BOSTON — The Boston Celtics are playing fast. That much has been made more than clear. With Jayson Tatum sidelined and Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday traded, the remaining personnel is fully equipped to employ the new play style. But it goes beyond an emphasis on transition play and a frenzy of screens.
As Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and others handle the ball, weaving in and out of screens from the big-man room, the rest of the lineup is contributing in their own way. Off the ball.
“The crucial part to playing fast is getting your spots fast,” said Sam Hauser. “Creating space fast for driving lanes, cutting lanes, and trying to just create confusion off ball as well.”
Off-ball movement is just as important to new Celtics offense
On any given possession, Neemias Queta (or whichever big is on the floor) could set three to four screens. If the first doesn’t yield a positive result, he’ll run to the other side of the floor to screen for someone else. Or maybe he’ll re-screen for the first guy, giving them a new angle.
Yet as this fast-paced, chaotic offense ensues in one area of the court, the same is happening on the other.
Whether it’s Hauser shifting off the ball to match the pace or Josh Minott cutting baseline in perfect harmony with the ball-handlers drive, Boston’s new offense only works if everyone is in sync.
“Maintaining our space is key,” said Jaylen Brown. “Being able to recognize if they're below the line of the level of the ball, slash, if they're up above the level of ball, then you slide. So, being able to make our reads, get to our spacing, so everybody has room to play.”
But matching the pace isn’t enough.
Hauser’s off-ball movements could perfectly align with the barrage of screens Boston sets at the top of the key, but if he ruins their spacing, it would all be for naught. The same goes for a Minott or Chris Boucher cut. One wrong move, and the whole possession falls into a state of disarray.
Their movements, or lackthereof, away from the play need to fall in line like a symphony every time the Celtics have the basketball. And sometimes, not moving at all is what’s best for the play.
“There's a time and place for both,” Hauser said of the balance between shifting off the ball and staying in place to maintain spacing. “If you see a guy has a matchup that's in favor of us, probably stay put, but if the ball is getting kind of stagnant, maybe you got to cut or go set a screen or slip ball screen and just get offense moving and create an advantage.
“So, kind of just reading the defense and what they're giving you.”
Based on the way the defense is guarding, it could even lead the Celtics to the exact type of offense that they need.
“It's just reading the help,” said Brown. “Just seeing how the other team is guarding. If they're overly aggressive, they'll be up in those seams, and that means they're off the body in the corner. That means I can maybe go get Sam or Payton a shot, because they're off the body. So, I go DHO to somebody in the corner. Maybe that flattens them out the next possession, now I'm able to drive after that.”
Grabbing a quick rebound and throwing a Tom Brady-esque pass up the floor. That’s pace. Running with the ball and creating a two-on-one fast break. That’s pace.
Bringing two to the ball and speeding up the opponent’s offensive flow. Scrambling around and covering for each other on defense. Setting multiple screens in the same possession. All of it accomplishes the same goal.
And for the Celtics playing primamrily off the ball in Boston’s new-look offense—Hauser, Minott, Boucher, Hugo Gonzalez, and others—their role is just as important.
“I think pace is being able to think,” said Joe Mazzulla. “It's not just a word about playing. It's also being able to think in real time and understand the reads, and every possession is a different read, a different opportunity to do that. So, they all have a responsibility to create that in different ways, depending upon how the defense is guarding them, what the opportunity presents itself on that possession, and being able to do it on the other end of the floor defensively, then coming back down and seeing what it is at that time.
“So, just got to continue to work that. And every game is different. What the other team, what they're doing defensively, who their personnel is, it's all different. So, we've got to be ready to to make the adjustments like that, and constantly read the game.”