One play, five options: How Boston’s offense creates scoring chances

alley oop

The Celtics get going for real in a few hours… and we’ll get to see if their free-flowing, smoother-than-expected offense can pull off in the regular season what it did in the preseason.

One thing that surprised me so far is just how fluid and precise a bunch of guys who’ve barely played together can be. It’s a testament to how smart and versatile the players are, and how Brad Stevens puts trust in them to turn these sets and actions into scoring opportunities.

On Boston.com, I took one set from this preseason and walked through all the options these guys give themselves and how the play flows as players read the defenses and react to what’s presented.

Here’s the play:

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Option 1: The Alley Oop

After passing to Horford the first option is a simple back pick on Brown’s man. Brown uses it and turns the corner.

If Horford wanted to throw the alley oop, the super-athletic Brown probably could have gone to get it. Look how much room there is coming off the pick.

One play, five options: How Boston's offense creates scoring chances

This is one of five options (well, more than that because the other options branch out into even more options) this play presents.

Be sure to head over to Boston.com for the whole breakdown

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