Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here… highlighting the big story line. Because there’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
“As we said before the game, one of the things we want to do — especially in Isaiah (Thomas’) absence — is play through our bigs and through the post. And the game started really going our way when we started going our way. We passed out of the post, had a bunch of cuts out of it. Guys were active, and Al is such a good passer down there that it’s a good action for our team.”
Al Horford barely squeaked into double digits Wednesday night, with 10 points on nine shots, but as Jay King points out in this article (with the help of three animated GIFs), Horford was instrumental in turning the tide of the game in the 3rd quarter.
Coming into the 2016-17 campaign, Horford’s 10th NBA season, the 6-foot-10 big man had registered eight or more assists just seven times in his career. He has done it three times in 12 games with Boston, including in both of Boston’s games this week.
What’s more, the 30-year-old Horford was Boston’s outright assist leader in each of those games, totaling nine assists in Monday’s loss in Houston and eight in Wednesday’s win in Orlando.
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According to the NBA’s player tracking data, Horford is averaging 50.8 passes per game this season. For means of comparison, that’s just two passes less per game than Steph Curry averages in Golden State’s pass-happy offense.
The Celtics have the look of a team that is still figuring things out. But at the same time, the last two years have given us reason to believe that this team is capable of going on a wild tear once it gets its ducks in a row. Certainly, maximizing Horford’s ability to pass out of the post is going to be a big part of this. Post entry passes make the defense work. If the object of a good defense is to force the offense into uncomfortable shots, then the object of a good offense is to unbalance the defense.
Stevens said that they like to play through their bigs, and that’s because a pass into the post forces the defense to move, the same way that a pick and roll forces the defense to move. If the offense is able to move the ball faster than the defense can recover, they get mismatches. And when a post player has to be respected from distance, he can bring the ball away from the basket drawing his man defender out along with him, opening the paint, while potentially drawing a strongside defender into hedging off his man (see the second GIF in the MassLive article–watch Amir Johnson screen Bradley’s defender because he’s hedging toward Al, even though the play ultimately went in a different direction, with spacing provided in part because Horford was able to pull his man out into midrange territory).
Page 2: Where NO the Celtics are NOT better with Isaiah Thomas out.
Brian Scalabrine sounds off on the critics that think the Celtics play better without Isaiah Thomas after the Celtics beat the Magic by 30.
Yeah, it’s a video, not an article, but it’s worth the time. Scal makes a couple great points about Bradley deferring to Thomas, and Smart being too hyperactive off the bench. It’s not so much a question of the team being better without Isaiah Thomas around, as it is some guys stepping up and changing their game to account for IT’s absence.
In the long run, Marcus Smart needs to choose his shots better–like he did on Wednesday night–regardless of whether or not IT’s on the court and regardless of whether or not he’s starting. And the rest of the team needs to keep the ball moving. Good things happen when the ball doesn’t stick with this team, and they did a very good job in the second half on Wednesday keeping Orlando off balance and making them chase the ball.
Page 3: Where confidence matters
Asked if he would have hit that crossover jumper with the same confidence as a rookie, Rozier paused.
“My confidence is way higher than last year. Maybe in the moment I would have hit that shot or wouldn’t, I don’t know,” he said.
Terry Rozier and Jaylen Brown played beyond their years Wednesday, and Rozier didn’t hesitate to credit increased confidence. Granted, Rozier’s abilities are still on the upswing, and he’s learned a bit over the past year as well, but don’t discount how important it is to know that you can pull off a move like that.
The guys that play this game at this level are incredibly good at basketball. All of them. Tenths of a second matter in this league. And that split second hesitation could make the difference between blowing by your opponent and getting bottled up; between getting a steal and whiffing on it and watching your man disappear on the way to the basket. Experience matters, but so does confidence.
Finally: Whoops.
Kevin Garnett forgets to hit the cuss button and curses on live TV lmao pic.twitter.com/AK6Yh7Yn0y
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) December 9, 2016
We all knew it was going to happen sooner or later.
The rest of the links — which are all about IT’s groin.
MassLive: Isaiah Thomas injury update: Boston Celtics guard rules himself out of matchup with Toronto Raptors
Providence Journal: Celtics’ Isaiah Thomas not accustomed to sitting out
Boston Globe: Isaiah Thomas doesn’t expect to be out for long
