Hardwood Houdini
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Boston Celtics: Pelicans Expose Biggest Problem

By Joshua Bateman

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 16: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans dunks against the Boston Celtics on January 16, 2018 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Anthony Davis (45 points, 16 rebounds) recorded his second consecutive 45-point game to propel the Pelicans to a 116-113 overtime victory over the Celtics. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 16: Anthony Davis #23 of the New Orleans Pelicans dunks against the Boston Celtics on January 16, 2018 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Anthony Davis (45 points, 16 rebounds) recorded his second consecutive 45-point game to propel the Pelicans to a 116-113 overtime victory over the Celtics. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Boston Celtics had a major issues exposed against the Pelicans

The Boston Celtics gave themselves an opportunity to win, but did not play nearly well enough to deserve to beat the New Orleans Pelicans. The Celtics were never able to get comfortable, and were helpless in their attempts to try and slow down that best front court duo in the NBA.

The Celtics have done a great job this season of making up for their front court size issues by having extra size and length surrounding them. Against most opponents, the Celtics are able to play small ball without suffering the normal consequences. Against the Pelicans, they had absolutely no chance at that.

Even when the Celtics went with their most size, they still had no chance of accounting for Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. When they tried to go small, it was as if Davis could score any way he wanted, any time he touched the ball. Aron Baynes could not stay on the court because of his inability to stay with them on the outside, and no other options could hold their own on the inside.

When the Celtics are just dealing with one dominant big, they can often accept the fact that they are going to be able to score, knowing they can do a lot more things to make up for that. Most recently, we saw Karl-Anthony Towns go absolutely crazy in a losing effort against the Celtics. When a dominant big is at their best, the Celtics are finding ways to accept the inevitability of that dominance, while doing all kinds of other things to make up for it.

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When you add on a player like Cousins to that big that is absolutely dominating, and all of a sudden the Celtics run out of a lot of their options to make up for that domination. The Celtics are not able to use the kind of lineups they want to, because much of their depth cannot be used when you have a player like Cousins standing next to Davis.

Semi Ojeleye was unable to see the court for any extended period of time, and Daniel Theis was only really used for extended periods when Jayson Tatum was being held out late and in overtime. The Celtics need these second unit front court players to get their best defense in small ball situations, and they simply cannot keep up with the size of the Pelicans.

The Celtics can handle one dominant big, and still go to their small ball options. Then once they get comfortable, that one dominating big has to do way too much to actually win, so the Celtics can accept their big numbers. What the Pelicans exposed is what happens when the Celtics cannot make their adjustments in the front court. and they are unable to be in their best situation to make up for the big running wild.

A lot of this also falls on the execution of the Celtics, but having size like the Pelicans put the Celtics in the most difficult position as possible. The Celtics are great at making things harder on their opponents than it is on themselves, and that was never the case against the Pelicans. It felt like the Celtics were always reacting to what the Pelicans were doing, and they simply could not pull through in the clutch, like they have many times this season.

Right now, we know what the Celtics are capable of in the clutch. It is much less concerning that the Celtics did not pull through in the clutch this time. Instead, the biggest issue is how often the Celtics put themselves in these far too difficult situations.

The good news is that the Pelicans are probably the only team in the league with the kind of versatile size that can put the Celtics in that position where they cannot control what they want to. The Celtics want to impose their will on their opponent, and that always has to do with their versatile defense. When you go against monsters like Davis and Cousins, there might not be any amount of defensive versatility in the entire league to take control of that matchup.

Given the way the Celtics played and how close it still was, you know the Celtics are more than capable of beating this team. What we learned is that it is possible to keep the Celtics too far out of their comfort zone with this kind of absurd size.

In fact, the Pelicans should be able to do that against anyone in the league, because their size is unprecedented in the history of the NBA. It is not unprecedented because of how big they are, but because the skill they have with that size is impossible to account for with traditional size, or with versatile size that is going to be too small.

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There is no doubting the Celtics have their weaknesses this season, and they are investing a lot in their versatile bigs, and the ability of their versatile wings to make up for them. The Pelicans just showed us what happens when the Celtics are incapable of adjusting to the kind of game they want to play.

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