It may not have been nice, but basketball is back.
The Boston Celtics lost 98-84 against Oklahoma City Thunder in their first live-action scrimmage inside the bubble. If the listeners of the show took one thing from analyst Brian Scalabrine, it is that this is a very, very good Thunder team.
The results are meaningless, as well as a profound immersion in the way each individual performed. Excessive reactions are simply too easy and no game is more meaningless for such a task. Such an idea is compounded when players with the real spin only get minutes in the first half.
Instead, let’s think about what we can earn from a setting like this. We should be more concerned with the defensive rotations and the sharpness of the readings in attack than with the fact that they make shots. Going 3-by-14 in the first half is not worth panic, nor is it really worth tackling.
What it revealed was Stevens’ desire to keep the spins fairly similar to how they were at the beginning of the season. He clearly appreciates chemistry among their top eight (the Smart-Brown-Hayward-Tatum-Theis group with Kanter, Wanamaker and Ojeleye off the bench) in an effort to inculcate younger pieces and see if they fit into this group. His replacement patterns in those first twenty minutes mirrored those of a normal game without Kemba Walker.
Despite the previously developed continuity and cohesion, the Celts seemed rather loose on the defensive end. Oklahoma City, with multiple attack guards such as Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, made a point to attack Boston through ball screens and encountered little resistance.
Whenever the Celtics play Daniel Theis at 5, they have one goal: not to pass Theis on the perimeter. It is absolutely not a disaster there and probably their most mobile center until Robert Williams is no longer in the running, but the natural mismatches that occur are something they would like to avoid.
Their job is to avoid putting yourself in positions where expert guards can take him away from his assignment and forced into a discrepancy. But Paul, one of the most cerebral guards ever, was a little more experienced on Friday night.
Theis was captured in no man’s land; he was too short to have an impact in pulling the ball aggressively from Paul’s hands, but too high to be considered in true fall coverage. Its angles were a little too high, allowing Thunder to force the switch.
Not all teams have a guard point with Paul’s master director, particularly in the Eastern Conference. A second round series with Kyle Lowry-Marc Gasol’s birds of prey and tandem pick-and-roll could create a problem in the playoffs, although in particular the Celtics will want to extend their defense beyond the 3-point line to collect sniper Lowry. . The point is that Boston has to find a solution for that intermediate game to protect Theis.
Part of the responsibility here is for guys like Jaylen Brown or other perimeter defenders to return to the screen to claim their assignment. Struggling at the contact point, Brown and others can leave Theis out to dry, which means he has to change. Defense with ball screen is based on communication, angles and reliability. Teammates need to know that the guy next to them is in the right place. Some games may be needed to return to expectations on this front.
When Theis is not in play, the same is true of Enes Kanter. Although Kanter will not receive the Defensive Player of the Year’s votes soon, he will at least have to stick to and execute coverages. The perfect sheet for Kanter: a 5 pick-and-pop with the second unit.
Enter Mike Muscala for Thunder. Oklahoma City trotted him with Paul and Dennis Schroder, running constant ball screens. They started with an empty-angle pick-and-pop, bringing Muscala three wide open, which he knocked out.
The boys will make shots. I have yet to see a shutout in my years of observation. What Kanter can’t do, though, is to let his opponents’ footage end up in his head to the point where he cares too much about his boyfriend and doesn’t perform coverages. You cannot renounce layoffs under any circumstances:
Kanter will play during the playoffs from 14 to 20 minutes a night, and Stevens’ predictable replacement schemes serve as a point of reference for opponents to focus on. The recent change in Philadelphia 76ers’ early lineup has moved Al Horford to backup 5, where his minutes from stretch 5 will more frequently coincide with those of Kanter. Toronto has Serge Ibaka, a 39.8 percent 3-point shooter, fixing his crowd on the bench. Kanter must understand pick-and-pop before the post-season arrives.
Whether it was a change of pace or a legitimate strategy he tried to test, Stevens also played several possessions of a 3-2 zone. Even that formation was not very successful against the actions of the screen with the Thunder ball:
Boston’s overall defensive performance can be called “bleh”. They gave up many layoffs in humans or in the area and were set on fire by Steven Adams on the offensive glass. The defenders of the Boston perimeter did not contain the Thunder guards, putting too much pressure on Theis to come forward and try to contest the shots. Adams would clear the chaos and get too many easy glances.
It wasn’t all bad for the first defending unit. Jayson Tatum had some impressive flashes on D even though his shot wasn’t falling. If he becomes a reliable and hard-working defender who takes care of every closure like this does, he could help cover the loads accumulated on Theis to clean up the mess:
I’m not one who looks at preseason games and thinks there’s a lot of substance here about how the Celtics will perform. But there are clues as to which areas should continue to give TLC if they want to chase waterfalls. With some time in the movie theater and in the practice room dedicated to strengthening the defense of the ball screen, these problems will certainly not creep up on them again.
