For the primary time all season, we’re seeing the model of the Celtics everybody has been ready for. Up to now, so good.
That was the primary impression when Jayson Tatum stepped again on the ground after almost 10 months away. After Sunday’s win in opposition to Cleveland, Joe Mazzulla mentioned Tatum “gave the sport precisely what it wanted,” praising the ahead’s rebounding and defensive possessions in his second sport again.
In opposition to Dallas, he seemed like a star reacquainting himself with the tempo of actual basketball once more — a couple of missed photographs, a bunch of flashes, however the unmistakable sense that the engine was warming up. Two days later for the Cleveland matinee, the Celtics’ ecosystem seemed much more cohesive with Tatum inside it.
Other than the current damage to Nikola Vučević thinning the frontcourt a bit, that is the closest Boston has seemed to the model of itself it spent the entire season ready to see.
The subsequent stretch of the Celtics’ schedule is the place the true questions start. The primary two video games have had sturdy rom-com opening power: every part’s working, everybody’s smiling, and Tatum seems like the right man to convey dwelling to Mother and Dad.
However right here come the Spurs and Thunder to complicate the plot. The Celtics go to San Antonio immediately at 8 p.m. ET, adopted by a visit to Oklahoma Metropolis on Thursday night time at 9:30 p.m. ET.
San Antonio and Oklahoma Metropolis are two of probably the most fascinating groups within the league proper now, constructed round gamers who bend the form of the sport in utterly alternative ways. One has a 7-foot-4 defensive cheat code who can erase errors that almost all defenses merely must stay with. The opposite orchestrates the type of organized chaos that turns plenty of opponent possessions into turnovers and straightforward factors the opposite approach.
In different phrases, the Celtics are about to search out out what the absolutely assembled model of this group really seems like in opposition to the true contenders this season. If the Mavs and Cavs had been the gentle opening, then the Spurs and Thunder are the stress check to observe.
The Victor Wembanyama Downside
The Spurs don’t defend the best way most groups defend. Then once more, most groups don’t have Victor Wembanyama.
Most defenses attempt to cease the primary motion, however San Antonio is comfy letting performs unfold as a result of lurking someplace behind all of it is Him. Wembanyama doesn’t all the time guard the opposite group’s star immediately. In truth, the Spurs usually desire the alternative. They let him roam. Float. Wait for somebody to suppose they’ve crushed the protection earlier than out of the blue showing on the rim to erase the error.
The Celtics have already seen firsthand how onerous that may be to beat.
Within the third quarter of the Celtics’ first matchup in opposition to San Antonio, Wembanyama fueled an 11–2 Spurs run that flipped the sport. Later within the fourth, a closing double-big lineup with him and Luke Kornet helped wall off the paint. Boston couldn’t rally as San Antonio held on for a 100–95 win.
This time round, Boston’s reply can’t simply be hoping Wembanyama misses simply sufficient rotations defensively to value the Spurs. Luckily, the Celtics have an outdated, but new, device in Tatum.
That is precisely the type of matchup the place his two-way sport is felt most. If San Antonio needs Wembanyama lurking within the paint, Tatum is the Celtic most outfitted to punish that with out forcing the difficulty. He can display screen, slip out of actions, make the additional go earlier than the assistance absolutely arrives, and assault the second line of the protection as a substitute of charging blindly into the primary. Most gamers see Wembanyama and velocity up. Tatum tends to get comfy and make the precise learn.
Brown issues too, however for various causes. Boston nonetheless wants somebody prepared to problem the paint even when the assistance protection is loading up. Brown’s first step can bend the Spurs protection, however selecting the correct moments to bend it will likely be key, particularly with De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Fortress making use of ball stress that may rapidly flip errors into transition the opposite approach.
In a well-known position, Derrick White turns into the connective tissue right here. In opposition to an aggressive, blitzing protection, his capability to make the right learn in opposition to his former group turns into enormous: a fast swing go, a again minimize, a drive earlier than the protection has absolutely loaded up. The type of quietly glorious Derrick White performs Celtics followers are used to might be wanted for Boston to maintain issues shut.
Boston’s entrance court docket may have its palms full, within the understatement of the season. Queta and Garza will probably see loads of the Wembanyama matchup, however the Celtics confirmed within the first assembly that they’re prepared to get bizarre. Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh each spent loads of time guarding Wemby in January, and it might not be shocking to see Joe Mazzulla attain for these sorts of do-it-all defenders once more.
Wembanyama is the headline on this matchup, however the items round him are an equal a part of the success San Antonio has had this season. Fox brings downhill velocity. Fortress provides one other regular ball handler. Devin Vassell punishes late assist.
Boston doesn’t want an ideal sport to beat San Antonio, however it is going to want a disciplined one. Additionally, the Spurs have a brand new postgame drum celebration this season. It’s type of superior, it’s positively intimidating, and I’d desire the Celtics not be the rationale they get to do it tomorrow night time.
The Celtics haven’t seen Oklahoma Metropolis but this season, which is actually a part of the intrigue for the reason that Thunder are the type of group that’s simpler to grasp after you’ve really skilled them as soon as.
Watching them on TV, the defending champs look younger, quick, and very organized. For opponents, the view up shut is harsher. All the things strikes half a second quicker than anticipated, and each possession calls for an additional resolution you didn’t suppose you’d must make.
Quite a lot of the motion begins and ends with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
SGA performs extra affected person than quick. He dribbles into area, waits for a defender to lean the mistaken course, then slides previous them like he’s discovered a seam no one else can see. Most defenses handle to comprise the primary transfer effectively sufficient.
However Oklahoma Metropolis builds their offense round what occurs after that.
As soon as Shai will get a defender leaning, the remainder of the Thunder offense is already in movement. Chet Holmgren slides into area for a pick-and-pop. Jalen Williams cuts by way of the lane. Abruptly the weakside nook feels just a bit too distant to get well to.
And if the possession stalls, Holmgren continues to be standing there as a 7-foot bailout possibility who can both shoot excessive of a closing defender or put the ball on the ground for one dribble and end.
Boston may have solutions for a few of that. Derrick White, Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, and Baylor Scheierman are all legit defenders, adept at staying hooked up to slippery scorers like Shai. The Celtics have constructed their total defensive identification this season round making elite gamers work by way of a number of defenders.
However the Thunder are constructed to emphasize precisely that type of system.
Lu Dort may spend many of the night time hooked up to Jayson Tatum, which may put on on the not too long ago returned famous person. Dort has constructed a repute for making life depressing for opposing stars, turning each dribble right into a small struggle. When you watched the Thunder-Nuggets sport final week and final night time, you noticed how far that depth can go when a dust-up with Nikola Jokić resulted in a flagrant two for Dort and a pair of loopy eyes from Jokic.
The Thunder thrive when possessions get frantic, whereas Boston often wins when the sport slows down and the ball retains shifting. One thing must give. The forged behind Tatum will play a giant position in dictating which group is the one giving.
Jaylen Brown is the Celtic most able to disrupting Oklahoma Metropolis’s defensive rhythm. When the Thunder ship aggressive point-of-attack stress — one thing Dort, Cason Wallace, and Alex Caruso all excel at — Brown’s capability to assault the second layer of the protection turns into essential. If he will get downhill earlier than the Thunder can load up their assist, Boston forces Holmgren into fixed selections on the rim as a substitute of letting him sit comfortably as a shot blocker.
Photograph by Joshua Gateley/Getty Photos
Derrick White operates otherwise however is simply as vital to the offense. Oklahoma Metropolis’s protection depends closely on rotations and fast recoveries, and White is without doubt one of the few guards within the league who constantly punishes that type of system with early reads. A swing go earlier than the entice arrives. A fast drive when the defender is leaning the mistaken course. These little half-second benefits are how groups forestall the Thunder from turning possessions into chaos.
After which there’s Payton Pritchard, whose sport really matches up surprisingly effectively in opposition to this type of protection. Oklahoma Metropolis loves shrinking the ground and sending assist from surprising angles. Pritchard’s deep capturing vary forces defenders to stretch that protection farther than they’d like. If the Thunder overcommit to Shai’s defensive stress or begin flying round Boston’s actions, Pritchard is precisely the kind of guard who can punish it with fast pull-ups or blow-bys that instantly give Boston benefits.
The actual problem for Boston’s offense gained’t simply be dealing with Oklahoma Metropolis’s preliminary stress. They’ll must maintain possessions organized earlier than the Thunder can flip them into the type of scramble they thrive in.
Oklahoma Metropolis might be a fantastic check to see whether or not this new/outdated model of Boston can keep complete when the sport begins shifting quicker than they’re used to.
Time to search out out if “complete” is nice sufficient
It’s been an extremely enjoyable season, however the ceiling of this Celtics group has principally existed as a hypothetical.
What would this group seem like as soon as Jayson Tatum returned? Would Jaylen Brown’s breakout season proceed with Tatum alongside him once more? Would the depth that carried Boston by way of the winter maintain up in opposition to the league’s greatest groups?
Now these questions are about to get actual solutions.
San Antonio brings the league’s strangest defensive weapon. Oklahoma Metropolis brings one of the crucial full groups in basketball. And Boston lastly will get to see what its full roster seems like in opposition to each.
The Celtics look complete once more. The subsequent two video games will inform us what that really means.
