Congratulations, Celtics, for bringing everyone an unwelcome dose of reality. The loss to Brooklyn stung in so many ways, but it also should have driven home a very key point: You can’t relax against anyone and expect to do well.
The Atlanta Hawks will be looking to avenge a loss that started them on a four-losses-in-five-games stretch. They’ve been banged up (Bazemore and Splitter are out tonight), and they’ve had controversy (Coach Budenholzer got fined for bumping a ref… but the refs wanted a suspension). So they’d love nothing more than to right the ship against the team that wronged it tonight. The Celtics can avoid that if they follow this game plan
1: RUN!
The Celtics might be short a point guard, but that doesn’t mean they can’t push the pace. The Hawks are in the bottom half of the league in pace (98.67) while the Celtics are fifth. The Hawks want to slow it down and get the ball to their big front court studs Al Horford and Paul Millsap. Push the pace and wear these guys out. Take advantage of the depth to shuttle guys in and out and, even if this game is close, maybe the Celtics can pull away in the end.
2: Keep Korver out of the corner
Most guys would kill to shoot 41% from 3. For Kyle Korver, it’s a big step down and his lowest percentage in 7 years. He shot 49% from 3 last year, but hasn’t found his range… yet.
No one expect that heat map to look that cold all year long, and there’s one spot a guy like Korver will seek out to get himself going. The corner.
Korver took 136 corner 3’s in 75 games last year, or about 1.8 per game. He has taken 6 corner 3’s through 13 games this year.. or .46 per game.
We all know the open corner 3 is the holy grail of the NBA right now. When a threat like Korver exists on your roster and he needs to get going, you start designing some plays to get him into the corner. The Celtics can’t let him get there.
3: Play Evan Turner and Avery Bradley together
I’m not going to get into starting/sitting right now. Brad Stevens has a plan and that’s fine, but if he decides to start Avery Bradley, he should start Evan Turner with him. If you’re not willing to start Turner, then move Bradley to the bench and take a chance on different starting backcourt.
Turner/Bradley are the second-best 2-man combo (+18.2) right now. They don’t ALWAYS have to play together, but they’ve worked together, mostly in the framework of the second unit (Bradley, Turner, Jerebko, Olynyk are the best 4-man combo at +49.1).
If they work so well together on the bench with those other guys, and if Stevens is intent on keeping Thomas in the starting lineup, then why don’t we just go with it….
Move Bradley back to the bench, go nuts and maybe start RJ Hunter to get some space, and see if that kind of shooting gets Thomas the space he needs to get going.
Ok, that last sentence was kind of out there… especially since….
4: Don’t let Teague take over
I’ll admit that the last section might have gone off the rails a tiny bit… even though I stand by the Turner/Bradley combo. In fact, I’d like to start them, because I don’t want Jeff Teague to make Mike Gorman say “this kid is probably the most underrated point guard in the league” again. Teague has a takeover mode, and if the Celtics start Thomas & (insert non-Bradley name here), Teague will find that gear and never look back.
Put Turner on Korver to match the size, let Bradley have his way with Teague, and then let Thomas do his thing off the bench.
Sorry, I know I said I wouldn’t go there… but… I went there. Teague can be the most explosive player on this roster when he’s hot, and I don’t feel like seeing that happen tonight.
It’s not as easy without Smart in the lineup, but if the Celtics can keep that pace at a level that makes Atlanta uncomfortable, keep Korver & Teague in check, and get the right mix of guys on the floor… they’ll beat the Hawks again.
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