CELTICS 2010

good stuff

With the Celtics facing a five-point deficit early in the fourth quarter Wednesday night, Udoka dialed up likely the most significant in-game adjustment of his young coaching career, given the circumstances. Partly to change Boston’s spacing, he called on a lineup full of his team’s best shooters: Payton Pritchard, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Grant Williams and Al Horford. The group had only played six minutes together during the regular season. It did not include either Marcus Smart or Derrick White. Still, Udoka felt comfortable turning to the unit with a playoff game on the line. He had a vision.

Over the next several minutes, the Celtics ran some variation of the same look on almost every possession. They stationed Horford and Williams in the two corners, knowing the Nets would not want to leave either of them alone. The placement of the two Boston big men dragged their defenders, usually Kevin Durant and either Andre Drummond or Nicolas Claxton, out of the paint. By taking the Nets’ two longest players away from the action, the Celtics also took advantage of Brooklyn’s lack of defensive depth. The Nets simply don’t have much perimeter size or length. Udoka’s decision left his own team’s three best shooters — Tatum, Brown and Pritchard — essentially playing three-on-three against small defenders in space.

The strategy set up Boston’s best offensive stretch of the game, a string of five straight scores that flipped a five-point deficit into a 99-94 lead.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQ37AouVgAQTG2z?format=jpg&name=medium

in game adjustments that work out perfectly are so satisfying

otm

I think they’re going to the finals

middleton injury def makes it more likely, lotta good teams out there tho

My brother in Christ you must change your pick and roll coverage immediately https://t.co/QXNMkZzuRP

— Riffs Man (@Riffs_Man) April 23, 2022

.@Money23Green breaking down the Celtics D on KD is the perfect teaser for game 3 pic.twitter.com/WnCQ9dBrAk

— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) April 23, 2022

draymond like everyone else assumes that the nets will eventually run a play lol

youd think they could at leaast figure out a pindown but alas

one thing he mentions that the celtics have been doing is having two guys contesting his shots like not just raising a hand being nearby or whatever but two actually jumping at his shot, cant recall ever seeing a team do that this much, theyre coming at him from multiple angles

they sent him to the line 20 times in game two and just kept coming lol

2016 dubs did some similar stuff iirc. they had iggy dray klay harrison livingston to throw at him and they had him flustered espcially in those last few games

lol

Rob Williams with the most unsurprising story about starting his surgery rehab: "The first time I was out on the court, I tried to dunk, but they wouldn't let me."

— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) April 24, 2022

so many big guys are self-conscious for one reason or another but rob is absolutely fearless and i hope he's able to stay that way.

Rob rehab vmic

lol

Rob Williams on when he felt like he'd be back in time for the playoffs: "Shit, right after surgery if you ask me."

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) April 24, 2022

just thinking about how the celtics are playing nine guys in the playoffs seven of whom they drafted (or in the case of theis found just hanging out in germany), pretty cool, salute to danny ainge

and then horf is really an honorary celtics lifer even tho he hasnt played in boston that long and left in free agency to play for a rival lol

pretty cool how horf and theis were drawn back into the fold, the celtics mindtype was too powerful

white totally fits in too and seems like a guy theyll want to have around long term

good stuff nice team

salute to brad too for pushing all the right buttons pretty crazy performance for a rookie gm, same with udoka rookie coach

white totally fits in too and seems like a guy theyll want to have around long term

― lag∞n, Sunday, April 24, 2022 9:53 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

his dad is a sawx fan and raised him as such iirc, it was meant to be

it’s funny that after all the angst about kyrie, gordon, and kemba this team has found itself with the homegrown guys plus al.

just read that long piece on Ime Udoka and his portland roots in the athletic, great article

BOSTON — It was Day One of the Ime Udoka era in Boston when the new coach first stood before his team and outlined how the Celtics would now operate.

It wasn’t a long speech, because really, Udoka wanted to cover just two topics: Punctuality and accountability.

“I’m not a big rules guy,” Udoka remembered telling his team. “So the main thing with me is to be on time.”

On to topic two: accountability.

On the big screen, a video began to play. It was a string of post-fight interviews of Adrien Broner, the braggadocious professional boxer. The clips highlighted Broner’s self-proclaimed nickname of being the “Can Man.”

“Listen, man, they call me ‘The Problem’ but you can call me the ‘Can Man,”’ Broner said on the video. “Because anybody can get it: AfriCANs. AmeriCANs. DominiCANs. MexiCANs. Anybody CAN get it.”

The video stopped and Udoka looked at his new team.

“And Ime says to them: ‘I just want to let you all know: I am the Can Man,”’ Celtics assistant coach Aaron Miles said. “He said, ‘Any and all y’all Can — and will — get it.”’

The message was clear: From stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on down, Udoka would hold the Celtics to a standard. Udoka calls it an “equal opportunity” to be called out.

it’s funny that after all the angst about kyrie, gordon, and kemba this team has found itself with the homegrown guys plus al.

― call all destroyer, Sunday, April 24, 2022 12:32 PM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yup

The message was clear: From stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on down, Udoka would hold the Celtics to a standard. Udoka calls it an “equal opportunity” to be called out.

― symsymsym, Sunday, April 24, 2022 11:35 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the spread of gregg popovich thought

good season for his coaching tree

tatum took one shot in the second quarter and didn't score. still ended up with 39! lol

he also had 6 steals.

extremely satisfying game

6 steals is so many crazy game by him

https://letterboxd.com/brendohare/film/whats-up-doc-1972/

from the offs thread:

lag∞n
Posted: 26 April 2022 at 20:32:16

celtics poor halfcourt offense vs the nets weak D is the one thing about that series that has me worried, they relied on transition buckets in that series, what happens when they face a good defense and those dry up, they put together a great reg season offense via ball movement but the nets gummed that all up with switching and zoney things, tho having rob back could help some by adding that roll attack, but still celtics could be in for some defensive slogs from here out

feel like we might be in for some playoff adjustments prioritizing shooting to open the court up like more grant less theis/rob, pritchard might be a little more playable vs the bucks too, as to what that all does to their defense idk their switchability is maybe improved with grant but rim protection is decreased, pritchard is obvs targetable but the bucks dont have the perimeter threats that the nets do so it might be manageable, will be interesting to see how the bucks play them i feel like everyone just gives up and starts switching everything at some point in the offs which limits ball movement and encourages iso play, celtics do have a couple good iso players and maybe if you put shooters around them it can work well enough

im assuming the celtics will play a similar scheme vs giannis as they did on kd with secondary defenders lurking in his driving lanes and coming over for late contests and opportunistic doubles, if they can turn him over consistently that would be very nice as its easy offense

havent seen an update on middleton feel like if hes out the celtics should win, if he plays even half the series and isnt too injured then well its game on baby

Ime Udoka cancels the play and signals Grant Williams to cut with a finger wave. Celtics ran circles around Steve Nash and the Nets. pic.twitter.com/xt8OSzjcEb

— ŘØΜ€ (@r0meinaday) April 26, 2022

I just watched that a few dozen times. So cool to see how it unfolded on the fly.

yeah a nice lil moment the low key point, grant sees it then does a lil move to get free before he cuts

Marcus looking at Ime to acknowledge the call when he's running back on defense

ah missed that nice

Here's one minute of Jayson Tatum playing great defense on Kevin Durant in the first round pic.twitter.com/hzSFmkzEkY

— John Karalis 🇬🇷 🇺🇦 (@John_Karalis) April 29, 2022

Fun fact: Jayson Tatum recorded 22 deflections (5.5 per game) against the Nets, which is No. 1 among players in the postseason.

— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) April 29, 2022

he had durant’s shot timed up perfectly.

apparently the celtics had never really experienced the type of full-court press the bucks put on them. they'd get down to the other end with 8-10 seconds left on the clock

smart is apparently questionable for game 2 due to quad injury

“We settled for too many contested threes. We shouldn’t have to take any contested threes in this series because of how they guard.”

udoka otm

yeah think i said in the other thread that the bucks are really good at giving you mediocre quasi contested threes early in the shot clock that you really need to not take but its hard because theyre not that different than the shots that you do need to take so the shot selection situation is tricky

they really need to go at lopez in the pick and roll and either take the mid range shots that he gives up or kick it out for good 3s, also obvs take it to the basket when they can but hes pretty tough dropping back but maybe you can get some fouls on him if you drive forcefully

jaylens hammy a big issue too

pic.twitter.com/YEq38eI6j9

— Cameron Tabatabaie (@CTabatabaie) May 4, 2022

bad pass from jaylen but rob just scoops it up and makes the play nbd

It's a Jaylen Brown series folks. His playmaking and his paint touches and his creation are big for Boston. Engages Lopez and hits Williams on the roll. Handles the pressure, gets Matthews to engage with Lopez dropped back and hits Tatum for 3. pic.twitter.com/dRI7yJXYiV

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) May 4, 2022

https://i.imgur.com/MCgY38I.png

made the shot