How the Nuggets Picked the Celtics Apart

How the Nuggets Picked the Celtics Apart

Last night we got one of the best games of the season with the Denver Nuggets showcasing their seemingly Unstoppable offense against the Boston Celtics in what might just be an NBA Finals preview so I want to take an in-depth look at how the Nuggets were able to pick apart

Boston’s defense if you enjoy this video please consider leaving a like and subscribing let’s get into it the Nuggets open up the game with this twirl action where yic is going to get the ball to Gordon in the high post and Murray and joic are going to set

Staggered screens on the week side for Michael Porter Jr and Michael Porter Jr is going to reject the second screen and cut in between them Drew is going to call for porzingis to cover him cutting towards the basket because he knows that Murray is going to get the second screen

From jic but that switch doesn’t come quick enough and Gordon’s going to feed mpj for an easy two points on the very next possession they’re going to set up like they’re running that twirl action again but Michael Porter Jr is going to reject the first screen and make a

Baseline cut with Murray getting the second screen from y but the Celtics do a good job of cutting off any pass so Gordon feeds it to yic so that they can run a Blind Pig action for Murray where he runs by yic to get the ball on the way to the basket but

The Celtics defend this well and they’re able to force the miss the nuggets are then going to break out this cross screen where joic gives the ball to Murray and kcp is going to come and set this cross screen for joic to cut back towards Murray but while the Celtics are

Still navigating the action with porzingis and Tatum held up by yic kcp is going to pop out for the pass and he gets Tatum to bite on the pump fake before getting into the one dribble mid-range pullup next possession they set up for the exact same play but

Instead of screening for joic kcp pulls back to get porzingis away from him and Murray gets the ball to yage Jaylen Brown is going to get lost on who his coverage is and with kcp pulling out to the wing Aaron Gordon’s going to be left wide open near the dunker spot for the

Feeding the slam on this possession they’re going to run a zoom action for Michael Porter J Jor where he’s going to come from down low to get the pin down from Murray near the elbow in order to get the hand off from joic but Derek white does a good job of preventing him

From getting downhill or creating any advantage so the nuggets have to reset going into the reliable two-man game between joic and Murray and it puts Drew holiday behind the play and Murray gets the space that he needs to get the floater off you can see that Boston’s

Focus is going to be preventing joic and Murray from scoring and brown is fully comfortable helping off of Aaron ORD and living with the results if he gets an open Corner three Boston moved to Xavier Tillman and Horford in the front Court late in the first quarter and Horford is

Going to help off of brown and that leaves Hower and Tatum as the only ones on the weak side so joic is going to swing it to Watson with Tatum having to make the rotation but the fake PASS gives Watson the opportunity to attack and he dribbles into the mid-range

Pull-up with Tilman on joic the Nuggets were clearing out for him hoping to draw the double team and when Drew tries to come from behind and disrupt the post up Brown is going to be setting this screen for Watson to get the pass in the corner creating an open three that ultimately

Results in a miss the Tillman matchup also allowed yic to take advantage of his size because even though Tillman is a ridiculously strong player jokic still has the height Advantage so he’s able to just score right over top of him start of the second quarter they’re going to

Be leaning on Jamal Murray a lot to create for them in isolation and it’s actually pretty effective especially when they were able to get Tilman switched onto him they run this action to get Murray the switch and Murray is going to be able to break him down off

The dribble and attack the rim for the tough finish the Celtics adjust immediately after when the Nuggets try to go back to it not conceding the Tillman switch so Murray is going to drive instead and it forces Hower to provide help at the nail and it forces Pritchard into being

Switched onto pton Watson and pton Watson’s going to take advantage of the mismatch now with joic back in the game the broke out this Flex screen the screener action where joic sets this Flex screen for Murray and then Jackson is going to set up for the pin down for

Joic but the Celtics are going to pre- switch it and Jackson is going to show for kcp joic is going to angle like he’s going to set this flare screen for kcp but instead he’s going to ghost it catching Tatum off guard and Jackson’s going to find joic in stride to get the

Finish we also saw Denver make an emphasis on getting out and running in transition during this quarter but with about a minute left saw the Nuggets go to the Old Reliable joic Murray Twan game Murray has the ball on the empty side and joic comes and sets the screen

For him Tatum is going to get stuck behind the ball and Drew holiday is going to attempt to jump in front of Murray and block him but Murray gets it off over top with Gordon making the back door cut and since Drew jumped the gun Gordon’s going to be able to throw down

The reverse Slam in the second half the Nuggets ran this play where joic is going to get the ball to Murray then angle as if he’s going to set a screen for Murray but he goost it with with kcp screening on porzingis allowing yic to get the pass and establish positioning

So he can get the post up and finish Gordon’s going to be posting up here early in transition and Derek white is going to be focused on potentially having to go provide help if joic makes the pass so instead joic passes it to Michael Porter Jr who’s able to attack

White’s close out getting downhill to the rim and once the help comes he dumps it off to Gordon for the slam jic is going to run the handoff with kcp and Drew holiday is going to be hanging out around near the nail in case he needs to provide help leaving Porter

J a little bit unguarded kcp stops in holiday has a split second lapse in attention and by the time he actually realizes what’s happening Porter Jr has already made the back door cut and he’s going to get the Finish there’s going to be a lot that happens on this play the Celtics are

Going to be trying to deny any entry pass to joic in the post joic is going to ghost the initial ball screen with with Jackson attacking pulling two Defenders with him and he gets it back to jic and with Porter Jr looking like he’s going to screen for kcp to flare

Brown overcommits a little bit and kcp is able to get the hand off from joic and dribble into the mid-range pull-up with the Celtics game planning to stop joic and Jackson running pick and rolls they started sending some help off the corners and willingly leaving pton Watson open like they had been pretty

Much all game and he was able to make them pay for it these are conscious decisions being made by the Celtics but in these instances it’s a result that you just have to live with now with yic angling for the post up here Brown is going to try and sneak from the corner

To try and catch yic off guard and steal it from him off the pass but if you’re going to try that you better make sure that you get the ball because otherwise joic is going to make you pay exactly like he does here this screen from Payton Watson on this play is great

Because it looks as though he’s going to be setting it on Drew’s left side but he senses the cross coming from Murray so instead he’s going to set it on the right and it allows Murray to get plenty of space to work with Once Drew gets stuck on the screen the Celtics tried

Something that they actually do a lot against top centers we’ve seen them do it against embiid before but they put Drew holiday on Nicola yic in an attempt to throw a new look at Denver and it forced Denver to have to play through some other guys and once again we see

Boston willingly helping off of Watson to try and stop the other threats on the floor the Nuggets would then start looking to get Tatum switched onto joic and is going to be able to take advantage of it backing Tatum down until he can draw the help from porzingis

Allowing the dump off to The Cutting Aaron Gordon for the slam they put porzingis back on joic and even though it allowed them a better chance at forcing him into a miss it didn’t stop Aaron Gordon from getting this insane put back and yic was still able to get

To the rim and finish on the following possession and then to ice the game jic is going to back down porzingis draw two extra Defenders and then put it up for Gordon to throw it down and force the Celtics to go to the free throw game this game was awesome basketball from

Beginning to end and it showed me that the nuggets are still just as good as they ever were especially if a guy like pton Watson can continuously make teams pay for helping off of him if teams have to start honoring him from Beyond The Arc more and more and they start to not

Feel as comfortable helping off of him Denver’s offense which is already incredible is going to continue to get even better hope you guys enjoyed this video I’d really appreciate it if you considered leaving a like and subscribing if you want to see more stuff like this shout out to my patrons

For supporting the channel thank you all so much for watching and I’ll see you in the next one

The Denver Nuggets vs Boston Celtics last night was electric, and we got to see a potential NBA Finals preview between two of the best teams in the entire NBA. Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are of course an unstoppable force, but we got to see the full breadth of the Denver Nuggets when firing on cylinders, with guys like Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson making major contributions.

The Celtics didn’t play bad, but sometimes when you’re a team like the Denver Nuggets, there’s only so much you can do. We saw all the different looks that the Nuggets can throw at you, and even against the Boston Celtics defense, that’s a tall order.

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