Another win: 10 takeaways from Celtics/Mavericks

Another win: 10 takeaways from Celtics/Mavericks

Another win: 10 takeaways from Celtics/Mavericks

#1 This is the best Jaylen Brown we’ve seen

This isn’t a new revelation. Jaylen Brown has undoubtedly been playing some of the best basketball of his career this season. However,

this latest stretch of games has been a stark reminder of his developmental leap this season.

Against the Dallas Mavericks, 20 of Brown’s 34 points came inside of the paint. Dropping his shoulder, Brown can muscle his way to

whether he wants on the court. As we’ve seen, he can make decent rim reads to find a reliable passing angle, or he can explode out of

contact for monstrous finishes at the rim.

Bully drives like the one above have become a genuine tool within Brown’s scoring repertoire. His athleticism allows him to reach his

apex despite being closely contested, while his physical strength and ability to control his center of gravity make him tough to defend

when he’s going up at the rim.

What’s been most encouraging, though, is how Brown continually allows his mid-range game to work as a counter

When the defense adjusts their pick-up points and looks to limit his drives to the rim, Brown is consistently countering with mid-

range jumpers — both while facing up and on the turnaround. It’s been a huge reason why the rest of his offensive game has opened up

and why he’s thriving as a featured scorer within the offense.

Finally, we need to credit Brown for how well he handled his matchup with Luka Doncic. We all know that Doncic’s best basketball is

played on the offensive end.

Nevertheless, Brown consistently won his matchup against the MVP candidate and ensured he exposed some of Doncic’s weaknesses

on the defensive end. Doncic guarded Brown for 4:17, allowing the Celtics wing to go 5-of-9 from the field and dish out two assists. Oh,

and who can forget this highlight moment?

#2 Tatum snaps out of two-game slump

The three-point shot still isn’t falling. Yet, Jayson Tatum snapped out of his slump to drop 39 on the Mavericks. He was relentless in

getting downhill. He made some great reads out of blitzes. And he found ways to exploit gaps in the defense, regardless of whether it

created scoring opportunities for him or for his teammates.

Before we look at some of his scoring, I wanted to point out this pass.

Tatum has been making these swing passes out of the strong side post all season. This one stood out to me, though. He’s funneled

toward Dereck Livley II and then faces a double with the baseline acting as a third defender. Tatum manages to create some daylight

on the dribble before making a bullet pass to Horford in the weakside corner. It’s a big time pass, and it is another example of how his

playmaking ability has gone to another level over the past 12 months.

Now, the scoring.

Like Brown, Tatum did a significant portion of his work inside the paint. 14 of his 39 came from within 12 feet of the bucket.

Importantly, Tatum’s aggression when attacking the rim allowed him to get to the line, which gave him an additional 15 points on 15-

of-19 shooting.

Let’s start with this play. How many times have we seen Tatum settle for a side-step three in scenarios like this? Two defenders

waiting to contest him, limiting his options on the drive. Instead, Tatum creates space off the dribble, drops his shoulder and attacks

the rim. He doesn’t get the friendly roll on the reverse, but it’s a great process and is a welcomed shift in mindset.

Similarly to Brown, Tatum was also flashing his upside as a mid-range jump shooter, once again as a counter to when the defense was

taking away the drive.

Drop defense is the predominately defensive system in the NBA. Sure, teams have other systems in their toolbox, but having a big drop

is commonplace for the most part. So, when your two best players can both create their own shot in the mid-range to counter the

defense, it opens up additional scoring opportunities.

I’m ok with Tatum’s three-point struggles against Dallas. It forced him to lean into his finishing ability around the rim and gave us one

of his better scoring performances in recent weeks.

#3 Grant Williams is struggling badly

He’s an ex-Celtic, so I feel like it’s ok to make a quick observation here. Grant Williams enjoyed a strong start to his career with the

Mavericks. His shot was falling, the team’s defense improved with him in the rotation, and everything clicked. As the season has worn

on, Williams has struggled to leave his mark on games and isn’t making the defensive impact he was acquired to provide.

Against the Celtics, Williams was primarily a spectator. He didn’t provide much floor spacing in the corners. His defense wasn’t as

stern as what you would expect. And, his best moment came when he wrapped up Brown on a drive — which was more a vibes thing

than an actual performance thing.

Hopefully, Williams can figure things out and make his presence felt the next time he faces his former team. Right now, though, it

wouldn’t be surprising if he’s on the trade market at the end of the season. The fit and the role he’s being asked to play just don’t suit

his skill set.

#4 The 2-1-2 zone is still a work in progress

As we did with the 2-2-1 press earlier in the season, we’re starting to see a consistent dosage of the “2-1-2 spy” zone from the Celtics.

So far, the results have been extremely mixed. Yes, that zone system helped turn the game against the Toronto Raptors on Monday,

Jan. 15. Yet, since then, it’s been a mixed bag.

The point of throwing this coverage into games at this point in the season is to work out the kinks. Having a zone defense that you can

turn to for spot minutes during the postseason is something Boston has been missing in recent years. So, if some ugly possessions are

the price to pay for figuring it out, so be it.

Just to note, I do like the 2-1-2 spy and the pressure it can apply to an offense. Figuring out how you want the “spy” in the middle of

the zone to operate will be key to making the coverage work. As you can see in the above clip, the coverage was blown open when

Lively II positioned himself on the dunker spot and created confusion on how he was supposed to be covered. It’s a learning process.

#5 Hasuer and Pritchard held their ground

There were points in the game when Doncic began to hunt Pritchard and Sam Hauser to exploit the mismatch. In total, Pritchard

spent 1:15 guarding the Mavericks star player. Yet, that was enough time for Doncic to get off five shot attempts, missing all of them.

Prtichard’s low center of gravity and ability to get his hips into his man when guarding bigger and stronger opponents makes him a

tough match-up to exploit. In the above clip, you can see Pritchard holding his ground as Doncic tries to muscle his way to his spot.

Yes, Doncic gets some separation on the contact, but Pritchard didn’t back down and wasn’t exactly being thrown around.