A strong fourth quarter helped the Boston Celtics pull off a win over the Toronto Raptors on Sunday afternoon. But it wasn’t always as pretty as the 14-point final margin may have made it seem.
The Raptors were a nuisance on the ball, beat the Celtics in transition, and spoiled (to a degree) Nikola Vucevic’s return game.
1. Neemias Queta’s PnR chemistry
It’s more than the shot-blocking for Neemias Queta. More than the rebounding. More than the interior finishing. For Queta, it’s the floor spacing. The inherent understanding of where to be on the court at all times.
He’s spent the entire season learning how to run the pick-and-roll perfected with Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard. Now, in just a month’s time, he’s perfected it with Jayson Tatum, too.
On this play, Jakob Poeltl steps up to put some extra pressure on Brown. So, after Queta sets his screen, he immediately dives toward the rim, taking advantage of Poeltl’s positioning.
Brown feeds a pass to him in the lane, and Queta gets an open bucket at the rim.
Poeltl was stepping up to the 3-point line in pick-and-roll coverage at the beginning of the game. He did it again on this play, when the Celtics ran Spain pick-and-roll, with Sam Hauser as the back-screener.
He gets caught out of position again as Queta dives toward the rim, and this time, White finds him on the roll.
Then, showing off his chemistry with Tatum, Queta finds yet another scoring opportunity at the rim. Poeltl steps up, Queta reads the defense, and Tatum finds him under the basket.
Queta’s ability to not only read opposing defenses but also read the timing and passes of his teammates has grown immensely as the season has gone on. And it gives the Celtics’ offense a major boost.
2. Nikola Vucevic’s defense
When Queta was on the court on Sunday, he was a plus-30. When Vucevic was on the court, he was a minus-14.
As soon as Vucevic stepped onto the court, the Raptors might as well have seen an open runway to the hoop. He struggled to defend the paint, often backing up too far below the rim to effectively contest shots.
On this play, he’s trying to guard Scottie Barnes on one side, but he puts himself too deep into the paint. So, when Barnes dumps the ball off to Poeltl, the Raptors big man gets an easy floater in the lane.
Then, here, the Raptors run Spain pick-and-roll, and Vucevic falls right into their trap. He doesn’t sniff out the back-screen, leaving White as the final back-line defender.
Despite a late contest by White, the Raptors still end up scoring.
Joe Mazzulla immediately called for Queta to sub back into the game after that play.
Vucevic simply doesn’t have the same defensive range of motion as Queta. On this play, Vucevic is dropping back deep into the paint while guarding the Raptors’ pick-and-roll.
But when Ja’Kobe Walter pulls up for a floater at the edge of the painted area, Vucevic doesn’t react, and Toronto gets an easy bucket.
That said, this may have been a game plan-oriented decision because Vucevic did the exact same thing on this play, and Jamal Shead missed a floater in a similar situation.
Vucevic concedes the floater and chooses to get back into a good rebounding position rather than contesting.
However, this could also just be a Vucevic-only issue. Because in the third quarter, when RJ Barrett tried a mid-range jumper over Hauser, Queta was able to get there for a block.
Obviously, Vucevic isn’t the same level of athlete as Queta. It’s inevitable that Queta will be able to do things on the basketball court that Vucevic can’t. That’s why Boston’s defense will almost always thrive more with Queta on the court than with Vucevic (or Luka Garza).
But that doesn’t mean that Vucevic isn’t capable of being effective on the defensive end. He’s just a bit more limited.
On this play, Vucevic stands strong in the paint. Brandon Ingram tries to drive into him, but he holds his ground, keeps his hands straight up, and gets a stop as Boston’s last line of defense.
But later in the game, while guarding another Ingram drive, Vucevic gets called for the foul in a very similar position. (Perhaps he got Ingram in the arm?)
The point is, there are ways for the Celtics to play solid defense with Vucevic on the floor. The Raptors were a tough matchup for the veteran center. They play fast and have a ton of long, athletic athletes, making it hard for him to keep up at times. And Queta was clearly the better option.
However, as the Celtics look to work around Vucevic’s defensive limitations, they have options. They just may not be as enticing as simply playing Queta more minutes.
3. Transition, transition, transition
This has been a recurring issue for the Celtics. They are susceptible to getting run on in transition. And the Raptors did a great job of it on Sunday.
Just watch how quickly the Raptors reacted after this Brown turnover. As soon as they realize they have the ball, Shead, Barrett, and Collin Murray-Boyles all begin sprinting.
And since all three of them were already at the top of the key, pressing Boston’s ball-handlers, they immediately have an advantage in transition. Murray-Boyles ends up throwing down a putback dunk.
But Toronto didn’t just run off turnovers and empty Celtics possessions. They ran the floor even after Boston made a bucket.
Look at this play. The Celtics scored, but Tatum ended up on the ground after the bucket. So, the Raptors took advantage of it.
In fact, they were so quick to run in transition that the cameras missed the play. But Toronto had Boston’s defense so scrambled that Poeltl was able to score an easy layup in the paint.
These are the best ways opponents can get back into games against the Celtics. They are exactly the types of situations Boston needs to work harder to avoid.
Whether it’s been the Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder or Atlanta Hawks, ball pressure has found a way to bother the Celtics throughout the course of this season, and especially in recent months.
Tatum and Brown combined for 10 assists and 10 turnovers on Sunday against the Raptors, and some of them were due to Toronto’s unconventional help defense.
Here, Brown turns the ball over after some intense ball pressure from Shead. Barrett then jumps up from the wing, double-teaming Brown and throwing him out of rhythm.
Then, on this play, Barnes jumps the easiest pass for Tatum to make. He gets ahead of the pick-and-roll and shuts down the action.
The Celtics responded well whenever they were thrown off by the Raptors’ pressure, but it has still been a trend this season.
That said, four of Tatum and Brown’s 10 turnovers were offensive fouls (three of Tatum’s, one of Brown’s), so the numbers weren’t quite as bad as they seemed in the box score.
Obviously, Tatum’s rebounding, defense, and scoring have been integral to the Celtics’ success since he returned. But his playmaking has been just as important.
He bent the Raptors’ defense with ease on Sunday, and every time they collapsed their defense around him, he found a way to get a teammate an open shot.
Here, Tatum drives, three defenders react, and he kicks the ball out to Baylor Scheierman, who drives the closeout and nails a floater.
The same thing happens here. Tatum drives past the Raptors defense, draws three defenders, and Pritchard nails a three after a sweet pass.
6. Payton Pritchard’s room
Speaking of Pritchard, he has more room than ever to thrive in Boston’s offense. He’s done a great job all season long of scoring in isolation, but now that defenses are so wrapped up in stopping Tatum and Brown, he has more room than ever to work.
Pritchard enjoyed a nice two-man game with Vucevic at the start of the fourth quarter, highlighted by this clunky yet effective play stemming from the corner.
Even here, while working with Queta, Pritchard somehow finds an open lane to the rim for an easy layup.
And then this play may have been the most significant of them all.
Pritchard goes to work against Shead, who is an impressive on-ball defender. But look how little help he gets. The rest of the Raptors are completely spaced, unwilling to help on Pritchard, and he scores a tough bucket in the lane.
If teams aren’t going to help on Pritchard — which they may be less willing to do, due to the presence of Tatum and Brown — he’ll consistently have a ton of space to dominate in isolation.
And the result? Pockets of Pritchard scoring surges, sprinkled throughout games.
