The Boston Celtics have run plenty of sets this season. Last year, their offense was built on standard pick-and-rolls, reading two-on-ones out of those, and living with the results. They had the talent to make that work. This year, they don’t. So, Joe Mazzulla has had to switch things up.
As a result, Boston is seemingly running more plays than ever. Mazzulla has a full bag of tricks, but he deploys his favorites more than anything else. On Monday night against the Indiana Pacers, flare screens and chest action were the plays of choice. It helped Jaylen Brown get going in the fourth, and Derrick White benefitted, too.
But a wrinkle to Spain action is what should catch the rest of the league’s eye.
Celtics' variants to Spain pick-and-roll will keep NBA on its toes
Spain pick-and-roll is a variant of a traditional pick-and-roll situation. A ball-handler receives a screen, but then a third player sets a back screen on whoever set the original pick. Oftentimes, this leads to an open pass to the roll man or a pop-out three for the guy setting the back screen.
Against the Pacers, they switched it up just a little bit.
Luka Garza set a screen for Derrick White, and Sam Hauser was ready to set the back screen for Garza. But instead of actually setting the screen, he slipped it, popping out to the perimeter even quicker.
Most of the motion was mitigated by the fact that White pulled up from three before he could see Hauser, but the Celtics forward got wide-open on the pop. Johnny Furphy, who was guarding Hauser, helped up on White, which gave Hauser more space behind the arc.
But this wasn’t the only instance of Boston altering their Spain pick-and-roll.
On the first play of the game, Neemias Queta set a screen for Payton Pritchard, and White floated into the middle of the floor, seemingly ready to set a back screen.
Instead, he sprinted to the corner, leaving his man to help on the Pritchard drive. Josh Minott set a screen on his own man, giving White space to find an open corner three. NikNBA went over this one on his YouTube channel.
They ran it again in the second quarter, but this time, Brown was the back-screener. But like Hauser, he didn’t actually set the screen. He slipped it.
This forced Andrew Nembhard to jump up to the three-point line a little bit quicker than he otherwise would have, and Queta got an open lob from Pritchard.
Spain pick-and-roll has been a staple of Boston’s offense this year, but these variants are more than enough to keep opposing teams on their toes.