BOSTON — Most NBA role players have a niche. Luke Kennard’s shooting. Toumani Camara’s defense. Josh Hart’s Swiss-army-knife-ness. They slot into rotations largely because of the singular skills that help them complement the rest of the team. In the case of the Boston Celtics, two of these niches stand out: Three-point shooting and defense.
But the beauty of Boston is that, for the most part, their best three-point shooters are also elite defenders and vice versa. Derrick White’s historical shot-blocking is paired with a lethal deep-range shot. Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser’s incredible shooting comes with the knowledge that they can hold their own on defense, too.
It’s what makes the Celtics’ lineup so difficult to beat. But their versatility doesn’t stop there.
Everyone on the Celtics can do everything, and it makes them impossible to guard
As the Celtics have continued to add layers to their game plans on both ends of the floor, the guys have found ways to parlay their niche skill sets into other areas of the game. And everyone is different.
“I think players put pressure on the defense in different ways,” Joe Mazzulla said on Friday after Boston’s win over Charlotte. “KP [Kristaps Porzingis] does it in a certain way. Jaylen [Brown] does it a certain way. JT [Jayson Tatum] does it in a certain way. And Jrue [Holiday] does it when he's in transition. And so everybody has a different way of creating two-on-ones and doing that.
“Those guys have done a great job being creative in how they're able to force those two-on-ones, whether it's for themselves or for the next guy, and they just have to continue to work on that.”
Friday’s game against the Hornets showcased the many masks everyone on the Celtics wears. Pritchard and White screened off the ball. Hauser and Torrey Craig viciously crashed from the cornets to either earn extra possessions or finish off stops on defense. “The one that Sam's really gotten good at is the big is boxing the guy out, and he's guarding the guy in the corner, and he comes in and taps it to another guy,” Mazzulla said after Friday’s game. “And he had two or three of those tonight, and his defensive rebounding has been even bigger for us than his offensive rebound.”
Everyone from Jayson Tatum to White to Luke Kornet is capable of transferring their primary skills into secondary skills and so on, creating a never-ending web of talent.
For Boston, it’s an incredible asset that creates unstoppable mismatches and advantages on both ends of the floor. For opponents, it’s a nightmare.
Charles Lee has gotten to see both sides of that story, and it all starts with the threes.
“Yeah, they can all shoot,” he said with a sarcastic smile on his face. “They sit over there for however long, they check in the game, and they hit a three. It's frustrating to sit on the other side and watch it, knowing that you used to do the drills with them. The slice-out drills and fake pass shot and drive and kick to each other.”
Lee was the lead assistant on the Celtics when they won the 2024 NBA Championship and is now the head coach of the Hornets.
Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the heads of the snake in Boston, but everyone around them is dangerous. Outside of Kornet, every player in the Celtics’ rotation is a threat to pull up from long range, and Kornet makes up for his lack of a three-ball with elite screening, floor vision, and offensive rebounding.
There’s a certain gravity that comes with shooting as elite as Boston’s. Teams have to account for quick pull-ups from White, Pritchard, and Hauser, as well as the extra-deep threes of Porzingis.
Merely being in the area isn’t enough. Defenses have to get tighter. But that allows the Celtics to take their gravity and use it to work for one another. That’s where it all comes together.
“They have a good concept of how to play with each other, how to impact the game positively without having to just score,” said Lee. “They understand what their gravity can do, so they hold spacing really well. They understand how to adjust their spacing and then, the importance of screening. If the team is maintaining their sticking screens, if the team is redding, I think they have a really good feel and read to be able to slip and get out of some screens quickly.
“And then it's a credit to everybody else around them. The passing. The ball is moving, people are unselfish, and so, it all kind of works together. But it starts with the shooting aspect.”
It’s one thing to be a great shooter. It’s another to use that gravity in other ways. And it’s another to be willing to do so.
“Just not being one dimensional,” Tatum said. “Obviously, everybody has strong suits and what they're great at, but being on a championship team and contending team, just being able to impact the game in so many different ways. Some guys might be able to impact the game in 12 different ways, some guys, five or six, but just being able to do different things and bringing different things to the game. And it's important.”
The Celtics have a team of players able and willing to utilize their own individual talents as a means to create space for others. Having one player capable of doing that is enough to lead a team. Having two is a luxury. Having a whole roster full of those players is unfair.
“P, as small as he is, it's oftentimes we see him crashing, getting offensive rebounds. Or Sam crashing through the nail. And the possessions that he does that, giving us extra field goal attempts, it's big for our team.
“So just the makeup of our team and guys' willingness to get outside themselves and truly just finding a way each possession to do what they can to impact it in a positive way on both ends. It's why we just have such a special group.”