BOSTON — When the San Antonio Spurs won the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery, the future was set in stone—Victor Wembanyama was projected to be the best prospect since LeBron James. In the two years that have followed, that prophecy has looked true. Wembanyama enjoyed an incredible rookie season and is on pace to win Defensive Player of the Year as an NBA sophomore.
The sheer presence of Wembanyama is enough to alter the course of a team’s entire offense. But that’s not how Joe Mazzulla chooses to approach the situation. Wembanyama’s Spurs were in town on Wednesday night, and while the Boston Celtics certainly adjusted their plan of attack, Wembanyama wasn’t at the center of their sights. “I mean, we're always doing that regardless,” Mazzulla said.
Rather than focus on the eight-foot wingspan of Wembanyama, Mazzulla emphasizes decision-making, regardless of who else is on the floor.
“It's just about our spacing and our rim reads,” Mazzulla said. “Whatever the right decision is at that particular time. Making sure we're intentional about the proper spacing. Making sure we're intentional about making the right two-on-one read, wherever that may be, regardless of who's out there.”
Celtics focused on themselves, not Victor Wembanyama
It was as if Mazzulla didn't care to acklnowledge Wembanyama's impact at all.
Even when Jayson Tatum was prodded about Wembanyama’s defensive impact, his response still trickled back to the Celtics’ spacing.
“He presents a lot of challenges,” Tatum said of Wembanyama. “Very versatile. Moves his feet well. Very active. So, you just have to attack him or attack their defense with the right spacing and with a plan, essentially.”
Even with one of the most unique defenders of all time staring them in the face, the Celtics simply focused on themselves. And their personnel makes the Wemby puzzle a bit easier to solve.
With Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford in the starting lineup, the Celtics have an advantage that few rosters in the NBA can boast—two floor-spacing bigs.
They’re able to roll out lineups with two centers who can shoot the three-ball, which forces Wembanyama into an array of sticky situations.
“All teams have different strengths and versatilities defensively, so we're very fortunate that we have two centers that can shoot on the perimeter,” said Mazzulla. “And so, it allows us to be a little bit more versatile and creative in what we're able to do.”
For long stretches of the game, the Spurs played Wembanyama in the corner. They wanted him ready to help over on drives to the rim, utilizing his enormous wingspan and freakish ability to cover ground at a rapid pace.
But the Celtics had a counter.
When Wembanyama was in one corner, guarding Horford, Derrick White, or whoever was occupying that space, Boston posted up Porzingis. And since the Spurs run a lineup with three guys 6-foot-5 and under, they bullied mismatches.
This forced San Antonio to swing Wembanyama over into the action, and if Porzingis didn’t manage to get his shot off beforehand, it scrambled San Antonio’s defense.
“Every game presents different puzzles, and we just have to continue to solve those, and they change within the game,” said Mazzulla. “And I think that's sometimes where we go through some phases of the game where we're not sharp is we're figuring out what that puzzle is at that particular time because teams are doing a good job of working to put us in those situations. So, we just got to continue to get better at that.”
Even when they weren’t breaking down Wembanyama’s defense with a Porzingis post-up, they found ways around it.
If Wembanyama switched onto Tatum on the perimeter, the Celtics simply swung the ball to White on the other side of the floor. He’d run a pick-and-roll with Porzingis or make something happen there while Tatum’s gravity forced Wembanyama to stay home.
Every small decision the Celtics made was a chess move, and Wembanyama provided them with the ultimate opponent. Tatum, who finished with a monster stat line of 32 points, 14 rebounds, and seven assists, spearheaded Boston’s offense. But a lot of his dominance can be traced back to the versatility of the Celtics roster.
“A lot of things that I'm able to do on the court are because of the personnel that we have,” Tatum said. “That starting group, we got five guys that shoot, I guess, around 40% probably from the three. So, always being able to beat your man. Like, at the end of the first quarter, Wemby came and helped, and we had Al. So, that's a luxury that we have.”
Boston now heads into the All-Star break rolling. They’ve won seven of their last eight games, and they’ve held opponents to 105 points or fewer in four of their last five. Meanwhile, they’ve scored 115 or more in eight of their last 10.
After a rocky January, the Celtics have righted the ship. And not even Wembanyama was enough to set them off their course. Not on the court, and certainly not mentally.