The Boston Celtics Are Taking Advantage of Nikola Mirotic
Nikola Mirotic has been a key to Boston’s success in these last two games
When Brad Stevens decided to insert Gerald Green into the starting lineup, he made his biggest commitment to playing small ball yet. Stevens needed to get the Boston Celtics playing to their strengths, while pushing the Chicago Bulls out of their comfort zone and exploiting a clear weakness in their starting unit.
The Celtics overwhlmed the Bulls with their undersized lineups, forcing Robin Lopez to the bench more than usual and keeping him away from blowing things up on the boards. The Celtics imposed their will on the Bulls, and one of the main reasons the Bulls have not been able to counter the small ball lineups is their stretch four Nikola Mirotic.
The great danger of playing so small is having too many undersized defenders on the court, and the power forward position is the biggest concern for the small Celtics. Al Horford has moved over to the five so the issue is not there. With Jae Crowder often busy with Jimmy Butler, Green, a shooting guard, is tasked with covering a 6’10 foot power forward, which is the kind of size mismatch that has prevented the Celtics from going small all the time.
For once in his career, Mirotic’s versatility is hurting the Bulls, because the three point line is exactly where the Celtics need him to be. The Celtics do not need to fear Green being pushed around on the inside and they don’t have to fear the Bulls constantly attacking the size mismatch, because closing it is all he needs to focus on, and he has better mobility that any big on the Celtics. Offense is the primary reason Green is starting, but that speed on the perimeter is key to their defense.
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The Celtics are undersized, but having the opposing power forward play like a wing player makes it feel as though they are not undersized. The Celtics are embracing their strengths, because they realized the Bulls cannot exploit the weakness it creates. The Celtics feel comfortable with their matchups at every other position, and they have isolated their biggest weakness and made sure that it has the least threatening assignment.
The Celtics are forcing the Bulls away from their strengths. Mirotic is a legitimate threat from three point range, but he forces a lot of shots and is miserably inconsistent. The Celtics have done a good job of closing out, but the comfort they have with Mirotic taking shots allows the Celtics to help on the players that pose a real threat on a consistent basis.
The Celtics get to better prioritize where they will be helping, and that has made things a lot more difficult on Butler and Wade. Horford has disrupted Butler multiple times after he gets past his first defender, and that would not be possible if Horford had any reason to defend further outside the paint.
The Bulls will certainly battle and find a way to get back to their strengths, but unless Mirotic starts hitting every shot he takes, or develops a miraculous post game, they are playing right into what the Celtics need, and they may not have the roster to fix this issue.
Rajon Rondo is a massive part of this, because the biggest difference for the Bulls in these last two games is everything has been much harder on them. They are getting no easy looks, and the area the Celtics are leaving them to attack is with Mirotic, and he has done nothing to suggest that he can steal a game in this series.
The small ball battle will be huge in the rest of this series. It is hard for the Bulls to limit one of their biggest three point threats, but it has been made clear that they will not win because of their deep shooting. If the Bulls continue to play Mirotic, then the Celtics will have no problem playing undersized, and that kind of comfort is why the Bulls are left with no other choice than to adjust themselves, leaving one of the most impactful players with limited minutes.
The Bulls can try, but the Celtics will need to have their coldest game of the season if the Bulls think they can win because of three point shooting. The Celtics adjusted in order to optimize their strengths, and the Bulls have not found an answer.
The Celtics had instant success with their small ball, but Fred Hoiberg has had more time to adjust now. The Celtics need to make sure they stay comfortable, but they cannot expect the Bulls to continue to make it this easy on them.
Boston going small has brought down a whirlwind of criticism about the Bulls guard depth and there is good reason for that. Unless the Bulls are holding onto hope that Rondo will come back and save them, they will not be able to adjust their back court to be good enough.
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The Bulls need to get their advantage from their size if they are going to regain control of the series, and Mirotic has not been good enough to have that kind of impact against the Celtics in a position where he cannot afford to struggle.