BOSTON — When the NBA season began, few people expected the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns to make the playoffs. Most had Boston pegged as a Play-In squad and the Suns as one of the top contenders for Ping-pong balls.
Now, they’re two bona fide playoff squads, and on Monday night, the Celtics went to battle. Devin Booker was thoroughly dominant, but Jaylen Brown’s 41 points were too much for the Suns to overcome.
1. Jaylen Brown’s free-throw dominance
In the first quarter alone, Brown got to the charity stripe 10 times. It marked the most attempted free throws in a first quarter by any NBA player this season.
By the end of the night, Brown was 19-of-21 from the free-throw line. And in the fourth quarter, when Boston’s offense dissolved against the Suns’ heavy ball pressure, Brown put the team on his back.
He made all 10 of his fourth-quarter free throws, solidifying an incredible night.
“I approached the game the same,” Brown said post-game. “Just physical, getting downhill, playing off two feet, and they made the calls tonight.”
In some regards, it’s that simple. Brown is one of the most physical players in the NBA, and when he’s driving to the hoop, he’s an 18-wheeler that can’t be stopped. Phoenix just got in his way on Monday night.
All they could do was put a body in front of him and hope, but the end result was free throws for Brown.
However, there was a bit more to it than that.
“I didn’t even think about that,” Brown said when asked if there was a moment he realized he was going to have a big night at the line. “I just came out and was aggressive. What I think about when I have a ball is just, be aggressive every time you have it, and then live with the results.
“So, I was physical. Maybe they didn’t help as much, because [of] our personnel. We got, obviously, JT out there, so maybe it’s less of a shift guy, because you don’t want to leave him open. So, they gave me opportunities to play, and I just did what I normally do.”
That last point is the most significant. The Suns couldn’t just throw doubles at Brown whenever they wanted because of the spacing Boston had on the floor.
Helping off Jayson Tatum is a one-way ticket to getting scored on, so the Suns had to get creative. And they weren’t creative enough.
To start the game, they were mainly using Oso Ighodaro in help defense, with a corner man shifting over to tag Neemias Queta. But Brown was too crafty for the youngster.
That pump-fake was a staple of Brown’s on Monday night. For as great of a job as he did simply powering his way through Phoenix’s defense, he also showed off some great patience.
But his power was the Suns’ primary poison.
Brown bowled through their one-on-one defenders all the way to the free-throw line.
Over and over and over again.
2. Fourth-quarter flip-flopping
Through the first 7:14 of the fourth quarter, the Celtics were messy. They gave up offensive rebounds, didn’t close out quickly enough against shooters, and at one point, they committed three live-ball turnovers in a row.
Phoenix scored 24 points during that time frame, and a Jordan Goodwin three-pointer at the 4:46 mark put them up 110-106.
From that point on, the Suns didn’t make another field goal for the rest of the game. They only scored two points: Two free throws.
Boston’s defense clamped down. They rotated beautifully, contained Booker (to the best of their ability), and found a way to force the Suns into tough shots.
Like here. The Celtics know they don’t want Booker to take the shot, so Queta double-teams him with Derrick White in the pick-and-roll. Tatum covers Ighodaro in the paint, and when Booker eventually passes out, he sprints over to Haywood Highsmith, who had to take a very, very deep three.
But according to Joe Mazzulla, a big part of Boston’s defensive success late in the fourth was spearheaded by their offense.
“We gave up a transition three off a turnover. We gave up another transition three. We gave up an offensive rebound. Gave up to the free-throw line,” Mazzulla said. “So, I think it was just a combination of our offense impacting our defense. Not many turnovers at the end of the game there. Doing a good job in our shifts. And then, keeping them off the free throw line and getting the rebound.”
All of the turnovers the Celtics gave up early in the quarter helped the Suns get into an offensive rhythm, because they got out in transition. Phoenix’s offensive rebounds gave them extra possessions. Free throws are what they are: Free.
But once they cut out those mistakes, they were able to clamp down in the half-court and get some stops.
3. The Celtics’ Devin Booker defense
Through the first three quarters of Monday night’s game, Booker seemed unstoppable. In the first 36 minutes of action alone, Brooker put up 35 points, three rebounds, and five assists while shooting 13-of-19 from the field and 2-of-5 from deep range.
And he was making some crazy shots.
White, Sam Hauser, and Baylor Scheierman all got their chance to guard Booker, but he torched anyone the Celtics put in front of him.
So, they sent extra pressure.
Late in the third and into the fourth, Boston started sending multiple bodies at Booker. They double-teamed him, and their defense had to work off of that game plan.
“That is one of the principles. I mean, that’s part of what we do when we have to do it,” Mazzulla said of doubling Booker. “And I thought Payton did a great job on Booker there at the end of the stretch. And I thought, anytime you go to an adjustment, there’s always another side of every situation. And I thought the time called for that, I thought our activity was really good, and we rebounded out of that pretty well.”
On this play, Hugo Gonzalez is guarding Booker, and Scheierman helps over multiple times. First, to deny the entry pass, then to deny the drive, and then again for one final pressure.
Boston got a bit lucky because Khaman Maluach missed the dunk, but it was also a nice extra effort by Gonzalez to contest him as much as possible.
Guarding Booker isn’t an easy feat.
“Just give him different looks,” Tatum said when asked how they approached guarding Booker. “We blitzed him a little bit at the end. Somebody who’s as good and talented as him, you just try to make it tough on them. Try to switch up the coverages, try to keep them off the line and not foul them, and limit them to one shot, and rebound the ball.”
But late in the game, they went to one guy for the job…
4. Payton Pritchard guarding Devin Booker
White picked up his fifth foul of the game with 6:02 remaining. That gave Pritchard some extra runway down the stretch. And he did just that.
“I just thought he was physical at the point of attack,” Mazzulla said. “Didn’t give up any rejects. Booker’s always looking for rejects. Did a great job forcing him into the screen. Did a great job getting back to front so that we could keep it five-on-five, even though we were up a little bit more. So, he’s done a great job. Everyone talks about his offense, but I think he’s done a great job taking on defending shooters and defending good players at the end of games.”
For some, the performance may have flown under the radar. There weren’t many big-time steals or soul-crushing blocks. Pritchard just stayed solid. And most importantly, he stayed connected.
A play like this won’t show up anywhere in the box score. It’s late in the shot clock, and Booker is trying to run toward the ball. But Pritchard doesn’t let him. So, Ighodaro has to try to make something happen himself.
And then, there was the play that got TD Garden rowdy.
Booker gets running in transition, but Pritchard sticks with him stride for stride. As the Suns star gets inside, Pritchard just holds his position. And when Booker tries to pivot, he throws out an elbow.
Pritchard takes it to the chest and draws an offensive foul, all but sealing the game for the Celtics.
He was rock solid on defense against Booker, and late in the fourth, it made a huge difference.
5. Jaylen Brown’s playmaking
After it became clear that they couldn’t stop him in one-on-one situations, the Suns began throwing double-teams at Brown. So, he turned into a playmaker.
Whenever Phoenix threw multiple bodies at him, Brown just made the right read. Plain and simple.
At one point, the Suns even had four players in the paint trying to stop a Brown drive. He kicked out and found Tatum for a three.
This is another case of Brown drawing multiple defenders and putting the Suns in rotation, but it deserved its own breakdown.
Brown gets by Amir Coffey, so Maluach has to help up. This gives Queta some open space in the lane, but Maluach recovers and gets back in the play.
However, since Booker helped over from the corner on Brown’s drive, Goodwin was trying to cover Tatum. So, Pritchard is open.
Queta kicks out to Pritchard, and he sees Goodwin’s closeout before it happens. So, instead of trying to take a three, he drives immediately.
He pump-fakes Maluach into the air, Queta slips behind him, and he ends the possession with an open dunk.
This entire play is Boston creating, reading, and reacting to advantages. It was a beautiful play that showed just how connected Boston is as a team (and how much gravity Brown and Tatum have on the court).
This is why the Celtics are so hard to guard.
