Celtics & Brown Take Game 2
Breaking down Brown's 40 & how the Celtics beat the Pacers in game 2.
It feels like the Pacers had their best chance at stealing a game taken away from them after the game 1 collapse. Now the Celtics have done a good job taking away the Pacers flow and with Haliburton hurt and his availability for the rest of the series is in doubt it feels like this is a series the Celtics should finish in 4-5 games. I think bringing back Porzingis throws a little wrinkle of adjustment for the Celtics and the Pacers might be able to get a game at home with an incredible shooting game, but it feels bleak for the Pacers now. In this breakdown we will look at Jaylen Brown’s incredible night, the Celtics 2nd quarter dominance and why Tatum at the 5 is fun in theory but tough for the Celtics to actually use long-term.
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Brown 40 Piece
Brown’s first made shot was an open 3 pointer off an offensive rebound, but I was more curious how he created his points for himself of how the Celtics got him going. What I loved from Brown is in the beginning of the game he didn’t settle, when he got Nesmith on him he attacked under control and drew a foul.
Brown’s next basket came off one of the Celtics favorite actions for Brown in early offense is to have him read and cut backdoor for easy layups.
Brown also got another layup off this backdoor in the 2nd quarter as well.
Brown also found other ways to score in transition before the defense can get set, making scoring chances downhill much easier.
Guard/Guard Ballscreens
For the most part, the Celtics attacked Haliburton, but also went at TJ McConnell as well. Even though TJ is a good defender, he is smaller than Brown who can use his size and length to score easier.
To get to 40, Brown attacked McDermott late in the 4th after the Pacers had already given up.
I pointed out in the series preview and in game 1’s breakdown how the Pacers were hedging Haliburton in ballscreen defense.
One thing the Celtics did a great job of tweaking when attacking Haliburton using these ballscreens is to flip the angle or “Varejao” action to force Haliburton to be out of position when hedging.
Even when the Pacers stayed on their matchups, Brown was able to his shots - attacking Toppin here and seeing his reaction on the step back 3 before pulling back and making it.
Pindowns
While the Celtics didn’t see a ton of success scoring off basic wide pindowns, having Brown come off the Wide action allowed him to slip to the lane for an easy finish with Horford pulling Turner out of rim protection.
Shot Making
I can’t say for sure, but Brown getting downhill first without forcing shots early and getting easy scores in the paint gave him more confidence and any great performance has a high level of shot making.
They also used the same Guard/Guard action for Tatum who finds Brown for the corner 3.
2nd Quarter Run
The Celtics started off the 2nd quarter with a 17-0 run that basically put the game away even thought the Pacers pulled closer in the 3rd quarter. This was all started off with the Celtics switching 1-5 against a lineup without Haliburton or Turner.
Brown was also cooking, starting off with this great attack for the drift pass and the Celtics ball movement gets White an open 3.
After a Pacers timeout they went back to Turner in the game, the Celtics countered back with Horford and Brisset with Horford on Siakam. The Pacers went to Turner in the post and he missed a turnaround post up.
This led to Brown getting a screen but going ISO against Toppin and hit the huge step back 3.
Again the Celtics use a wing on Turner by having Brown guard him, the Pacers again (still not sure why) look for Turner in the post and it leads to a bad pass turnover.
After back to back 3 point misses, the Celtics found Brown on the backdoor action in early offense for another easy layup.
The Pacers AGAIN to go Turner in the post vs White with Horford in help. Another turnover.
Another Brown layup off Wide caps off the ridiculous start to the 2nd quarter. Biggest lesson for the Pacers? Stop getting baited into post ups against the Celtics “Wing on Turner” scheme.
Tatum At 5
In the regular season the Celtics played a no-big lineup with Tatum at the 5 for 50 possessions and it was very successful, with a +28 net rating in VERY limited possessions. In the playoffs, the Celtics have used it 24 possessions and are -50!
The main reason it didn’t work against the Pacers was Siakam, he absolutely killed any matchup the Celtics put on him. He scored out of the post, in ISO and honestly had a much easier time when Horford wasn’t on him.
On offense, the Celtics ended up being hit and miss with some stagnant offense and good offense and in reality it looked like a unit that hadn’t played alot of time together - so likely not going to it often enough in the regular season means the Celtics are not going to be comfortable using it more going forward.
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Thanks,
Coach Pyper