Porzingis providing a solution for offense
MIAMI — After the Celtics demolished the Heat on Thursday, 143-110, Jaylen Brown was asked how they had carved up a team known for its tricky and detailed defenses.
But Brown said Miami’s scheme remained similar to the one used in last season’s conference finals, when the Celtics failed to score more than 116 points in any of the seven games and lost the series.
“The difference is Kristaps. He got off to a hot start,” Brown said. “So, kind of the way they guarded us [in the past], Kristaps kind of opened things up a little bit with his shot-making ability with some of their switches and stuff like that. It just allowed everything else to just snowball.”
Brown was referring to 7-foot3-inch center Kristaps Porzingis, whose Wizards did not even qualify for the playoffs last season. He has been a boon to Boston this year.
At the start of training camp, the Celtics made it clear there would be an adjustment period while figuring out how to best deploy Porzingis’s unusual skills on a team that had become so accustomed to simply following the leads of Brown and Jayson Tatum. But there was plenty of time.
And with just over half of the season complete, coach Joe Mazzulla’s vision continues to come into focus.
“There’s going to be times where a guy is heavily involved, and times where we’re going to have to watch him go to work, or watch him create for us,” Mazzulla said. “[We] had a lot of moments where it was like, ‘This guy can make my life easier.’ On both ends of the floor we’ve had that.
“So [against Miami] and in the last five games, we’ve seen different coverages on Kristaps, different matchups. And I think we noticed them quicker, and we built a level of trust among the guys.”
For months, Mazzulla has preached about the importance of swiftly recognizing an opponent’s coverage. There are just 24 seconds on the shot clock, and usually about 18 when the ball crosses midcourt. So confusion and uncertainty when figuring out how and where to attack can send a possession sideways.
The Heat are not very big, with the 6-9 but very athletic Bam Adebayo at center. But they find ways, such as unfurling zone defenses that perplexed the Celtics during last season’s playoffs, or switching smaller players onto bigger ones in man-to-man sets and counting on help.