Boston Celtics defense locks down Zion Williamson, C’s get big win in New Orleans

Boston Celtics defense locks down Zion Williamson, C’s get big win in New Orleans

The Boston Celtics did two things to beat the New Orleans Pelicans they tried and they tried something new and I’m going to explain that right now on a bonus lockdown Celtics podcast thanks to Blockbuster Brad holid season Dr in the mix and three from KP no we not on the knck fling competition

Like h on Yannis juice and Big D still being to finest been a r going up in the rafter watching SE gaining locks on after on the breakdown clut like a TI from D white on the breakdown John on the mic document and domination m p back

B s Nation r j how start a raising B how we finish locked on Celtics P home of the winners hey there welcome back to the lockdown Celtics podcast right here on the lockdown podcast Network where it’s your team every day and I’ve got you covered every single day normally Monday

Through Friday but man I am just blasting through these bonus podcasts did one yesterday to preview this game doing one today to talk about the post game and I’ll be back all week long so make sure you’re subscribe wherever you get your podcast this bonus podcast I’ll

Try to keep it a little bit shorter I know it’s Easter for a lot of you and you know you might not have uh the full 30 minutes you maybe you’re going to a family event maybe you’re going to church maybe you’re doing something maybe you’re not celebrating either way

Whichever it doesn’t matter to me uh I’m just happy to have you on board here for this post Celtic 12-point win over the New Orleans Pelicans I’m here if you’re watching on YouTube which you should subscribe on the YouTube page in addition to subscribing wherever you get

Your audio podcast uh you can see me here in the media room with the big New Orleans Pelicans logo behind me I would love to do this from The Arena floor but they’re out there with uh like leaf blowers blowing away all the the trash

And stuff so uh this is the quiet spot so here I am I’m John carrales if you’re new to the show I used to play a long time ago now I’m covering the Celtics as a beat writer for a Boston Sports Journal so let’s just Dive Right into

This because as I said the Celtics did a couple of things here I I there are three main elements to how they won this game later on we’ll just talk about just trying at all in the in a few minutes here we’ll get into like their fourth quarter execution let’s start with their

Defense because the Celtics in the first quarter gave up 37 points and as you can see the rest of the way they gave up what was that 50 Five Points the rest of the way to get to 92 is that right yes I think

So but point is they gave up a ton of points in the beginning in the first quarter uh a lot of fouls uh they were getting they were giving up uh they were turning the ball over a bunch they were uh giving up three-pointers and some of those three-pointers were the players

That Joe moula said we’re okay with those guys shooting you know you got to make sure you’re contesting but those were guys that they wanted to to if anybody’s going to take those three-pointers those were the guys that were going to take those three-pointers so uh it burned them early but not

Overall so uh it looked like for a while there that the Pelicans were going to shoot their way to this win and the Celtics did a good job of ultimately kind of matching the the Pelicans Cel Celtics were 15 of 37 Pelicans were 13 of 35 so you know only a Sixpoint

Difference there kind of a wash uh even at the free throw line and then it comes down to hitting a few more of these two-pointers to to win this game and but it really starts with their defense and after that first quarter they did a couple of things they they

Stopped turning the ball over Jaylen Brown did an incredible job defending Zion Williamson taking that challenge and what a great season it’s been for for Jaylen defensively he he talked before the season or early part of the Season about wanting to be uh an all in all defensive team uh you know

Potentially on one of the all you know first team all defense and early on I was like okay yeah Jaylen that’s that’s great it’s a nice goal but I’m not I’m not too worried about that well you know what he’s he’s making a case for an all

Defensive team I wouldn’t be surprised I would say Derek white and Drew holiday should absolutely make it I wouldn’t be surprised if Jaylen Brown gets a lot of strong consideration there are a lot of good Defenders out there and in those spots they’re position lless so they

Tend to go to bigs but it’s in this NBA who knows I think Jaylen taking that challenge taking on Zion you know going chest to chest jaylen’s a big strong dude but Zion is a bigger stronger dude and he made Zion pick up his dribble uh

Sooner than he wanted to uh it made him uncomfortable around the rim things were automatic early on for Zion and then he just it got to a point where in the third and fourth quarter it was almost like Zion was just like I’m not even I

Don’t even want to be involved in this play I’m just kind of like checking out and that that’s an amazing thing to get to because Zion has been a huge part the reason that the Pelicans have gotten to where they’ve gotten and he still scored

25 points but on nine of 17 shooting uh 17 shots is is not uh a ton for for Zion I think he could he could have shot more you got 23 shots for CJ that’s probably where they wanted Zion to be oh and there there’s a nice loud horn coming

From the other room it’s just a cacophony over here uh they he got to the line 14 times seven of 14 I’m sure from you know my buddy Jake Madison’s perspective you probably look at that and say if they if they could have gotten to uh a few more free throws out

Of Zion that that alone might have changed like the tenor but he’s not a good free throw shooter so that that’s something the Celtics were comfortable with uh so they did a good job on Zion and and he could have been much more devastating than you know a 25-point

Game you you can live with that you know 9 of 17 53% this is Zion’s the type of guy that can go 14 for 17 getting to the rim drawing and ones and could be a real killer real momentum changer and he never he they never let him after the

First quarter truly truly get comfortable so shout out to Jaylen Brown for accepting that challenge meeting that challenge headon and he looked like he was in a fight after the game when he came over here to talk to us here in the media room and in fact a little scary

Thing was his left hand which you could see you could have see him during the game holding it that’s something that he said was bothering him has been bothering him for a while um and he’s going to get that checked when they get back to Boston so that’s a little scary

I want to see what that what that’s all about um I don’t like the way that is uh playing out but he finished the game he seemed okay they um you know he he said he had a back tightness and his knee hit the ground so it wasn’t like uh he got a

Strain or anything like that I guess it was like some sort of contusion do not expect him to play against Charlotte like I think he’s got between the knee the back the hand they’ve got a bunch of reasons not to play him against the Charlotte Hornets in fact don’t wait for

The Charlotte game to be over just send Jaylen home now send him to Boston now get it checked now and let’s just see what it is and and kind of move on from there so but we’ll see in the meantime awesome defensive game from him awesome defensive game from everybody Kristof

Porzingis protecting the rim is a true true team effort four block shots for christops porzingis you got a block shot from holiday you got a block shot from Al Horford uh the Celtics blocked seven shots overall Jaylen Brown and I think they’re actually like a few I thought there were more block

Shots to be honest with you they were contesting so much at The Rim it was it was just a a gang effort at The Rim you know making Pelicans the you know pick up their dribble like I said a little soon and and and make a move that they

Weren’t trying to you know they didn’t really want to make and challenging that and and getting help from you know weak side help it was it’s just a really great defensive effort indicative of what they are capable of doing and that’s that’s the big thing this is what

They are capable of doing forget the Atlanta games like people really look the comments in the YouTube and the comments on Boston Sports Journal after the Atlanta games were just brutal and then they go out against the Pelicans who are fighting for home court in the first round of the Western Conference uh

Playoffs go out there and take the first punch and answer build the lead out to 22 hold on in the fourth quarter and come out of New Orleans with a double digit win so that’s that to me is is the impressive part and and much more indicative of who they are than what

They showed in Atlanta the what they didn’t show in Atlanta was Derek white and Chris thops porzingis pick and rolls which they couldn’t in one of the games because those guys weren’t playing but late game I was very very impressed and happy to see the Celtics going to it was

Basically the same play over and over and over again holiday brings it up the right side over to Tatum over to porzingis who flows into some sort of pick and roll or gets it over to Derek White dribble handoff or a pick and roll or just Derek white matching up and and

Driving resulted in a uh first one was Derek white free throws second one was a porzingis drive and dump off to Jaylen Brown for a dunk the third one was um a shot that white missed the there was an actual t over where they started to defend it and and

Figure it out a little bit and then they they get Jason a little bit more involved Jason draws two and kicks it over to Derek at the top of the the at the top of the key there and hits a three-pointer from you know the top and that was the

Dagger that was beautiful that whole offensive execution was beautiful because they involved everybody they didn’t have Tatum or brown bringing the ball up all the time they got it into Derek White’s hands a guy we all trust they ran a play that involved multiple people and they didn’t

Worry about oh this might be a turnover no they ran a good play and they they ran pick and roll or drible handoffs and put the ball on the floor and dribbled and attacked and they played with Pace they played with really good Pace to attack and and force the Pelicans to

Do something like on that porzingis drive you force the help to step up and Jaylen Brown’s cutting Baseline and you get a wide open dunk so Jaylen didn’t have to ISO to get that shot Tatum ISO on a drive from the right corner but the floor was so spread out that aside from

A a late kind of gamble for a steal from Zion Williamson there was no help so that’s what you’re looking for it’s not that I don’t want Jason Tatum to isolate I that’s great if he isolates in a situation like this where all of a sudden it’s well we don’t we don’t know

What you’re trying to do here we can’t load up on a Jason Tatum ISO we can’t load up on a Jaylen Brown ISO we have to worry about Derek white and Chris porzingis and Drew holiday that’s what you want the defense to be thinking and so the Celtics spammed that play over

And over and over again just like they kind of spammed that switch defensively in the last game and we were like oh Joe moua what’s he doing you know he’s making excuses and all that stuff well they they spammed another thing and it was working they kept going to it and

There you go you get more film on something film on something that works and proof proof to Tatum and proof to Brown like hey look at what happens when you give the ball up you guys each had big buckets Tatum had that big assist to

Derek white so if you draw two and kick or you attack against the spread out defense you’re much more likely or cut you’re much more likely to score and and be part of holding off another team the 22-point lead was a 13-3 run it got down

To 12 and all the Celtics needed to do and this is what I keep saying over and over and over and over again fourth quarter with the lead all you have to do is make buckets I don’t care if you win the fourth quarter or lose the fourth

Quarter by a couple of points they lost the fourth quarter by three I don’t care about that you’re up by 22 lose the fourth quarter by three don’t lose it by 13 don’t lose it by 23 you know what I mean don’t lose the fourth quarter to a point where you’re

You’re losing the lead right so don’t uh I shouldn’t have thrown the 13 in there don’t lose it by 23 when you’re up by 22 you get my point losing it by three whatever because what the Celtics did in that three-minute stretch McCollum hits a three-pointer with 426 on the

Clock and the Celtics over the next three minutes by the time Dereck white hits that three with a minute 20 on the clock so almost three minutes exactly they just did enough to hold on to that lead they trade buckets fine trade buckets all right yeah you want to

Get stops obviously you want to get stops and they did get a couple of stops but like I said the Pelicans they’re a good team they’re fighting for home court in the first round they’re going to hit some shots they’re gonna make some baskets you just have to hit enough

Baskets to to make them run out of time it’s so funny that when the Celtics grind things to a halt because they want to suck all the time out of the clock it’s when that’s when they screw it up and the other team makes their run when

You play with pace and you score your buckets that’s when the time really becomes an issue because you’ve got yourself your options you’ve got more options to score so even if you miss you’re giving your team more options down the floor and the ball touches two

Three sets of hands and you get it you end up getting a good shot and more often than not those are going to go in you’re going to get filed you’re you get those free throws so then by the time it’s a buck 20 to go now you’re starting

To play the foul game and that’s where the game is over that’s where it doesn’t matter that they cut it to 11 right because Derrick White hits that three you make a bucket you hold on to your lead and you walk out of the Smoothie King Center with a double digigit win

That’s exactly how it’s supposed to go so credit to them for the defense showing us their defense what that’s capable of credit to them for doing something different in the late game now we can see Derek white can handle the ball trust him it works yeah Tatum’s gonna handle the ball yeah jaylen’s

Gonna handle the ball that’s not all you can do that’s not all you have to do and then it just comes down to simply trying and the the porzingis after the game he just couldn’t help but being but be honest where he like okay it’s on us and it’s not always

Easy he I’m paraphrasing but the is basically what he said it’s not always easy to get up for these games we know what we’ve accomplished we’ve worked hard to accomplish these things we’ve we’ve gotten to this point and now we know what’s next so there’s this kind of

Like space here where it’s like ah okay yeah let’s you don’t have that same oomph behind it and you didn’t have it in Atlanta and you saw what happened and it’s tough it’s tough we saw it with the Denver Nuggets last year we’ve SE SE it with teams in these situations before

You just kind of let go a little bit and NBA teams are good enough where yeah you get burned a little bit you have it’s it they do have to fix that and they do have to find it within themselves to be better at that because you’re going to find situations

And games in the playoffs where you don’t want to get into the habit of relaxing but it is understandable that they have these lapses and all that stuff so they wanted this game they wanted to go out there and and and yeah in the first quarter they got smacked

Around and holiday after the game was like sometimes you need to get smacked in the face a little bit so they responded well and they they did what they did they wanted this they tried they tried they wanted to play good defense they did they wanted to execute down the

Stretch they did this is what they’re capable of this is the Boston Celtics this is what they do so I say all that stuff and it’s not like and I told you so I am trying to give you the sense of what’s Happening Here these next two three weeks are not about

Did they win or did they lose even though you’re sitting there saying I want them to win they’re not going to win all of these games their winning percentage is going to be much lower than the 78% that they’re at here it’s going to be lower because guys

Are Gonna Miss This Charlotte game right guys are gonna miss some of these games at home to to close out the season the next two weeks in April it’s it’s not going to be the same juice and when the same juice isn’t there you just don’t have that same you

Know it’s not the execution is not going to be there exactly the same way so just prepare yourself for it it’s not an indictment on their chances it’s not this game the Pelicans game shows what they are fully capable of and I want to see more of it but hey it shows that

They’re learning it shows that they’re growing even now even at the end of March even on Easter they are growing they are making steps they’re taking steps forward so I will be back tomorrow because tomorrow is Sunday which means I will be recording the Monday show tomorrow night going to

Answer some mailbag questions at John cares.com mailbag and and then back for a full week of games and uh let’s see how many podcasts I can do in a row I think I’m at 14 in a row now let’s keep it going subscribe to make sure that you

Get all of them dropped directly to your Vice get on Device and or your Vice whatever I mean whatever your Vice is are and uh get on to that YouTube page subscribe there and I would love it if you shared the podcast spread the word tell everybody they should be listening

To and watching the lock on Celtics podcast it’s right here on the lockdown podcast Network your team every day

The Celtics came out a little slow, but their defense stepped up to get Zion Williamson under control and then take control of the game. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal was at the game and has more on the defense showing its full capabilities, the different things Boston did down the stretch to hold off the Pelicans late run, and how just trying at all was a big step in the win.

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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.

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