The gulf in talent
The Boston Celtics came crashing back down to earth with a big loss to the Houston Rockets
It’s evening time here. Sundays are family days in the Taylor household, so it’s taken me a while to get to my computer to get my two watches of last night’s game in, and then a little bit longer to sit down and write this.
Nevertheless, I wanted to make sure the postgame piece was sent out…And I’ll be figuring out how to make sure this happens earlier in the day when games take place on Saturday nights.
Game 7: Celtics 101 — Rockets 128
📊 Key Stats
The talking point after the game was the free-throw disparity between the Celtics and the Rockets.
Ime Udoka’s team went to the line 35 times. Joe Mazzulla’s team got there on 7 occasions.
After the game, Mazzulla discussed the Celtics' aggression in forcing turnovers and how that can have a direct correlation with how often opposing teams get to the line.
“The free-throw rate is going to be correlated to your turnover percentage, and so we force 20 turnovers, right? So I think it’s a combination of coaching the ones that you have to get better at, whether it’s taking away an individual tendency, whether it’s, you know, a bonus foul at the end of a quarter, whether it’s because you know we had a breakdown in our individual defense and we’re going to protect the rim,” Mazzulla said. “You have to define those. So there’s always going to be that correlation between your free throws and your turnovers with the way that you want to play from a physicality standpoint. Offensively, I think it’s the one you can control more; offensively, it’s getting to the line more and combating it that way.”
The Celtics are 30th in the NBA for free-throw attempts per game. They’re 14th in free-throw percentage.
As the Celtics are still doing most of their damage on the perimeter (first in the NBA for three-point attempts) it’s unlikely we will see the free-throw line become a priority.
The Celtics dominated the possessions battle, ending the night with 103 shot attempts compared to Houston’s 77.
However, it was the Celtics’ inability to see shots fall that cost them, going 38.8% from the field and 31.8% from deep.
Interestingly, the Rockets managed to contest 58 of Boston’s shots, blocking 11 of them.
The Celtics, on the other hand, contested 46 of the Rockets’ attempts but ended the night with just 2 blocks and 128 points allowed on 77 attempts. Brutal.
The Celtics’ half-court offense was abysmal.
They averaged 0.8 points per offensive possession, opposed to Houston’s 1.27 points per 100.
The image below is from Cleaning The Glass. The pts/play section is based on 100 possessions, divided by 100 to get the numbers I mentioned above.
Unfortunately for the Celtics, their half-court struggles were somewhat unavoidable. The Rockets had more offensive talent and more ways to attack a defense. They leaned into how the Celtics liked to collapse and swarm, and use it to generate open looks or drives on secondary and tertiary shot-clock possessions.
I am running a few minutes late; my previous meeting is running over.
💫 Star of the Game
It’s hard to pick a star when the entire team underperformed, but if I had to choose someone, it would be Payton Pritchard.
His three-ball wasn’t falling, but he was still among the leaders in points and finished one dime short of tying Jaylen Brown, who led the team in assists.
The difference between Pritchard and Brown is that he took better care of the ball, only turning it over once.
Pritchard also led the team in free-throw attempts and was among the highest rebounders on the night.
This wasn’t a great game from Pritchard by any stretch, but with such a limited pool to pick from, his numbers, along with his off-ball movement and inverted screening, helped him stand out as the best choice.
📈 Improved Performer
Baylor Scheierman. He needed this.
Scheierman had been slumping since Summer League. He looked sped up, often seemed to be forcing his shots and at times, looked lost out there.
However, he’s kept with it, and kept battling when on the court.
Against the Rockets, Scheierman was rewarded for his patience and fortitude.
He ended the night with a team-high 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and an assist.
Just as importantly, he did all of that on a crazy-efficient 6-of-7 shooting from the field, with five of those shots (and 4 of the makes) coming from deep.
The next step for Scheierman will be to build some rhythm and consistency off the bench. And, while it would be foolish to expect him to sustain his efficiency from last night, it’s fair to hope he can start proving himself as a multi-level scorer throughout the rest of the season.
📋 Playbook Observation
Not much was going Boston’s way in the half-court, leading to an uptick in transition basketball. However, the following action from early in the night stood out as something I hope we see them continue to run and develop.
The play is called “77 Veer Floppy Curl”
That’s a fancy way of saying they set a stagger screen, flowed into a second stagger screen for a floppy action and the player coming off the floppy curled the screens to get downhill and pressure the rim.
It looked like this:
I like the concept of this play, and think it has the potential to become part of the primary playbook, assuming the Celtics can find ways to manipulate the weakside low-man to provide a release valve if/when the defense collapses on the drive.
💬 My Take on the Game
The blunt truth is that the Celtics came up against a contending-level team that was performing at a high level. The gulf in talent, depth and overall execution was clear to see. And with that gulf came a convincing win, despite Boston getting up almost 30 extra shots.
Give the Rockets credit — they came into the TD Garden, they handled their business, and they walked right back out. They did what the Celtics have done to countless teams in recent years.
The interesting part will be seeing how the Celtics learn from this loss and what they do differently next time they come up against one of the better teams in the NBA. Of course, the hope will be that the team as a whole shoots better, but in terms of scheme, it’s clear some tweaks are needed, especially on defense.
Still, you need losses like this to learn from. They suck. They’re never nice to watch (especially if you’re going back to watch for a second time) and having it end a momentum-building three-game win streak is a hammer blow. BUT, we knew what this season would entail, and because of it, we keep ourselves strapped in and ready for the next ride, which will be tomorrow night against the Utah Jazz.
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