Joe Mazzulla and the Boston Celtics’ detail-oriented approach to floor spacing.
The concept of spacing is not particularly flashy. Nobody prefers a well-spaced possession over the excitement of a posterizing dunk or a no-look pass. Well.. there might be one person that does.
One down, three to go
Have a listen to Joe Mazzulla mic’d up in Game 1 pic.twitter.com/vVHikrMe9F
— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) June 9, 2024
Floor balance and spacing are core principles behind Joe Mazzulla’s offensive philosophy. Any time we get a mic’d up glimpse at a Celtics huddle, he’s typically praising or hammering home the value of great spacing.
Under Mazzulla’s watch, Boston has developed into arguably the most detail-oriented team in the Association. They know exactly where they’re supposed to be, but they seem to also grasp the why and when of the equation.
There are the basic styles of spacing, like the 5-out or the 4-out, 1-in that the Celtics utilize in different ways. Digging deeper than that though, there are factors like how quickly a team can get to their spacing to start a possession, how much room players maintain between each other, or knowing when to sink to the corner or cut on drives.
Boston’s spacing allows them to stretch out a defense to its further extent, and like a rubber band when you pull far enough, it’s going to snap. Cleveland, like most teams, has a weakness to their defense. When Boston’s killer whale offense catches a whiff of a seal, that weakness becomes impossible to hide.
Darius Garland was a major target for the Celtics’ offensive game plan on Tuesday night, and this possession early in the 1st quarter is a big reason why:
On his own, Garland is going to struggle with the size and physicality advantage that a player like Jaylen Brown has over him. Boston knows that, and the Cavs do, too. Their options are to either live with Garland 1-on-1 vs. Brown (bad idea), or to send help (bad idea). Cleveland picked option #2, and hoped their defense could cover enough ground in rotation.
In help scenarios like this, defenses usually try to zone-up by having one player positioned between two shooters so that they can rotate to both depending on where the pass is headed. The problem with that is that Boston always maintains proper spacing with someone deep in the corner, while another stays on the wing. You can see Sam Merrill attempt to split the difference, but Brown does a good job leading him toward the corner before firing it to DWhite.
Once the pass reaches its target, Merrill and Mobley each make an effort to rotate to the shooter, but the damage is done. The ball is not in White’s hands for half a second before being redirected to a wide open Jrue Holiday, who shot over 60% from that exact spot last season.
Playing zone against the Celtics is a pretty useless experiment, but with the game quickly slipping away, the Cavs gave it a shot.
The screen from Neemias Queta puts stress on the two defenders at the top of the zone, leaving Donovan Mitchell in a position where he has to cover a large segment of the floor. With Payton Pritchard spaced to the hash mark, and Sam Hauser deep in the corner, there is roughly 28 feet between them.
Mitchell alone is not fast enough to cover that much ground; he does a decent job closing out, but Pritchard hardly notices the contest. Cleveland did not try the zone again after this.
With Horford as the lone big, they are able open up the floor with his matchup pulled out to the perimeter. This often results in a devastating 5-out, but we’ve seen them opt to put guards in the dunker spot with great results, too. This possession shows the end result of the Celtics being able to manipulate the rim protection to their advantage:
They have forced Jarrett Allen to come beyond the 3PT arc to defend the PnR, while also creating a situation where Garland has to be the last line of defense. Horford gets a step on Allen, and Garland slides over for a halfhearted charge attempt. This causes Sam Merrill to pick up Derrick White, leaving his own man wide open again in the corner. Mitchell tries to rotate but couldn’t possibly get there in time. Even if he had, that’s a swing pass from Holiday to an unguarded Jayson Tatum.
This is one of the reasons Boston can play this way so effectively: their roster has eliminated the defense’s ability to make strategic help decisions. There is no correct choice between rotating to one of the Celtics’ elite perimeter weapons.
Another key to the Celtics approach is getting to their spacing quickly, especially in transition.
After the block from White, Tatum pushes the ball up the floor. There are two white jerseys ahead of him, so he slows down to assess. Meanwhile, Horford has navigated directly to the corner and Derrick has made it back into the play before Garland. This puts Mitchell in another situation where he’s caught between two shooters, and it ends with a pass to Horford who laces the 3.
They have a great feel as well for when to swing the ball vs. just taking the shot as the defense rotates.
The funny thing about this possession is that you can see Pritchard pointing for Jaylen to kick the ball to Horford. On the surface, this seems like a great display of unselfishness. What Pritchard really spots is a defender that’ll be forced to rotate to Horford, leaving himself wide open — this is emphasized by the brief wipe of the hands on his shorts as the ball is headed to Horford.
The defender elects to stay with Pritchard instead, and he can only watch as a fourth Horford 3 sails through the net. This comes back again to the point about defenses not having much of a choice in rotation. Pick your poison, as they say.
A minute later, Payton brings the ball up quickly in transition and he draws the attention of two defenders. Pritchard wisely passes it to Jaylen, giving him the advantage as Niang closes out.
Take a look at White and Hauser. Both have planted themselves in the corners with 19 seconds on the shot clock. Getting to their spacing so early gives Cleveland no time to set up their defense, and Ty Jerome becomes the only source of rim protection on a Jaylen Brown drive. That play ended with a layup, as it should have, but you can see just how open it leaves Hauser.
Boston identifies a defense’s pressure points and continue to poke at them. They have the versatility to find a mismatch or advantage over most teams. Whether they’re attacking a switch off the dribble, or in the paint, teams are eventually forced to send help. The moment they’ve put a team into scramble mode, their elite spacing leads to an avalanche of open shots.
Mazzulla and the Celtics have cemented themselves as one of the NBA’s most effective and efficient offenses. What they do is not overly complex, but the simplicity and attention to detail is not so easily replicated.