t a single-skill offensive player. He can cook off the dribble, either as a self-creator, shot-creator or facilitator. That’s why I liked seeing the below action.
Scheierman’s patience to wait for his defender to leave his feet put him a good position on this clip. Once his defender is committed, he drives the lane, engaging the big and forcing some help out of the strongside corner.
Rather than trying to force the shot, as you could expect from a rookie looking to impress, Scheierman makes the right read, finding Hauser on the corner for the C&S three.
Scheierman’s biggest flaw right now is his defense. He doesn’t have the foot speed or initial burst to stay connected when guarding the point of attack. That same lack of burst hinders his overall effectiveness as a help defender, too.
The hope is that he can learn to control angles and read the game well enough that he figures out ways to mitigate those shortcomings.
That’s why the clip below is encouraging for me. There’s a world where Scheierman can be a cross-matching weapon, especially if he learns how to funnel ball-handlers toward where he wants them to go.
Notice how Scheierman is matched up with Clingan to begin this possession. You don’t have to worry about the rookie being beaten in a foot race when his matchup is the slowest guy on the floor.
Of course, the upside to cross-matching Scheierman is that most of the time, when he gets switched onto a ball-handler, he’s going to have a legitimate size advantage. BUT, this is where the need to control angles and funnel comes into play.
Scheierman is going to be at a disadvantage when trying to guard primary ball handlers on the perimeter, especially if he’s being tasked with doing it in space. If he can learn how to funnel them toward wing defenders and how to make them go ‘weak’ (weaker hand), he has a shot at being a viable system defender.
Of course, when he’s not cross-matching, he will likely be in the weak corner, which means he will need to prove himself as teams begin to hunt him. I have faith.
There’s a lot of talk right now about whether Scheierman is a potential replacement for Sam Hauser. While I understand the financial part of this discussion, I still think expecting Scheierman to be a like-for-like replacement is unfair — on both players.
☘️Ok, I’ll talk about Luke Kornet some more. I’ll focus on his passing today
Let’s start with the pass in the clip above. Why? Because it was beautiful. If this were the 90s, it would be the pin-up poster of passes. Well, at least from this game.
Kornet has become so, so good at operating as a connective tissue for this Celtics team. Whether it’s his quick decision-making, smart screening, or simply making a good read at pace, he’s got you covered.
How many other non-shooting starting bigs are making this read at this pace, with this level of precision? And out of the small pool of players, how many are on minimum deals?
That’s why things could get complicated as the Celtics try to keep him around beyond the current season. I hope he stays. He’s been integral this year. A super important part of the rotation.
Here’s another great read from Kornet.
The Celtics run a basic zoom action,1 which Kornet slips upon initiating the hand-off. White finds him on the high entry pass. The Trail Blazers do a great job of crowing him on the catch, so, as soon as Kornet’s feet touch the ground, he fires a pass to Hauser in the corner.
Once again, the Blazers got caught helping off Hauser, and once again, they got smoked because of it.
Kornet had a bunch of strong moments in this game. To be honest, it’s par for the course at this point.
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Game Awards
🏆 Game-Changer: Sam Hauser wins today’s game-changer award. This was the second time in the last seven games that he dropped eight or more threes in a game. He also shone on defense, especially when sliding over to operate as a defacto big man for small stretches. It’s been a rollercoaster season for Hauser, so it’s nice to see him have these confidence-boosting moments.
Under the Radar: 🥷 Torrey Craig played well in his 11th outing for the Celtics. He’s not going to take over a game anytime soon, but his sneaky athleticism makes him a valuable defender, especially when he’s jumping gaps or contesting shots. He managed to get one of his threes to fall, and we saw him attack his man with a drive out of the corner. Not bad for the newest member of the roster.
Something worth noting ✍️: We got a JD Davison sighting last night. His minutes were likely a result of Pritchard getting into foul trouble — however, Holiday’s absence may have forced Mazzulla’s hand with or without Pritchard picking up three quick ones.
Davison still feels like he plays too fast for his own good. Sometimes, I wonder how he’s supposed to consistently make the right read when he’s always moving at 100mph. That might work in the G-League, but against an NBA defense, they’re going to bait, hook and reel you in every single time.
Up Next
🔎 The Celtics face the Sacramento Kings tonight (Monday, March 24) on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Kings are 2-5 over the last two weeks. They rank 20th in the NBA for NetRating over the span, losing games by an average of 12 points.
🔎 Over the past 14 days, the Kings are dead last in defensive rating, allowing 129.6 points per 100 possessions. They’re 22nd on the season, per NBA Stats.
🔎 Expect the Kings to attack Boston if they run a drop defense.
Sacramento is 1st in the NBA for mid-range shot frequency, with it accounting for 38.5% of the team’s overall shot diet.
They’re 29th in rim frequency, attacking the cup on just 25.4% of their offensive possessions.
They’re also not too hot on attacking from deep, with 3s accounting for 36.1% of their offense.
🔎 HOWEVER, they do finish at the rim with efficiency, sitting 4th in the league for FG% within four feet of the cup — they convert at a 70% clip. The issue is that they simply don’t get to the rim often enough for their high conversion rate to matter; furthermore, their low attempts likely skew the numbers a little.
In terms of the mid-range, they’re just as successful as they are frequent. Expect a ton of middies, and expect them to drop. The Kings are 3rd in the league for FG% from mid-range…And they shoot 45.1% between the free-throw line extended and the three-point line.
🔎 Something for the Celtics to watch out for: The Kings will run a lot of offense through Domantas Sabonis, with the majority of his creation coming via hand-offs and dribble hand-offs.
The Celtics are one of the worst teams in the NBA when it comes to defending hand-off actions. They’re allowing teams to score on 42.9% of offensive possessions that are initiated via a DHO or hand-off of some sort. That ranks them 25th in the NBA, surrounded by the Detroit Pistons (24th) and Indiana Pacers (26th)
Without De’Aaron Fox, the Kings are a weaker team when attacking out of DHO’s. Fox’s speed provided instant rim pressure and created kick-out opportunities at will.
However, Zach LaVine is now a slouch. Neither is DeMar DeRozan, so this should be a fun area to watch throughout the game.
After a couple of good seasons under Mike Brown, the Kings decided to become the Kangz once again. They’re struggling right now. Boston should be able to roll up into the Golden 1 Center, take care of business, ensure the beam isn’t lit (do they still do that?) and make it 6 games without defeat. At least, I hope that’s what happens…
A pin-down (usually for a shooter in the corner) into a dribble hand-off (usually around the top of the perimeter) ↩