Celtics Run Defensive Masterclass on Anthony Edwards to Beat Wolves

Anthony Edwards faced double-teams, traps, zones and ran into drop defenses throughout a defensive masterclass by the Celtics on Thursday night that held him to 5-for-13 shooting through the first 46 minutes. Then, leading by eight points with under two minutes remaining, Boston played him straight up. Edwards pulled Neemias Queta to the top of the arc on a switch, blew by him and botched a layup. On the following set, Edwards lined up Payton Pritchard and missed a three, falling to 2-of-8.

The Wolves still received a chance to tie the game at the buzzer when Naz Reid put back Edwards’ three and Donte DiVincenzo drew a three point foul on the following possession. Chris Finch drew up a play for Edwards with three seconds left, and Boston looked like it decided to foul him on the catch. Jayson Tatum and Pritchard tried, but Edwards slipped past them and generated a clean look from three that he missed. The Celtics escaped, 118-115, though Kristaps Porzingis and Jaylen Brown’s absences made for an impressive defensive coaching performance by Joe Mazzulla. Edwards complained about the amount of double-teams he faced after.

“Hell nah,” Edwards said when asked if him shooting one time and assisting on five in the third quarter was a formula moving forward. “That was a good brand of basketball, but that’s not how I wanna play, of course. I’m only 23, I don’t wanna be passing the ball all night, but the way that they guarded me, I think I have to.”

Boston showed multiple defenders on six out of 25 half court possessions with Edwards on the floor while also flashing multiple doubles at Julius Randle, then 12-of-27 after halftime as Minnesota tried to get him more involved through the final possession. He only attempted six shots in the second half, three before the late stages of the fourth quarter. The game plan followed a help-filled lockdown of the Raptors on Tuesday and Brown acknowledging that the Celtics could’ve helped more defensively in their loss to the Pacers on Sunday where Indiana only attempted 23 threes.

Minnesota made 21-of-39 (53.8%) on Thursday, making helping tenuous and all of Tatum and Derrick White’s combined 59 points on the other end necessary to pull out a three-point victory. The Celtics successfully mixed looks, lineups and matchups defensively aided in large part by Jrue Holiday’s presence, which helped dramatically again into his second game back from a shoulder ailment. Boston’s primary look featured Tatum on Edwards, Al Horford dropping off Randle, Holiday on Rudy Gobert and White roaming away from Jalen McDaniels. Mazzulla told reporters after the game that Tatum requested the Edwards assignment.

“We just had a talk this morning,” Tatum said. “Knowing that we had a few guys out, our lineup was gonna be different. Just another way to insert yourself into the game and really be focused and locked in. You’re guarding the other team’s best player. Even if you’re not in rhythm offensively, but you gotta be locked in on the defensive end. Just another way to get yourself going.”

Edwards’ 15 points marked his third-fewest this season on what tied for his sixth-fewest shot attempts. He dished six assists, but the ball flowing elsewhere led to 15 Wolves turnovers that powered a 92-74 shot advantage in a largely even offensive rebounding game. The Celtics gave Gobert and others an edge on the glass by constantly rotating, starting smaller defenders on bigs and sometimes doubling. Queta’s activity on the offensive boards on the other side became important to making the game plan work, as did his switching ability. More on that later.

Boston started the game in a zone look that freed Randle, Conley and McDaniels for clean three looks. Edwards scored through a crowd on his first drive and Minnesota scored on nine of its first 11 possessions, leading 7-0 and 20-12. Luke Kornet entered with an effective drop, though matching up opposite of Reid put Boston in a bind it mostly solved by straying away from McDaniels, who finished 4-of-8 from deep. The Wolves’ role players didn’t make it easy to pressure Edwards.

The Celtics found their most effective look in double-big with Horford dropping and Queta roaming. It made them less predictable, and Queta could make late contests on the perimeter in rotation while holding his own in isolation when necessary. Boston went back to some zone in that lineup midway through the second and Queta forced a steal on McDaniels on a late closeout. Gobert clogging the lane allowed an additional body inside.

The riskiest component to the game plan was Horford sagging off Randle, who scored 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting. He operated slowly enough, rarely in tandem with Edwards, that Boston could afford to cost itself a few seconds in rotation against him. Holiday switched onto him late in the second, and White thwarted efforts to get Edwards involved with off-ball screening. He also made a heads-up play picking up Edwards at the buzzer away from the in-bounder when Holiday fell while guarding him.

Boston doubled more into the third quarter, almost completely shutting off Edwards while McDaniels began missing threes. At their best, the Celtics shot ahead by double-digits while rotating and even swapping Holiday off Gobert with a back line switch with Horford as White closed out on Randle.

Minnesota caught up when McDaniels drove inside for a three-point play through White and Reid began making shots into the second unit, but Kornet returned and allowed for more zone. Reid’s presence even pulled Holiday off Edwards on one possession, Gobert out of the game in favor of Randle. Queta drew the latter twice in isolation and compiled key stops before Edwards pulled up for three over him before White’s help arrived. Reid shot a wide open three in transition with the Wolves down by four points and missed with 3:30 remaining.

Two plays later, trailing by eight, Edwards raced past Queta in isolation. No help came, and he blew the wide open layup. The Celtics proved as lucky as good defensively, especially late, when Edwards unloaded a clean look to force overtime from three past Pritchard and Tatum. Boston, nonetheless, drew the results it hoped for — shaking Edwards out of involvement and rhythm.

“I thought we did a good job on the game plan trying to keep Edwards in check,” Mazzulla said. “We gotta clean up a couple things, but I thought it was a great team win, good attention to detail on both ends of the floor.”