The Boston Celtics winning their first two preseason games typically would mean absolutely nothing because it doesn't benefit them much. However, while beating the Cavaliers in Cleveland and blowing out Philadelphia in exhibitions isn't all that impressive on the surface, it's really how they're doing it that has stood out.
Boston didn't put the belt to ass against Cleveland like they did to Philadelphia last night, but they pretty much showed how they plan to win games in both preseason games.
The Cavaliers shot better than the Celtics did by a pretty noticeable margin when they played, and yet, it never felt like they controlled the pace of the game at any point, even if the game was never out of hand. The Cavaliers played their starters while the Celtics played their second and third units, but the latter's dominance on the offensive boards kept them in it even while they were firing bricks.
That is one of the key elements of Mazzulla Ball that the Celtics believe will be their failsafe when this happens. That's why their game against Cleveland was so noteworthy. Even when their shots aren't falling, the Celtics are going to emphasize getting as many possessions as possible to make up the difference, and it worked.
They had better shooting luck against Philadelphia, sure, but what stood out last night was that not only did they shoot threes, but their defense forced quite a few turnovers, not only limiting how many possessions they got but paved the way for so many fastbreak points. The result was still the same, but regardless of whether their threes were falling or not, they pulled out the victory.
This is Mazzulla Ball in its final form
For years, everyone thought Mazzulla Ball revolved around chucking as many threes as possible. Well, that's still a factor, but one, it's not like Joe Mazzulla is the first coach to ever put an emphasis on threes, and two, it's not like it's a bad strategy because the three gets a team the most points possible.
For years, it was about trying to surround the team with a lot of shooters, and while that proved to be mostly effective, the problem was what happened when they weren't hitting them. It did occassionally did that, and it looked even worse when their opponents couldn't miss.
These relatively new tweaks to the strategy makes it so that Boston won't have to worry. The Celtics will have their magnet balls quite a few times this season like they did last night, but so will their opponents, which is why these emphases on offensive rebounds and forcing turnovers will be quite important to their success this season.
We're merely getting a glimpse of what's to come in Year 5 with Mazzulla.
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