Boston Celtics Offensive Breakdown vs OKC Thunder

The Boston Celtics, had a great offensive showing against the Thunder on Wednesday which led them to a convincing 135–100 win over one of the favorites in the Western Confernce Playoff Picture (Yes no for OKC, I am aware of that).

However, one of the MVP frontrunners shouldn’t take away what Boston was able to to execute from a tactical perspective on the offensive side of the ball. Here’s a Look at some of their numbers from Wednesday night.

Overall PPP: 1.216

HC Man Offense: 1.244 PPP

Post Up Possessions (Including Passes): 16 Possessions 1.375 PPP

Ball Screen (Including Passes): 23 Possessions 1.348 PPP

The Celtics were scoring in this game at an alarmingly efficicent rate. Here I will be breaking down 3 major factors that made them so effective within this game.

1. Kristaps Porzingis Switches
2. Tatum & Brown Gravity
3. Giddey in Guard to Guard Pick and Rolls

Now lets break down some of these Offensive Possessions chronologically.

1ST Q Ball Screen Switches with Porzingis

• OKC opened up the game switching with Chet. This was shown on the very first possession of the game.
• The Celtics wasted no time attacking that matchup less than a minute later getting into a middle ball screen with Porzingis and attacking Cason Wallace in the middle of the floor
• You can see in this first clip as Porzingis faces up forcing help, and finding Derrick White for an open 3 point attempt.
• Constant Theme of Halfcourt Offense: “How can we draw 2?”

• Celtics went back to this a little over a minute later, which resulted in a turnover on the entry, but shows the underlying theme moving forward in the first quarter.

Floor Balance: How do you prefer to attack coverages?

• In these next two clips, you see the Celtics still looking to attack that guard to big switch in the halfcourt through ball screens, however you see them change up their approach just slightly.
• In the first clip, OKC shows ball side help, allowing for another in rhythm 3PA from Derrick White off the entry pass
• In the second clip, you see Isaiah Joe (the low man) pulling over to try and discourage the entry pass to Porizingis. The Celtics exploit this overhelp beautifully by immediately swinging the ball to the top of the key and screening the 2v1 on the backside with Joe’s man for a wide open 3 from Sam Hauser.
• Important to note: You do not need the ball the draw 2, and you must get a quality look.

Shifting from Empty side Ball screens rather than middle ball screens.

• There’s a couple reasons why a team would do this:

1. Empty Side Rolls allow for better positioning for this mismatch rather than catching the ball 15–18 feet away in the high post, they are not catching it 10–12 feet away
2. This allows for an extension from the low man in help and a much more shifted defensive shell with the ball being on a particular side of the floor.
3. Deeper Positioning = Better chance to draw 2 Defense shifted due to ball placement = longer rotations when passing out.

• There’s a give and take to this, you gaining this but with the ball being in the middle of the floor, reference the first clip up top (you’re pretty much guaranteed a 2v1 if the player with the ball does draw 2.

1st Q Brown/Tatum’s Gravity

The Celtics are fortunate enough to combine Porzingis with 2 of the better wing scorers in the game (Brown & Tatum). This scoring prowess forces teams to have additional attention focused on them.

This is the concept of gravity for a player in basketball when focusing on the offensive side of the ball.

Basketball Gravity- When a player/team possess a skill or skills that an opposing team knows they have to provide additional focus and effort on to take away, which leads to openings for the other players on the court.

• On this clip we can see how Brown’s scoring gravity opens up the floor for everyone else on the team. Driving an isolated side early in the possession and taking it into a post up.
• If you pause when Brown picks up the ball, the Thunder have all 5 players with at least a portion of their foot in the paint.
• This is a dangerous combination when you have 3 players who all shoot exceptionally well with their feet set ready to receive the basketball (Hence why every basketball team should put a premium on shooting).

1st Q Guard 2 Guard Ball Screens with Giddey

• Another thing the Celtics went after early on was putting Josh Giddey in 2 man actions on the ball. At first it felt like it could just be game flow, but as the game went on you could tell it was clearly intentional.
• I’m not quite sure but it seems like the Thunder do not want Giddey switching on Jaylen Brown. The Celtics pick up on this and use this as an opportunity to get Jrue Holiday in the short roll which leads to an open 3 in rhythm from Porzingis.
• Will continue to die on the hill that if you have an elite decision maker and can consistently attack through the short roll, that is one of/if not the best ways to create quality looks in the HC.

2nd Q Ball Screen Switch with Porzingis

• Early in the 2nd Quarter, the Celtics went back to the Empty Side Ball Screen Game with Porzingis.
• Here you can see the defense rotates over but the size, positioning, & skill level from Porzingis shows that the rotation isn’t enough if the ball is already entered.

2nd Q Brown/Tatum Gravity

A majority of the early parts of the 2nd quarter were dominated by Brown and Tatum. In these next 2 clips you can see some of the intricacies involved on this on both sides.

• In the first clip you can see Tatum attacking an empty side, the defense loads up but does not commit to Tatum. Shot that he hits all the time at a pretty high rate, but you can see how if nobody commits and the on ball defense stays solid, it becomes just a little harder to generate the same type of looks
• In the second clip the Celtics get a switch with Tatum on Chet. Notice Pritchard on the opposite wing and how he extends the spacing by hugging the coaches box on the opposite side of the floor.

2nd Q Guard to Guard Ball Screens with Giddey

• Here you can see the Celtics give Thunder a taste of their own medicine. You will typically see these G2G dunker ball screens with Isaiah Joe and SGA, usually with a perimeter player in the dunker spot (like Derrick White is here too)
• It’s easy to create longer rotations out of this dunker spacing especially when you have a legitimate pick and pop threat, which is should not be a problem at all if you are utilizing this action guard to guard.

In the second half, you see a little more of a reluctancy to switch from the Thunder. However, Boston had success still early on in the ball screen game with Porzingis this time using one of their delay actions to set up a middle ball screen switch for Porzingis to attack and get fouled.

Eventually after a strong offensive 3rd quarter on both sides, OKC elects to go to the zone late. A common theme of college/NBA circles is matching up versus the zone. As you can see in this clip, all it takes is Boston to get the ball to Porizingis in the middle of the floor.

They are left in the same situation/scenario you would see off a middle ball screen switch.

It will be very interesting to see how the playoffs shake out. Everything is magnified, there’s more attention to detail, scouting reports are better. The one thing that I know is because of Boston’s three headed monster and the shooting they have around it, they will be very tough to defend. I’m very curious to see what opposing defenses will take away versus them and the tradeoff of what they are willing to live with.