The Celtics Just Exposed The Knicks’ Biggest Issue

The Celtics Just Exposed The Knicks’ Biggest Issue

After going down 02 on their home floor, the Celtics went into New York and responded with a 22point win in game three. You could point to a number of factors such as the play of Payton Pritchard off the bench, the shot creation of the Jays, or of course the fact that they made 50% of their threes. And while those all played a major role, my biggest takeaway was their defensive game plan. Most notably, the way they were able to highlight the biggest flaws with the Knicks offense. It’s not like they did anything super advanced. It’s almost become a custom to match Jason Tatum up against the opposing center so that you can switch against ball screens. And this is unlocked by the fact that they’ve got the most versatile group of man defenders in the NBA. It starts with Tatum and his ability to play up. He’s got the size, length, and strength to hold his own against most centers in isolation. So, that’s not much of a problem. And the same applies to Jaylen Brown. He’s matching up with the biggest forward where his strength allows him to shut off attacks. But much like Tatum, he can also switch down onto smaller guards and contain him, while Drew’s lower body strength allows him to switch up, meaning that the Knicks couldn’t really create any advantages off of ball screens. For that reason, they left just about every isolation in single coverage. Instead of loading up early, they’d come with late help after somebody got beat. Then they’d scramble out of that by shifting everybody one pass up and closing out as aggressively as possible to the three-point line. The only time you’d see them load up early was if Horford found himself on Brunson. This right here is just highlevel execution, recognizing the mismatch and falling into a 212 zone so that Brunson doesn’t really have a lane into the paint on either his left or right. Then when it gets moved to the three-point line, you’ve got those aggressive closeouts, not letting the Knicks get any open threes. That was a consistent theme throughout the game. In game one, the Knicks attempted 37 threes. In game two, they attempted 31 threes. And in game three, just 25 three-point attempts as a result of Boston’s aggressive perimeter defense. The only guy they would let the three was Josh Hart, and that showed in the way they defended. I mentioned that they didn’t really bring help on isolations. Well, that applied to everyone but Al Horford, who was leaving Hart on an island so that he could help protect the paint. Take this play for example. When Pritchard checked in, Brunson started to make an effort to hunt for him on switches so that he could play bully ball. But when he goes to the post, Horford abandons Hart up top to take away the middle of the floor, forcing Brunson into a really tough turnaround jumper. The same applied to Porzingis when he came in. He’s matched up with Hart. Completely ignores him to help protect the middle, then makes no effort to close out after he catches the ball. Hart tries to counter by handing it off, but Chrisaps continues to just camp out near the paint, not letting the Knicks create downhill pressure. Of course, they tried to counter by using Hart as a screener and forcing Chrisaps into the action. That’s when you see the point of attack defender chase Brunson over the top while Chrisap stayed back in a deep drop. Again, they’re letting him catch the ball and essentially baiting him into taking the open three. So, Hart got subbed out for Mitchell Robinson, but with the Knicks in the bonus, that’s when they had Chrisaps intentionally foul to send Robinson to the free throw line. If you’re unfamiliar with why that’s the case, throughout Robinson’s entire playoff career, he’s made just 34% of his free throws. So far in this year’s playoffs, he’s made just 11 of 38 or 29%. So, as long as the Celtics lean into the strategy of sending him to the line, they’re able to play him off the floor. As a result, he only played 19 minutes in game three, which has a huge trickle down effect because of how important he is to the team’s defense. In the first quarter, it was Precious Achua who picked up some of those extra minutes to which Chrisaps did the exact same thing he did with Hart, completely ignoring him as a scoring threat to help protect the rim. Take this Brunson isolation for example. He does a great job of using his strength and footwork to get deep into the paint against White, but with Chrisaps just waiting for a shot attempt, there’s no opportunity, forcing the offense to reset. The Knicks actually ended up closing the quarter with both Robinson and Achua with Horford on Precious. Now he’s in a position to freely roam the court and prioritize Brunson, leaving him with nowhere to go and forcing somebody else to make a play with Chrisap still parked under the basket. So after 12 minutes, the Knicks had only recorded 20 points. To start the second, things picked up right where they left off. Maybe Robinson’s most valuable skill on offense is his ability to create second chance opportunities. But the Celtics made it clear that anytime he grabbed a rebound, they’d immediately wrap him up. And this might be the first time that I’ve ever seen the defense actively try to get the refs to call a shooting foul. So his time on the court was once again short-lived as they got Hart back in the game. And that’s when Boston put Luke Cornett on him to do the exact same thing that both Horford and Chrisaps did. only worried about the pain. The Knicks tried all sorts of counters. One was to have Hart attack that space by stampeding into a drive only for Cornet to shut him off at the rim. Another was what we saw in the first quarter, using Hart as a screener to force Cornet into the action to which he sat back in that deep drop, only worried about not letting the ball get to the rim. Of course, when Chrisaps checked in, nothing changed. Hart screens. Chrisaps drops back while White chases the ball from behind. And on the reset, Brunson’s going to try to take White one-on-one, only for Chrisaps to continue roaming behind the play, welcoming that pass to the corner. Brunson bites, Hart hesitates, and the Celtics end up leaving them with the exact shot they want. So, a third counter was to instead move Hart from the corner to the dunker. The hope was to make him more of a scoring threat. But all that did was move Chrisaps even closer to the basket as a shot blocker. Then they went to counter number four, putting Hart on the ball and moving Brunson away from it. Only that didn’t lead to much of anything either. And after that, it was time for counter number five. Brunson’s going to start up top. Hart’s going to run to the corner to set an offball screen for OG. But Brown’s just going to chase him over, leading him right into Horford and forcing a turnover. Basically, what I’m getting at is the fact that there was absolutely nothing for New York inside the paint. It didn’t matter who was on Hart, how they used him, or how they spaced the rest of the floor. There were no openings to attack with nothing at the rim and nothing from three. That’s how you end up scoring just 46 points in the first half and heading back to the locker room with a 25point deficit. From that point on, the Celtics just stuck with what worked and the Knicks couldn’t make up the ground. When Hart screens, Horford plays the ball in a drop. And this time, he decides to not even attempt the three. He only ended up shooting three of the open threes they were gifting him, and he didn’t make a single one. So, his lack of floor spacing was pretty easily the team’s biggest issue. It was only when he landed a really hard screen that they were able to create an advantage. But that advantage was just Horford switching out to the ball, which you’ll take if you’re the Celtics. Speaking of which, when Robinson was in for Hart, the Celtics threw Chrisaps on him to continue playing free safety, and that enables Boston to switch more freely. Typically, you’d look at Pritchard against Cat as a huge mismatch, but if you’ve always got a wall in front of the basket, it’s not as much of an issue. And the final piece to the puzzle with this is timely peel switching. When Cat isolates Horford, Chrisaps commits to the ball, which leaves Robinson unattended. Then Horford immediately peels onto the dunker as they both work to take away the paint. By the end of the game, the Knicks had only scored 93 points, making it the second game in a row where they failed to crack a 100. And that right there is sort of the point. Boston’s superpower as a championship contender is their defensive versatility in unison with the amount of space they create on offense. So, as long as they’re at least competent scoring the ball, they’re almost unbeatable. The Knicks are up 2-1, but over those three games, they’ve had just a 103.6 offensive rating, which is the worst of any team in the second round. if they’re going to win this series, they’re gonna have to produce more efficient offense because with each passing game, the Celtics look more and more dangerous. If you enjoyed this breakdown, make sure to drop a like, subscribe, and turn my post notifications on to me first on more content. If you’re interested in my more in-depth research, make sure to check out the Hoop Venue podcast and my social media profiles. You can find those links in the description. Feel free to let me know down in the comments what you think of this series. As always, I hope you all have a great day and I’ll catch you guys in the next one.

The Celtics just beat the Knicks by 22 on their home floor, and their brilliant defensive gameplan potentially exposed New York’s biggest issue.

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