When the Celtics drilled an absurd 24 of their 53 3-point attempts during a blowout Game 4 win in Xfinity Mobile Arena Sunday night, I half expected the Twitter discourse to regain its steam.
The Celtics are 3-point merchants! The Celtics don’t play fun basketball!
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Wrong, and wrong.
On a night where Boston set a franchise playoff record for made threes in a game, breaking a previous record of 22 set three times (last done in Game 5 against the Knicks last year), the Celtics balanced beautiful ball movement (28 assists on 42 baskets) with pure isolation scoring, often having the Sixers defense 1-2 steps behind the action.
After revisiting every possession that ended in a 3-point shot on Sunday night, I came away with the following observations: The Celtics exploited the 76ers’ help-heavy defense, and Payton Pritchard is a mad man.
After two games of admirable perimeter and help defense, which did its part in making the Celtics work to touch the paint in both their Game 2 loss and clutch Game 3 win, Philadelphia’s help all of sudden hit a snag. The Celtics not only had success getting into the paint, but their patience once they reached the middle of the floor paid off.
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With a less mobile big on the floor in Joel Embiid, the Sixers had to help collapse the paint, or pressure Boston’s stars as soon as the ball hit their hands, and the Celtics knew that help was coming, making a generous amount of kickout passes that either forced rotations, or led directly to an open shot.
It started in the first quarter, even when the Celtics didn’t run out of the gate with a hot shooting faucet.
This possession late in the first quarter is a good example of how they attacked defenders and moved the ball in space, even if the result wasn’t a made basket. Part of a possession featuring four missed 3-point attempts and three offensive rebounds, this part of the action sees Jayson Tatum establish the drive-and-kick game by getting into a spot deep in the paint, accompanied by two Sixers and another (Tyrese Maxey) going for a quick dig. He kicks to space in the corner, the extra pass is made to Nikola Vučević, and it’s a good look from distance.
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They punished this kind of help all game. The following clip is five different plays throughout the night, not all the same action, not all the same shooters, but notice how much attention the 76ers place on the ballhandler, how many Philadelphia defenders are in the restricted area to close around a paint touch, and how much space there is for kickouts to open shooters.
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Whether it’s a straight-line drive to the basket, a pick-and-pop, or a Jaylen Brown grind to the nail, the Celtics always looked ready for the help and were aware of where the ball should go once they committed to that help.
This applies to mismatch hunting as well, like when Tatum got his much sought-after switch onto Embiid late in the third quarter. Paul George had no choice but to double the ball, giving up space for Vooch at the top of the arc, a shot that Sixers have lived with during this series. But as VJ Edgecombe cheats up a little from his spot across the floor to account for the expected swing to Vooch, Tatum surprises everyone, skipping the ball across the floor to a wide-open Pritchard.
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Great playmaking rewarded by a great shot.
Back to Payton Pritchard. He simply put on a show Sunday night. Like, one of those performances, the ones not easily forgotten by a Celtics bench player on the big stage.
Pritchard’s isolation creation could be found all over this win, and throughout his 32-point effort, it genuinely seemed like even the best defense didn’t really stand a chance when the shot left his hands.
It started with his first three of the night with 4:30 left in the first quarter. The Celtics had been 0/4 from distance at that point in the game, and their first make came from their early offense. This is a basic double drag action, two screens set next to each other, and Philly takes the switch here, leaving Andre Drummond alone on Pritchard, who has enough space for a quick release three to beat Drummond’s contest.
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He then proceeded to finish 6/12 from three, hitting shots through a range of isolation handles, catch-and-shoot looks, and timeless buzzer-beaters against a helpless Sixers defense that sluggishly looked steps behind Boston throughout the night.
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On a historic shooting night, the Celtics gave themselves a chance to close the book on their first round series at home in five games, a luxury considering the state of the Eastern Conference, which will see two series guaranteed to extend to 6 games and another that is likely to do so between Detroit and Orlando.
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