Another Game, Another Defense That Struggled To Stop Boston's Pick-And-Roll
The Celtics cooked the Pacers on multiple coverages
A bounce-back win is good for the soul.
You stop the slide before it begins.
You reclaim a portion of the momentum that you feel got lost.
And, most importantly, you add another dub to the win column.
The Boston Celtics did that on Wednesday with a 119-104 win over the Indiana Pacers. In return, they kept their 1.5 game advantage over the New York Knicks, who, after a serious slide in recent weeks, are third in the Eastern Conference.
As with every game, mini-battles took place. Rotations, sub patterns, play calls, counters, cross-matching — these are just some of the games within the game that occur on each and every night.
You’re never going to catch all of those battles on your first watch. Nor on your second.
It’s why having so many talented voices covering this team is such a luxury.
It took me a long time to truly learn that.
Last Sunday (Jan. 18), I wrote about how Neemias Queta’s movement as a roller helped the Celtics limit the Atlanta Hawks’ defense.
I went into last night’s game against the Pacers with an interest in what type of coverage or coverages Rick Carlisle would throw at Boston when they ran their PnR sets.
Would the Pacers look to switch? Jump the gap? Hedge and recover? Drop? Trap? Go Zone?
After all, Indiana might have dealt with an injury-hit season, but its slowing getting its core pieces back, and this was an NBA Finals team last season. Carlisle knows how to gameplan.
Unlike the Hawks, Indiana wasn’t overly committed to its PnR defensive principles. Carlisle had his team iterating through different looks, searching for an advantage he could exploit.
The Pacers opened the game by switching 1-through-5. However, between Boston’s ghost screens and secondary screens, that approach was soon abandoned.
Here’s an example of the Pacers’ early-game PnR defense. As the Celtics bring the rock up the floor, Neemias Queta sets a drag screen (a screen in transition), forcing Aaron Nesmith to switch and placing Johnny Furphy onto Brown.
Brown gets to his right hand with a crossover, attacks Furphy’s lead hip, creates some contact to generate space, and boom, an easy finish at the rim.
That initial switch instantly gave Brown a mismatch. Furphy had no chance of sticking with him after he got to his stronger hand and turned on the jets. A simple early-offense screen broke down Indiana’s switching system in less than 10 seconds, less if you only count the time it took once the ball entered the half-court.
A key problem with a switch-everything system is that communication has to be on point. If players aren’t all on the same page regarding what should trigger a switch or when one needs to occur in the moment, the defense can be triggered into a blown possession.
That’s exactly what happens in the above clip.
Boston opens the clip with Sam Hauser cutting from the weakside onto the strong side courtesy of two staggered screens.
The playcall is "Floppy.”
Usually, when the Celtics run this play, it’s designed to get Hauser a catch-and-shoot three. However, in this instance, he opts to set a touch screen on Brown’s defender to create “contact,” which is usually the trigger for defenders to switch.
Hauser’s defender can physically see that a screen hasn’t been set, so he doesn’t switch. Unfortunately, Brown’s defender felt a touch and initiated a switch. With both defenders now following Hauser, Brown is left wide open to drive the lane.
Your guess is as good as mine as to why Brown didn’t shoot the rock with so much space in one of his hot zones. Perhaps it was because Jay Huff had stepped up to deny middle-entry. Instead, Brown fed Neemias Queta, who couldn’t get the finish the setup deserved.
Nevertheless, by this point, it was clear the Celtics were having fun breaking down Indiana’s perimeter resistance, so Carlisle changed things up.
