One play against the Chicago Bulls showed the surgical decision making behind the Celtic’s powerful offense.
The Boston Celtics are a well-oiled, autonomous machine. They finished their championship season as the #1 offense by a significant margin, with a 122.2 offensive rating. Statistically, they’ve taken a slight step back this year, sitting as the league’s #3 offense. When adjusted for strength of schedule though, they jump back up to 1st.
What makes them successful is not overly complex, but it is often the precision they execute with that leaves a defense little room for error. There is also an element of self-sufficiency — encouraged by Joe Mazzulla — that has accentuated the group’s maturity.
If you look toward the sidelines, Mazzulla isn’t constantly barking out commands. He has a good amount of plays in his bag, and knows when to call them, but he’s helped enable the team to understand the game at a level where they can organize the offense themselves.
This allows the Celtics to quickly identify mismatches, understand how to attack them, and prepare accordingly for if/when the help comes. On Saturday, the killer whale offense had Bull on the menu.
The first thing that stands out on this possession is Jaylen immediately identifying the mismatch with Coby White defending him. He heads toward the paint in anticipation of a post-up — a wise choice, considering Brown is generating an excellent 1.14 points per possession on those looks.
Payton Pritchard seems to notice this as well, giving the ball up and pointing toward Jrue Holiday, where a post entry pass would be easier to make. Kristaps Porzingis had other plans though.
Porzingis flows right into a dribble handoff with Pritchard in an attempt to generate either a switch, or a pick & pop opportunity. Dosunmu gets caught briefly on the re-screen, and the Bulls decide to switch it. Neither Celtic wastes even a moment before preparing to attack this newfound mismatch.
On the far side, Holiday has been camped out at the wing. Jrue identifies the plan of attack and can tell that his own defender is worried about the same thing. In the millisecond where his man is ball watching, he cuts to the rim. There was a small window of time where he was open and Porzingis had vision on it, but clearing out also gives the big man even more room to work with.
Arriving now at the post-up itself, Kristaps’ dream is short-lived with Vucevic creeping over to help. Porzingis has been statistically dominant as a scorer in these areas, and is also great about getting off the ball quick when help comes. Here he’s patient enough to draw a second defender, and understands right away that Pritchard would be open as a result.
With Payton spaced to the hash, Jalen Smith has an extremely large gap to close. Before he can arrive, the ball is already on its way to the corner. Jrue’s man is in a full sprint to contest, but barely gets a foot out of the paint before Horford is already well into his shooting motion.
For the Celtics, the process is just as important as the result. The reasoning behind why they do what they do is highly calculated, and opens pathways for success even during the games where the 3’s are not going down. They have options to ensure that few possessions are wasted.
If this two-game mini-series against Chicago showed anything, it’s that the more they learn about an opponent, the harder it is to stop them. When they are playing their game, they can dictate the terms of any matchup. Boston knows what they’re looking for, and stay one step ahead for when an adjustment comes.