When people think about the Celtics’ offense, they think of three-point shooting and offensive rebounding. But this season, they haven’t exactly excelled in either of those categories, yet they’re still third in the NBA in points per game and fourth in offensive rating. The offense is clearly humming even though they aren’t generating a ton of threes or O-boards.
So what gives? How are they doing it? Well, after getting trounced for the second time this week in TD Garden, new Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter broke it down brilliantly and explained to the world what’s making the Celtics so difficult to defend.
“Boston is one of the best teams in the league off the ball. It’s impressive how they play all those flare situations. It’s really difficult to be aware of the flares that are coming. … They have a bunch of shooters that can come off those off screens, and then at the same time, you have Tatum iso’d in the top, and he could drive the ball anytime. … So it’s a really difficult team to guard.”
This is an awesome breakdown by an outstanding basketball mind, and it highlights the most impressive part of the Celtics through five games so far this season: what they are doing off the ball.
Celtics are crushing opponents with off-ball actions
Splitter highlighted how tough it is when Tatum is the one running the show, and that’s certainly true, but they’ve been doing it just as much with JT off the ball as well. Nobody is standing around, waiting for on-ball actions to open things up. Instead, everyone is moving; there is constant motion and constant actions being run off the ball, and the Celtics have great passers and quick decision-makers who are taking advantage of openings.
The three-point shooters are there, and the cuts are making the spacing work, but it’s also opening up driving lanes and cuts to the basket, which are generating rim pressure, easy buckets, and free-throw attempts.
When 3-point shooting picks up, Celtics will be unstoppable
Teams have no choice but to respect the three-point shot and the great shooters, but that’s making things easier for guys to get into the lane and to score points in the paint. It’s not exactly the conventional Mazzulla-Ball offense that people have become accustomed to in recent years, but it’s a beautiful wrinkle and development that has let the offense take the next step and become even more unguardable.
Brad Stevens preached the need for rim pressure all offseason, and while the team’s personnel moves didn’t exactly make it obvious how that was going to happen, it has become clear that it’s happening with a slight tweak in their play style.
It’s great stuff from Mazzulla and the Celtics’ coaching staff, and it’s an ideal way to maximize the talent at his disposal. The players are buying in and executing to perfection, to boot. It’s not a group of elite drivers and creators on paper, but it’s a bunch of high-IQ guys who know where to be and how to make the right play. That’s what we’re seeing and what the rest of the league has to deal with. And if and when the threes do start falling, look out, NBA.
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