Joe Mazzulla and Ime Udoka, former colleagues on the Celtics’ coaching staff, now lead the teams with similar defensive schemes. Their shared history and coaching philosophies were evident in this game, with both adapting their strategies to fit their current rosters.
#1 – Joe Mazzulla vs. Ime Udoka
As the game started, my focus was on the two coaching staffs. Ime Udoka, the former Celtics coach, was facing his former assistant, Joe Mazzulla. Both are now at the top of their respective conferences. Both are playing with different playstyles that highlight their strengths and try to hide their weaknesses.
While the Celtics are dominating because of their stellar offense, the Rockets are winning their games on the defensive end. Yet, there are some similarities in their game plans. Both the Celtics and the Rockets are trying to keep their center close to the rim—like the 2022 Celtics did with Robert Williams—back when both Ime and Joe were on the coaching staff.
Even more interesting is that, back in 2022, this defensive style that brought the Celtics to the NBA Finals was Joe Mazzulla’s idea. Malcolm Brogdon at least said so.
A few years later, both Ime Udoka and Joe Mazzulla are using a similar defensive strategy with Alperen Sengun and Kristaps Porziņģis.
#2 – Boston attacking Houston defensive strategy
As Joe Mazzulla was (apparently) behind this defensive style, he has the blueprint to disrupt it too. As Ime Udoka puts Sengun on Jrue Holiday, Joe Mazzulla knew how to react to punish this strategy. First, he can ask Jrue Holiday to drive on the big man:
He also multiplied the off-ball screens to force Sengun to get lost a little bit. By creating a mismatch for Kristaps Porziņģis on Fred VanVleet, the Celtics forced Sengun to switch off-ball and leave Derrick White open for a minute—chess, not checkers:
Another way to create problems for the Houston defensive strategy is to use the Sengun matchup as a screener. This forces Sengun to leave the paint, and he is not a great defensive player. Plus, this opens the rim behind him.
Safe to say Joe Mazzulla was ready to counter his own defensive strategy.
#3 – Zone defense for the Celtics
The tactical battle doesn’t stop here. Joe Mazzulla was ready offensively but also defensively. To start the game, Joe Mazzulla set up a 3-2 zone to put pressure on the ball handlers and force the Rockets to take mid-range shots.
As Ime Udoka probably prepared a game plan to attack Porziņģis’s roaming role, the Rockets found themselves facing a zone where they couldn’t really force the Celtics’ big man to leave the paint. Yet, they had another great tool to attack the Celtics’ defense: Alperen Sengun.
#4 – Alperen Sengun hot early
As the Celtics were in zone defense to start possession, the Rockets could attack from the side post-up—and they have the adequate player for that. With the Turkish big man, the Rockets put a lot of pressure on Porziņģis, who struggled against these types of players.
No shame in that, Sengun is a great post-up player who can make tough shots, use his handle, and lower center of gravity to punish slower or taller big men.
After only 4 minutes, Sengun had scored 8 points, and Porziņģis had already made 2 fouls. This is where a new Joe Mazzulla adjustment arrived.
#5 – Luke Kornet, Sengun-stopper
I tracked every attempt from Sengun while defended by Kornet… and the Turkish big man only made 1 out of his 9 attempts against the Celtics’ reserve big man. Meaning he was 5 out of 6 on all his other attempts.
Kornet’s strong frame was more difficult to post up against for Sengun, and the size advantage remained the same with Kornet as it did with Porziņģis. Therefore, the Celtics could keep on using the same strategy to keep a big man close to the rim and concede the Sengun post-up every once in a while. But, one big man wasn’t enough for Joe Mazzulla.
#6 – Double big lineups to start the 2nd half
The problem the Rockets have that the Celtics don’t in this tactical battle is spacing. The Rockets are 29th in eFG% this season, and make up for that by being a team that wins the possession battle. Indeed, they are 1st in offensive rebound rate and 6th in turnover rate.
To counter that, the Celtics decided to start the second half with two big men. This creates an even bigger spacing problem for the Rockets, as there are two giants in the paint—plus the rebounding becomes even harder to get. Their offensive rebound rate dropped from 42% to 30% in the second half thanks to that adjustment.
Even crazier, the Celtics were able to have a better offensive rebound rate than the Rockets and limit their turnovers enough to also dominate the possession battle. A complete domination from Joe Mazzulla on the tactical side. Of course, Joe Mazzulla has better tools than Ime Udoka, but he left him no chance.
#7 – Payton Pritchard’s game evolution
Enough with the coaching adjustments; let’s talk about players. One that stood out to me was Payton Pritchard. He played closer to the rim with 4 attempts at the basket and used his speed and handle to drive in a crowded paint.
I think it would be great if Pritchard started driving again at a higher rate this season. Last season, he drove 6 times per game for 22 minutes. This season, the drive volume is down to 4.5 per game with 29 minutes on the floor. Yet, he is very efficient in this situation, generating 2.2 points per 1.5 shot attempts and almost never losing the ball in these situations.
Let’s keep an eye on that—Pritchard’s driving game could help him climb even higher in the Celtics’ rotation. His passing has also been growing lately. As we see in the graph below, his 10-game rolling average on the playmaking ratio from cleaningtheglass.com has stepped up lately.
Could this also be a new layer to his game? Last night, two of his best passes generated free throws…
So it doesn’t appear on the boxscore, but it feels more and more like Payton Pritchard’s passing game is taking another step.
#8 – Derrick White playing like an all-star
Over the last two games with Jaylen Brown sidelined, Derrick White has shined and played like an all-star. With 49 points, 4 assists, and 4 blocks on 66 True Shooting %, Derrick White has delivered again.
After a rough stretch with his shooting, he doesn’t seem bothered and keeps on shooting these pull-ups and catch-and-shoots. He is really great for the Celtics, as they have other players besides Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to attack mismatches. The entire starting five can do it, and Derrick White showed it last night, as did Jrue Holiday.
#9 – Jrue Holiday, more than a guard, more than a big man
Holiday definitely played like a modern big man last night, mixing up catch-and-shoot threes with post-up moves. He also disrupted the Rockets’ defense with hard screens to generate mismatches and force switches.
What really impressed me was his ability to attack Sengun on the post-up, forcing the big man to concede space and then score over him—like a strong center. However, he is not a big man, so he can also push the pace in transition to find his teammates.
This is why the Celtics are hard to scheme against: one player can play multiple roles and shift into a new skin if needed.
#10 – Pindown actions for Kristaps Porziņģis
Out of the usual starting five, it was Porziņģis who had a rough game, on both ends of the floor. The Celtics’ big man was targeted early by Sengun, as mentioned before, and couldn’t find an easy post-up position against the tough Rockets.
To adapt and help Porziņģis, the Celtics ran a couple of pindown actions to give him the ball in the paint while defended by Fred VanVleet. This helped him get into his game with a few free throws and opened things up for the rest of the team.
Yes, Porziņģis is a mismatch killer on the post-up, but he needs to be put in the right situation. The Celtics noticed early in the game that this wasn’t the case and adapted well. A great tactical game from the Celtics’ coaching staff.