In the counter-tactics hypothesis department: We might see Spo try double-big, throwing Bam out there as a 4 with Love in the middle. Love is cooked, but can occasionally turn the clock back for a possession or two at a time (he was great at denying entry passes in the play-in games), and he's got the strength to move KP around which Bam lacks. If we match it with Horford / KP, Bam probably likes that matchup.
According to BRef, MIA briefly threw out a lineup of Bam, Love, Robinson, Wright, and Highsmith. It's almost as if they were saying, "We know we can't guard you one-on-one so we'll give you so many matchups to exploit, you'll get confused just picking one."
I think the only reason Miami didn’t get off more than 37 threes was due to our perimeter defense contesting so hard in denying them. Mazzulla seemed more than happy to allow 2’s in exchange for 3’s while Spo understood that Boston was dictating where both teams shots were coming from and that they had no chance to comeback by exchanging 2’s for 3’s.
Agree. This is about as well as Bam can play offensively, and it caps out at "60% TS on tough looks, where the defense isn't compromised at all."
IMO there is a basic hierarchy on the 3-point shot:
Agree. I'm sure BOS doesn't think that Bam's contested, fadeaway mid-range jumpers are going to beat them as BOS generally isn't sending help at all. Which means that Bam will score some but as you mention, there's no foul shots and there is no getting 3Ps off this either.
Makes sense but the shots I saw him hit were little baby hooks from about 6 feet that looked effortless, like he could do that all day.
Thanks for this well laid out response. For the record, I completely agree that when Tatum takes those early ATB 3's that it's a win for the defense on that possession. What I was trying to get at is does it help them on other possessions. In my head it's kind of like a football team running a few times in obvious running situations, knowing they're likely to only gain a yard or two, to set up the play action.IMO there is a basic hierarchy on the 3-point shot:
1. Corner 3s > Above-the-Break (ATB) 3s
2. Catch-n-Shoot (C&S) 3s > Pull-Up 3s
3. Wide-open 3s > Tightly Guarded 3s
https://www.nba.com/stats/team/1610612738/shots-dash
Obviously, certain players excel at different spots. Jrue (62%)/Hauser(52%) from the Corner is the highest value 3 on the Celtics (for example, Jrue Corner3 > prime Abdul-Jabber hook shot this season).
The Celtics should use the shot clock to find a GREAT shot. Besides a dunk/lay-up or KP post-up they should be hunting for Corner3s, C&S3s, & Wide-Open3s. Disclaimer: Time, score, and situation also dictate FGA.
When Tatum shoots early shot clock 3s from the right side ATB (especially PU3s) it's a WIN for the defense. It doesn't keep a defense "honest", help any other shooter, or exploit any kind of statistical offensive anomaly for the Celtics (YMMV). With 4 teammates on the floor, that can ALL shoot, there are at least a dozen better FGA (he doesn't share the floor with TL & Smart anymore). Lastly, if it's late in the shot clock Tatum is excellent at getting shots off (rarely gets blocked from 3 + draws fouls on 3s) which justifies a PU/ATB right-side 3s.
The point @tims4wins and I are making is this record-setting offense will need to be disciplined to win a Championship and continue to take Great shots over Good shots. CJM will have a few things to work on/point out from G1 to improve on which should keep them focused, so all is good after the Celtics' wire-to-wire 20-point win
According to NBA.com, the only baby hook that Bam hit over KP was with 3:30-ish left in the game and it was actually contested so not quite as easy as it looks. Bam also tried another "hookish" shot at the end of the 1H but KP blocked it.
That's a fair question to ask and it's something we've been kicking around here all season.
Yeah, I recommend going and watching them all. It was pretty tough money.
The Heat for a large part decided they couldn't keep up with man to man defense on the perimeter so they tried a zone and tried some high traps. The high traps as of a year ago were Brown's and Tatum's kryptonite however Tatum was whipping the ball out leading to very open 3s. Brown looked awful against the zone, had some problems with the traps, and for a part of the game got completely out of the game.
The thing is...getting shook inside is everyone in the New NBA. The other scores over the weekend were:
Jimmy would usually take one spot up top to get steals and Bam would be down low. Checked some painful Youtube tape from last year to confirm.
Right. I think we (collectively) overlook that Miami is really good at playing zone. So the Celtics aren't going to cut it like a hot knife through butter. But they wont stall out like they did last year.
According to the tweet below, Cs scored 1.56 points per possession against MIA's zone (1.17 ppp vs. man). So pretty close to hot knife through butter, at least as far as the NBA goes.
Who's the closest comp for Bam in the league? Shorter, more agile C (who could be a PF), who lacks the strength to play bully-ball but has enough post moves to score around people, gets to the line a bit but not a lot, can defend most switches, and yet has no outside shot from beyond 12-15' or so.
Ready for a fun one...... early career Al Horford before he extended his range.
I didn't see that at all.. would have to go back and look but Bam had a hand in his face all day. He was hitting fadeaways, but I thought KP did a lot to contest. Bam did post him up a few times, but IMO that's not going to get it done all game. He can't be the primary scorer on a winning team.
That's probably fair. Al has always been a better passer, but maybe not quite as good finishing right around the rim. Or maybe he was when he was younger and I just don't remember as well.
I chuckled at this. Claxton and his 54% FT rate would rather be anywhere in the world but the charity stripe.
It's not hard to understand when you watch him.
Bam Adebayo is a perennial defensive player of the year candidate and a 3 time all-star. Daniel Theis? GTFO
Hey, I only said he gets to the line!
I didn't suggest Theis was as good as Bam overall, I'm talking about player profile, play style and skillset distribution. Everyone else seems to have gotten that.
View: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10117968-gobert-jordan-poole-trae-young-dillon-brooks-voted-most-overrated-by-nba-players
This is a key. In fact, Porzingis was guilty a few times of going 1 on 3 in the post on Sunday. Al would pass before the double even arrived. Almost too soon. His own offense has almost always been an afterthought, sometimes to the team's detriment.
This got two big laughs from me. The first from recalling the hack-a-Claxton incidents from earlier this year, including when we were up big in the IST game against them. Coach Joe being a sicko yet again. God we all loved that so much.
Yeah, Boston will take G1's KP-Bam trade-off all day, given how good Porzingis looked on both ends and the fact that he's, like, our third scoring option. To make it competitive, Miami is going to need something like... I dunno... 3 random players who average collectively in the mid-low 30s in 3PT% suddenly shooting 50% at volume over a 7 game series. <getting angry again>.
Other than the "more agile," aren't you describing Sabonis?
This is a really good point. Especially since coming to Boston, Al just hasn't been a big time scorer despite really possessing all the skills. He's scored 30 points exactly once in his Celtics career (495 games including playoffs), and his regular season high in 6 seasons with Boston is just 27 points. KP scored 27+ 9 times in just 57 games this year.
Sabonis is perhaps the biggest bully in the league in terms of wanting to play bully-ball.
I largely buy this. His size (6'10) enables and limits him similarly to Bam. We saw it on display twice last week, wrecking Draymond and the undersized Cs that GSW deployed, but then losing the battle against Valanciunas (Fox won them that game).
