A Summer Of Two Man Game
There's always something fun happening at Summer League
I might not be in Las Vegas, but it certainly feels like I’m living in a desert. The UK is still being pounded by a heatwave, and without air conditioning in 90% of homes, we’re definitely feeling like the Mojave Desert has been dropped on us.
Yet, some 5,100 miles away, in a city close to my heart (I got married in Vegas) and built in a desert, hoopers are putting on a show. Last night, we got to see the 2026 Summer League Celtics in action for the first time.
We got to see Chris Cenac Jr. and Dillon Mitchell rocking Celtics green. We got to see Amari Williams and Hugo Gonzalez showcase their individual growth, and we got to see John Tonje prove why he’s so highly rated by both Maine and Boston.
I always enjoy Summer League. It’s a great chance to learn about your team’s new rookies, to see the growth of some developmental players, and to get hints about what the system for the upcoming season could look like.
Yet, what I enjoyed most this morning, when I sat down at my desk with a huge cup of coffee, was witnessing the two-man game between Hugo Gonzalez and Amari Williams.
Gonzalez and Williams are both entering their sophomore seasons in the NBA. While we saw more of Gonzalez than Williams last season, I’m excited about what both guys could potentially develop into. So, seeing them work in tandem and be borderline unstoppable as a duo at times, had me envisioning some potential crossover should they ever share the floor together with the main Celtics roster down the line.
You can never have too much two-man game chemistry on a roster. The more options you have to lean on throughout a 48-minute game, the less predictable you become.
I pulled a ton of clips over Gonzalez and Williams’ two-man play when watching yesterday’s game. So, let’s dive into some of what they showcased as the Celtics pulled out a gritty win in overtime.
The first glimpse we got of a two-man game came early in the 2nd quarter. Williams had battled on the offensive glass for a second offensive possession. Once he secured the rock, Williams cleared out of the paint and began searching the floor for passing options.
Williams then spots Gonzalez cutting from the wing. Williams stays patient and puts the ball firmly to Gonzalez’s chest, so the only thing Gonzalez has to focus on is finishing despite the defense.
We all know that Williams came into the NBA with his passing cited as one of his core skills. However, his patience and comfort on the ball were what really stood out against the Summer League Raptors, and this play was the first of many in which he showcased that poise.
Let’s skip ahead a little.
Here we have a variation of a Zoom action where, rather than having the hand-off guy be at the top of the perimeter (or close to it), the Celtics have positioned two screeners, with Amari Williams holding the rock on the weakside elbow.
The play began with Dillon Mitchell skipping the pass to Williams. A stagger screen then springs Gonzalez free from the corner. The stagger screen creates some much-needed separation for Gonzalez. His defender comes over the first screen and then goes under on the second.
Due to the separation Gonzalez created, when Williams hands off the rock, his defender is forced to stay with Gonzalez for a beat while Gonzalez’s man gets back into the play. That allowed Williams to roll into the paint unchecked.
Milos Uzan spacing at the top of the perimeter removed the high tagger, while Mitchell’s man was caught with some indecision regarding whether to slide over or stay home.
Credit to Gonzalez, he read the play perfectly, floating the ball toward the rim for Williams to finish with a soft touch on the lob.
It felt like every time Gonzalez and Williams combined on an action, good things were happening.
Just a minute or so later, the duo was back at it again. The Summer League Celtics flow into a Get action between Williams and Gonzalez. Once Gonazlez has the rock, Williams curls off the action and attacks the space left by Toronto keeping two on the ball for a beat too long.
Gonzalez does a great job of getting Williams the ball early, allowing him to read the help defense coming his way and adjust his body to get the finish.
So far, we’ve seen three plays, all of which feature a connection between Gonzalez and Williams.
Yet, the most important aspect of this is that they’re both reading the defense and dissecting what they’re given.
It was clear that Toronto wasn’t going to give Gonzalez space, so when his defender was caught up navigating screens, Williams was quick to get out of the action and into space.
When the defense opted to contain Gonzalez, his immediate thought was to find Williams on the move.
We often talk about read and react offenses. However, we rarely discuss the difficulty of doing so within the flow of a game. In Summer League, where everything is scrappy, and there’s often a legitimate experience gap among players, it’s usually easy to spot who has NBA, or at least some pro experience. Last night, Williams and Gonzalez showed why they both earned minutes in an NBA rotation under Joe Mazzulla last season.
Ok, back to the film.
Does this play look similar?
It should do, because it has a ton of similarities to the clip we looked at first.
After grabbing another offensive rebound (Williams had 4 on the night), the English-born big man shakes his man, puts the ball on the floor and once again finds a cutting Gonzalez.
Just like the first play, the pass finds Gonzalez perfectly square, making the catch easy. Unfortunately for the Celtics, the Raptors manage to get a hand to his shot and deny him a bucket. However, the process was sound, and most importantly, it was repeatable.
If both Williams and Gonzalez keep getting minutes (meaning they don’t get shut down), we will probably see the duo looking for each other on actions like this a couple of times per game.
It goes both ways, too.
Look at the above clip. This time, it’s Gonzalez who finds a cutting Williams for the bucket. Gotta love some reciprocation, right?
The final play I want to look at is a little bit of a two-man game in the pick-and-roll. Gonzalez ran multiple PnR’s during the game; however, this is one of his more successful ventures.
The play once again starts with a Zoom action. Rather than handing the rock off to Chris Cenac Jr, Williams rejects the hand-off and then pitches it to Gonzalez, who had set the initial pin down.
Williams sets the screen for Gonzalez, who then gets straight downhill, occupying two defenders' attention. Therefore, Williams had a pocket to roll in, allowing Gonzalez to hit the wrap-around pass for another bucket from the big man.
You love to see it.
Another thing I loved was that both Gonzalez and Williams had success outside of the two-man game. They found multiple ways to impact the game — such as Williams working out of the delay and Gonazlez being a defensive lynchpin.
I make a point of not overvaluing what we see at Summer League. I take it for what it is: developmental hooping with a chance to see growth from the elder statesmen on a roster.
Still, the two-man game had me coming away from the matchup pleasantly surprised. Factor in Cenac’s game-tying three late in the fourth, and Boston’s rally in overtime, and I think we can safely say that was as good a start as any for Amile Jefferson’s roster.
Next up is a game against the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, July 12. I wonder what else we will learn about the guys on the roster…