BOSTON — Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, and Al Horford were all sidelined on Tuesday night against the Miami Heat, leaving the Boston Celtics to roll with Luke Kornet in the starting lineup. But with Kornet, Boston has one of the most efficient offensive options in the NBA.
The pick-and-roll with Kornet and Jayson Tatum averages more points per possession than almost any other combination in the league. According to Owen Phillips of The F5 Substack (as of March 21), the Tatum-Kornet pick-and-roll was second in PPP to just Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray—a tandem that won a championship with their pick-and-roll game.
Obviously, Tatum has made major strides as a playmaker. Since the All-Star break, he’s been dishing out 7.1 assists per game, which would be a career-high by far. But Kornet’s improvements have been just as important to the action. And he’s not just utilizing them with Tatum.
Jaylen Brown and Joe Mazzulla love Luke Kornet's progression this season
“Luke has been great,” said Jaylen Brown. “He's a great screen-setter. And then also, if you hit him in the seam, he's able to make those reads to the opposite corner, kick out, and then finish at the rim. He's been a great lob threat for us all year. Luke has been playing—He has stepped up his game.
“He's having a great season. But even as of late, he's been playing spectacular. So we're looking to just keep building that momentum going into the playoffs.”
Kornet has been incredible at understanding when to screen, what angle to screen at, and who likes to receive screens in specific places. In the first seven(ish) minutes of the game against the Heat, Kornet had 10 points, all coming out of pick-and-roll actions with Tatum and Derrick White.
The big man has developed an impressive chemistry with Boston’s starting unit, and most of it just comes from their in-game reps.
“Through the years, I guess it's been different things,” Kornet said. “Sometimes we work on it in practice and drill work and stuff. Other times, just throughout the course of the game, one of us noticing something and just kind of communicating to the person. And frankly, a lot of it is just on the court, just how many reps we've kind of had that just getting the feel for it.
“It's not always gonna be perfect. I'll just kind of just continue to work at it, with our play calling too. Joe [Mazzulla] does good job of setting us up and knowing where to try to get the screen on the floor, how they play personnel and stuff.”
And in Mazzulla’s eyes, his in-game work is what makes his screening so effective.
“I think he's really great at just screening versus different coverages,” said Mazzulla. “So, he's seeing different matchups this year. They started the game out in one coverage. Moved to a different one. But he just does a great job creating advantages.
“Just kind of goes into who he is. A selfless player. Looking to get guys open. But he can do that and read it in real-time what the coverage is and set the best screen to kind of get the guys free and and create indecision. So, he takes a lot of pride in that.”
With Erik Spoelstra at the helm, the Heat constantly switch their defensive coverages, as Mazzulla mentioned, forcing Kornet to adjust the way he screens and rolls.
But no matter what Miami did, he found a way to get inside. Whether it was holding the screen to keep the guard out of the play or getting out of it quickly to fill space at the rim and force the Heat to make a quick decision, he was ready to react.
He was always a good screener, but this season, he’s gone from good to elite.
“He was good at it. I think he's gotten an elite at it now, in my opinion. So, I mean, it's something that he always works on. Takes pride in those little things. And I think his physicality, too. Like when he's really physical, we're a different team. And he's especially finishing at the rim and protecting the rim at the other side.”
As for where his improvements began, Kornet credits his time with Zach LaVine on the Chicago Bulls and, when he was at Vanderbilt, watching Al Horford work in those situations.
“I feel like my time with Zach Lavine in Chicago was my first time playing with someone and working with someone who kind of had unique ability,” Kornet recalled. “And so therefore, me doing my job in the right part. And then honestly, the years with our team and guys, we had a lot of different guys who attacked in different ways. So, it's kind of just getting better
“Honestly, I remember in college and stuff, frankly, watching like Al set the screens that he would set. So it was just something I tried to do to help win the game and win the possession. And it's not as perfect, and just kind of being persistent, and just always just trying to play the game and do whatever works and figure that out.”