BOSTON — Joe Mazzulla thought about what caused the Celtics’ slow shooting start in real time after their strongest performance behind the three-point line yet. He focused so much on the rebounding and the turnover battle through Boston’s 0-3 start that the team’s 28th-ranked three point shooting became a secondary concern.
In a turnaround night behind the line, Boston shot 21-for-56 (37.5%) from deep, but Mazzulla didn’t see it as the reason for a 75-60 halftime lead that the Celtics expanded into a 20-point win over the Cavs. He cited Boston’s 18-11 edge on the offensive glass that only became that close late, and forcing 14 turnovers while committing nine. The shooting, mostly coming from Jaylen Brown, Anfernee Simons and Sam Hauser served as a bonus.
“I thought what carried us through the first half was our defense and our ability to rebound the basketball,” Mazzulla said. “I think they had one or two offensive rebounds in the first half. They got a lot in the second half. It’s gotta be connected basketball. We gotta force turnovers, we have to rebound on both ends of the floor and then I think the shooting is a plus, and I think the shooting is coming from us getting our legs underneath us, playing a different way, the bodies getting used to that because we’re obviously playing a little bit different. So I think it’s starting to catch up.”
Boston started the year 31.1% from three on 44.0 attempts per game, marked by slumps from Simons (29.4%), Derrick White (28.6%) and Payton Pritchard (18.6%). Only Brown and Hauser converted threes consistently then, a shocking sight for a team that finished 38.8% during the championship regular season and ranked top-10 in a down year that followed (36.8%). Shooting still looked like one of the strengths of this roster despite the offseason overhaul and Jayson Tatum’s injury, and it came around slightly this week. They’re now 80-for-242 (33.1%) on threes, which ranks 23rd, after a 35.5% showing in their two wins.
The hardest training camp that some with the Celtics, including Brown and Sam Cassell, could remember followed and left Boston exhausted, but prepared them for how they needed to play this season. Brown agreed with Mazzulla’s sentiment, that the Celtics could only win by running, pressuring defensively and crashing the glass as hard as possible for short stretches. Josh Minott, who started for the second straight game on Wednesday and reached 33.3% 3PT himself, saw some truth in Mazzulla’s shooting theory. With so much of Minott’s job involving defensive disruptiveness, he found himself needing to calm down on the offensive end.
“It’s definitely an adjustment for sure,” Minott said. “Just the workload. Then you gotta slow it down a little, because defensively, you’re trying to speed them up, rush them, make them uncomfortable, and offensively, you want to do the exact opposite. So trying to make that switch, don’t be so sporadic, just take a chill pill and understand that offense has to flow. Defense, you don’t want no flow. So just trying to make that switch, keeping my wind up, stuff like that.”
Hauser, who exploded to a 4-for-4 start and ended 7-for-13 in Wednesday’s win, began the season 20-for-44 (45.5%) 3PT with no such issues. He also acknowledged needing to acclimate to the new pace. For Pritchard, long an advocate of playing fast and extreme conditioning, he saw his 2-for-14 stretch from the first two losses as an aberration. Before a question even finished about whether he simply missed shots he normally makes, he answered — yes. He liked how the ball came out of his hands in what became a 2-for-8 showing in Detroit. His slump continued into the wins, 3-for-15 combined against New Orleans and Cleveland.
The Celtics still rank low in pace, 29th across five games, but NBA’s tracking data places them at 11th offensively and 12th defensively in terms of average speed. That’s up from their last-place offensive finish last year and 27th-ranked defensive speed. They have the third-most shot attempts in the first three seconds of the shot clock, and eighth-most in what the NBA’s data considers ‘very early.’ Boston considers getting to work early in the clock as their definition of pace.
“It’s an adjustment,” Hauser said. “You’re expending more energy, and it’s gonna be harder than when you don’t have your legs under you maybe as much as you’re used to, it’s harder to make shots, but you get a few games under your belt, you start to get used to it, legs start to feel a little better throughout the game and tides turn.”
While Pritchard changed roles from a bench leader to a starter, White’s role remained the same, albeit with an uptick in shot attempts. White fell to 31.1% from the field and 25% from three with another cold shooting performance against Cleveland, and with that came Minott’s continued emergence as someone to commit to ball pressure and energy plays. His impact on the starting unit could reflect what inspired Mazzulla to start Hugo González in Detroit. Mazzulla said he wanted to alleviate the physical pressure of their defensive play style on Brown, White and Pritchard. Everyone’s taking on the rebounding battle.
And for all the concerns about the the boards, limited free throw attempts and looks at the rim, along with fouling, depth contributions and Brown’s hamstring, shots simply needed to fall. Simons opened the floodgates with three makes across five possessions in the fourth quarter at New Orleans, and the Celtics found a 32-point win. A dominant effort followed against a solid Cavs team even with multiple key contributors out, and for however well they handled the little things, and those turned into clean looks, it helps to open 14-for-28 from three.
Mazzulla hadn’t heard from any players who reported the pace impacting their shot. His theory marked a potential flaw in the experiment they are undertaking that involves so much exertion on both ends. One he acknowledges. Yet one he feels he has no choice over.
“I would just would imagine with playing a different style and the pace that we’re playing with at both ends, it just takes a game or two to get your legs under you,” Mazzulla explained later in his press conference. “We’re so used to playing a certain type of way and now we’re not, and so I would just imagine that would be the case.”
“I just thought about it when Karalis asked me.”
