Contender and Laker failures, Irving and related scandals, Simmons, Vembanyam and Vembanyam return to Bol Bol, Booker and Kendall, Pelicans top team, Nash sacked, Pool v Green, Heat failure, seniors” Bucks with a new game, Indiana and Halliburton, the best offense in history from Boston and Mazzulla, Sacramento in the playoff zone!

There are enough events for this third of the season, and it’s time to start making stops during the season to talk about the best teams at the moment.

NBA title race, first approach.

10. Golden State

Formally, of course, the team still needs to get into the playoffs, but there are more than enough reasons to believe that Kerr will find a balance.

To begin with, the starting lineup is still fine and looks better than most NBA contenders. The problem is that there are only a couple of months and 25 NBA games between the status of “And it’s Wiseman, Moody and Cuming that will get better next year” and “Let’s trade these young badgers”.

Clearly, the team’s office has underestimated the importance of players like Toscano-Anderson, Payton and Lee, the necessary balance is still being sought, but the Warriors’ last 15 games are looking more and more like a title contender.

And yes, Golden State will move up this ranking as the season progresses.

There are some interesting statistics on the number of possessions per game in which a team makes 4 or more passes in the opponent’s half. By comparison, Atlanta is in last place with two 10+ assists per game playmakers (10.7).

Third place – Indiana (21.7)

The second place belongs to Sacramento (21.9), Mike Brown, Kerr’s assistant for many years, yes.

The first place is held by the Golden State (24), this is a huge advantage, which is achieved mainly by the players of the starting five. And you want to say that a team that can play this kind of basketball will not be able to reach the playoffs and take out almost anyone there? Come on.

The Warriors are gaining momentum and have won 10 wins in the last 16 games, which in general is already similar to a playoff-level team, at least.

Of the main problems, as I wrote in the material about the problems of teams at the start – Wiseman (exiled to the G-League), Cuming, who was stuck between positions (seemed to have found use as a defender on the ball), and Klay Thompson (still far from a stable version of himself, but Boston buried like in the best years).

In addition, Donte Divincenzo got in shape!

Two years ago with the Bucks, he was the most effective defensive back on the screen. He went through them so well that he was the best in the league to limit the percentage of hits of the opponent after the screen. This season, we see how Divincenzo continues to exemplify defense on the perimeter.

 

And in general, the defense is getting better: the last 10 matches, it has already been stable in the top 10, according to the defensive rating. Notable, of course, was the encounter against the Celtics, won by Clay’s outburst and defense without the best perimeter defenseman (Andrew Wiggins). 28.6% and -13 from Teitum is the merit of Kuminga, who, although he gets confused in shifts and safety nets, can masterfully “eat” your first attacking option with the ball in his hands.

Of course, any conversation about the “Golden State” can not take place without Curry.

The 50.2%-43.6%-90.8% line is space in itself, but this time I’m going to ask you to pay attention to another aspect of Curry’s greatness, in which he will definitely not be caught up in the next 30 years. ball.

The Curry utilization rate is 30.9%, terribly low for 2022. At the same time, Stephen is in 4th place in the list of scorers. Guess how many people have a higher usage rate this season? 14 people. Curry doesn’t need the ball to dominate the league and stay effective, he doesn’t even need the ball to make many assists, although he’s made 7 assists per game this season, having only had more twice in his career. At the same time, we do not take into account Curry’s possessions, when he takes two or three players behind him and allows partners to score easy points from under the basket.

The more you delve into the game of Curry, the more you realize that Stephen is a real unicorn, and not Porzingis, Towns or another regular “big” with a throw. This is already a trend, and the ability to influence the game by running past the screen not to receive a pass is true greatness.

9. Philadelphia

After Harden’s injuries, Maxie’s, and even after the return of the first, Doc Rivers has done the only thing he knows how to do. I gave the ball to the best players and told them to figure it out on their own. Actually, after the injury, Harden had to run 124 minutes in 3 games, and at the end of the season, when the Cameroonian or James will fly out again, we will see a press conference at which Doc Rivers will give a speech about injuries and a set of circumstances.

 

Indeed, well, where is he wrong?

In the current reality of the Philadelphia fans, things are not as fun as it might seem when reading the names of the roster. Behind Embiid’s success and progress, you can’t see how Rivers still messes up with the rotation. How the team is still bad at working on elementary bugs. Still undefended in fast breaks, still a mess in the second quarter, resulting in 22nd place in the league on points difference. Still on the court is either Harrell or Reid, who do not understand what to do. It was only recently that Rivers explained at least his unhealthy love for Montrese. Turns out Harrell is a better playmaker on the arc with 0.6 assists (he actually said that Harrell plays more because of that). The strangest thing is that he is right, Paul Reed, in principle, every time he receives the ball, spends 3 seconds processing information,

The situation leads to the fact that Korkmaz from time to time becomes point guard during pick-and-rolls:

 

And we are not talking about the main potential minus of the team: the experiment on combining Harden and Embiid is not working yet. Harden scores 0.68 points per pick-and-roll, that’s the level of Lamelo, Westbrook. To be precise, out of 50 people who play at least 5 pick-and-rolls per game, Harden is 48th. At the same time, Embiid puts 17.2 screens per game for Harden, which is one of the highest rates in the league.

So why is this team on the list?

It’s very simple, the level of individual skill is so high that, playing not their own basketball, uncomfortable basketball, having problems with rotation, Philadelphia is able to take out almost any team in one particular match, because Embiid is having a phenomenal season. 32% of Joel’s possessions are accompanied by a double guard, that is, one in three, which does not prevent him from having the best season of his career, when he improves almost every indicator in the most difficult situation for himself:

We are talking about the poor compatibility of Harden and Embiid, but it is more difficult for James, since Joel, even after an incorrect screen and after Harden’s not the most convenient pass, pushes the balls into the basket. He makes the most pick-and-rolls in which he finishes the attack as a screener (6.8, Davis is in second place – 4.7). He still shares the lead in post-up efficiency with Jokic, and in assists from the “big” is second only to Sabonis, who often starts to be used as Green in Golden State, Towns and Jokic. Not to mention that Joel is generally the only “big” on the team who has an understanding of defense.

That’s why Philadelphia is on the list, let’s pray for Embiid’s health.

8. Brooklyn

With all the scandalous flair that has been reaching out for the Nets, most of us have forgotten that this is a damn talented team that, while not playing the most combinational basketball on Earth, can individually do any thing on the court.

Although, to be honest, this is absolutely not the point, but the fact that the team in the last 5 games is already in the top 2 of the defense rating, and this is already a completely amazing fact.

The fact is that the five Irving-Harris-O’Neal-Durant-Claxton (or rather Simmons) do not miss even 100 points per 100 possessions.

Simmons is also coming to life, and even I am ready to admit it. For example, in the game against Atlanta, we saw one of the best versions of Ben of the season, where he completely broke a poorly performing zone with his drive and kicks and discounts on the arc. In general, the Nets with Simmons playing point center is a strange adaptation of the Golden State with Durant in the lineup.

Behind all the bad and controversial it is imperceptible that the Nets are a set of very good shooters. Durant, Irving, Curry, Harris, recovered Warren, who will no longer have all the attention of the defense, because in the list of attack options he is unlikely to catch on the top three, and then there is Thomas, Watanabe, who was injured, and Royce O’Neal, Mills and Morris. Maybe the Nets don’t have an abundance of ideas, but they’ve started to play really well, building on their strengths.

For example, Vaughn changed Royce O’Neal, who became a playmaker and gives almost 5 assists per game (previously a record of 2.5), he moved Simmons to center (not always) and forced him to set screens (only Claxton does more screens) , and Cameron Thomas was returned to the roster. This is just a small list of what Vaughn did after Nash was fired. The message is very simple: if your team is crammed with talent, then there is no point in breaking it all, you can play around with the “sliders” of the settings and completely change the finished product, in which Durant no longer plays the first option in attack, ball handler and defender, but is tolerably looking for positions for spot -up shots and may well be considered the best player in history in terms of average efficiency.

In fact, the Nets still have a lot of problems.

1. Perhaps all the disadvantages of the Rivers rotation can be attributed to the Nets, Durant is the leaders in minutes in the season and plays consistently more than 36 minutes, like Irving.
2. Brooklyn gets almost 40% from the arc. At the same time, the constant change on pick-and-rolls leads to the fact that any opponent finds an unequal exchange in each possession. On the one hand, the Nets can become universal with Simmons, O’Neal, Durant, on the other hand, there will always be minus players on the court, like Irving, Harris, Curry.
3. Still, the difference between the Bucks and especially the Celtics is still too big to give this team many chances. Vaughn needs time, and the team still needs to increase the variability of defensive schemes.
4. The Nets lead the league in average shots. This in itself is not so bad, but still, many teams purposefully send opponents there for shots, strangling them with rim protectors and perimeter defenders. How confident can you be in this style? I don’t know.
5. Kevin Durant is still a superstar, and the Nets with and without him are very different teams. Now he’s been relieved of the burden of the distribution of responsibilities between the players, but overall he is by far the best in Brooklyn and is still on the lists of the league’s best scorers. For example, for the last 10 games he has kept his hit percentage at 60%, which is insane numbers when you look at the shot map and the average distance to the guardian. Can he do this all season? It’s hard to believe.

7. Denver

The joy of catching Nikola Jokic not only makes me feel sorry for Arvydas Sabonis and not being able to watch his NBA career, but generally helps me understand what good times we can watch the NBA.

But as far as Jokic is brilliant, Michael Malone and the Serb’s entourage are not so brilliant.

Jokic’s skills are clear: a brilliant vision of the court, which allows creating opportunities for partners from situations where 99.9% of all other basketball players in history cannot see it (about the skills of the scorer, the mechanics of the shot that cannot be blocked, and the game in the post we will keep silent, there too everything is in order at the level of the league leaders). When you get such an asset in your hands, you must groom and cherish it and surround it with the most suitable roster.

A suitable roster for Jokic is dynamic shooters, a lot of hard work from screens and a lot of running behind the backs.

What is Denver doing?

Plays standing attack without throws.

No excuse for Malone or the coaching staff.

Denver is in the last (!) place in terms of spot-up shot frequency, while in third place in terms of sales percentage. In other words, the team shoots very well, but very little.

There are many reasons.

For example, a squad where the players just don’t fit together. Let’s say, given the needs of the Nuggets in the movement of players around Jokic, you can immediately guess how many people from the entire roster run more than a Serbian per game?

One, Jamal Murray.

At the same time, Jamal does this only because Malone makes him work more with the ball, which is also strange. For example, Michael’s idea that Murray should play pick and roll with Jokic? It is not entirely clear why, if Nikola does not have a quick turn after the screen, and this is clearly not his best side.

And despite the return of form, Murray still seems overrated. Everyone remembers his duel with Mitchell, but there is a growing feeling that on the chart of the league’s best shooting guards, he is closer to Jordan Clarkson than to Devin Booker. Jamal doesn’t understand the game very well and, despite the fact that he added in the rally, he is still useless without the ball and doesn’t know how to do things that, for example, Devin does – open correctly after screens, look for shots in the middle distance.

As for other partners, the positive ones are the actions of Kentavius ​​Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown. The first is just perfect for playing with Jokic, and the second, in fact, too, even if it does not have a throw. Brown began to emerge as one of the oddest screeners and cutters in the league back in that series with the Bucks, and Nicola often sees his dashes very well.

From the terrible – Michael Porter, Jr., who does not run either in defense or in attack, nowhere. He just stands. Standing in the corner. Aaron Gordon is positive against teams that don’t understand how to play the zone, but if all 5 people know which square they are in charge of, then Gordon evaporates around the second possession.

Overall, the team ranks 26th in offensive distance covered per game, which is fine if you play at a slower pace and create shots with the screening system, but Denver are still in 20th place. in the league while continuing to exploit Jokic as a rimrunner:

And although this team looks powerful by name, in fact, in the rating, as well as in the status of a contender, it is only at the expense of Jokic.

6. “Phoenix”

The main favorite of the season, a crushing shame in the series with Dallas, the conflict with Ayton and his potential departure, Robert Sarver, Ayton’s return, Chris Paul and injury, Crowder and his trade, Cameron Johnson’s injury and the worst thing is the breakup of Kendall and Devin.

In the context of talking about Phoenix, it should be noted that their last six months have not been the most fun compared to other teams on the list, and therefore their presence in the top 4 of the West is respected.

First of all, it’s about Booker.

Sometimes I don’t understand people watching the NBA, because here emotions and feelings often take precedence over cold reason.

Right now, Doncic is really considered an MVP candidate, having a 50% win rate in the West with an exorbitant utilization rate (not to be confused with Westbrook of the MVP season, one is a genius, and the other is a one-man), but Booker, playing a similar main role, is not even included in top five, while having more than 50% of wins. Of course, I will be told that in Dallas the roster consists of Taiwanese league players, but there is hardly a big difference between the Dallas and Phoenix roster with injuries.

Even with an injury and a string of poor results, Booker is the best shooting guard in the league. Largely because while Chris Paul was gone, it was he who left the team in the lead. This is a completely different Devin compared to the one that was 3 years ago. This Booker is quite capable of leading the attack, he has updated records for assists, along the way scoring 50 points in 3 quarters. This Booker can now call combinations instead of playing crazy hero basketball, and this Booker can finally control the chaos that unfolds on the floor when Chris Paul is away. Surprisingly, the number of screens received is already at the level of Paul, not to mention the quality, which is much higher in Devin’s performance (Possession Points, PPP).

 

Ayton is also growing, although he is stubbornly not given a big role. He is just an auxiliary element for pick-and-rolls, although his vision of the court has become many times better, for example, he has already made 8 assists per game, and it’s even scary to say, but he finally started shooting from behind the arc, a little but started.

 

At the same time, it is impossible to say that Phoenix is ​​doing well. The same Ayton still freezes under the ring, although he does not have to do this, the team is in 28th place in terms of the efficiency of the opponent’s spot-up shots, which is very bad. This figure will grow at each stage of the playoffs.

Booker’s injury, Paul’s poor play, who can no longer give much individual action, Bridges’ lack of progress, who only shoots from a standing position with the ball, passes to a neighbor or goes under the basket immediately after receiving. No Crowder and no exchange of Crowder. Yes, and the second five is forced to lead Cameron Payne, who is probably the most predictable point guard after Westbrook (he raised his head – a throw, lowered – a pass, looks away – a pass). In general, the quality of Payne’s possessions is the pain of Phoenix fans.

This team has become better due to natural growth, but did not work on the bugs at all.

5. Pelicans

“CONFERENCE LEADERS and only in 7th place 6th place 5th place (the team actually played better during the writing of the article), are you out of your mind?!”

Let me explain.

The Pelicans are great, but looking at their schedule makes things clearer. Twice “Chicago” and “Spurs”, “Oklahoma”, “Detroit”, but the defeat is just from teams more serious, like “Utah”, “Boston”, “Memphis”, excuse me.

Despite this, I may still be wrong, because the Pelicans are more than worthy of talking about them in more detail.

For example, it’s time to admit: Zion Williamson is not just an athletic fat man with a crank-bear gait.

While everyone was waiting for Barkley, a cross between Embiid and Giannis emerged from Zion.

The league still doesn’t figure out how to play against Williamson and that’s one of the team’s biggest success triggers. We have Phoenix, we have Ayton, who could very well turn Zion off or make his life not fun at all, but instead you meet Williamson in the free throw area and watch your shot fly from behind the arc. Williamson is not Simmons, he is not shy about quitting if allowed.

Williamson’s tactics against such defensive schemes when he is met deep is simple: he throws a couple of times from behind the arc and, if he misses, accelerates like a bowling ball, flying into the pins under the ring. Sometimes a pin is also given a foul, and Williamson hobbles to the line. He also began to throw them better, by the way.

At the same time, some coaches do not stop there, including a double guard against Williamson, which either does not work at all or leads to an assist, the big man already has 4.2 of them per game. Actually, in this regard, Williamson is similar to Embiid, surprisingly he has very good peripheral vision when playing in the post.

 

But it is naive to believe that the Pelicans are strong only with Williamson.

Willie Green is an unconditional fellow, he took the best from Monty Williams and is now actively using it on Ingram and McCollum.

You’ve already noticed that the Pelicans aren’t particularly keen on shooting from behind the arc, but they are very good at finding open shots. Surprisingly, a team that plays no long-range shots is in last place in the number of shots with tight guarding and in the first place in shooting without guarding. It works like this:

In fact, this is very similar to the game of Booker, who constantly runs around the screens and changes the movement, deceiving the defenders inside the perimeter. Green knows that he has two players in his roster who can make a lot of difficult shots through his hands – Ingram and CJ – and helps them as much as possible in creating situations for shooting.

On defense, the Pelicans are aggressive to the maximum, with the possible exception of Valanciunas.

Already, we’re hearing news and requests for Herb Jones to be on the DPOY nominee list, and it’s true, he’s one of the best ball defenders in the league, if not the best. Active long arms, good reading of the game and especially pick and roll is a very strong skill. Trey Murphy performs a similar function, there is already the famous Alvarado, the versatile Nance and the talented rookie Dyson Daniels, who has already gone against LeBron, Durant and put on fouls, simultaneously eating Chris Paul in defense.

The Pelicans still lack experience in many ways, but already now they are turning from a gray team applying for a move into one of the most spectacular teams in the league.

4. Cleveland

The forecast for Cleveland was light enough, to be honest, although I can understand everyone who was skeptical about the idea of ​​Mitchell’s trade.

Since 1999, there have been only 41 games where starting back row players have been under 6’1″.

In the context of Cleveland, this is all meaningless.

Among all the rim protectors in the league, Allen is in second place in terms of the percentage of opponents hit from the “paint”. His skills as a rim protector should allow him to compete for the league’s best defenseman someday, maybe this year?

Evan Mobley is just as good: Of all the players in the league who made at least 35 defensive exchanges, Mobley is in 11th place in points allowed – 0.69. Such versatility from a man of this size is amazing and allows you to play calmly with two undersized defenders.

As for Mitchell, the biggest questions were about how he would distribute the ball with Garland.

Answer: Works great.

Any combination of Garland and Mitchell keeps the team effective. An amazing spread, no matter who of them is with the ball, whoever of them is resting, but the average possession ranges from 4.7 to 5.4, this is probably one of the most successful combinations of players with similar functionality in my memory.

And they also took off the load from Mitchell, because before that, in fact, he alone had to move the team’s attack. His shooting stats improved on every count:

But the most important item on Mitchell’s resume this season is his dribbling. With 52.9% as his career best, Mitchell pushed the bar back to 62.1%. In the entire history of the NBA, only one player has a higher number – Stephen Curry this season.

At the same time, they are only learning to play together, and now there are still many problems that the team must solve in the near future. For example, the slow pace, which is the slowest in the entire league, according to statistics, Cleveland spends 7.5 seconds from the start of the attack to the first offensive action (shoot, screen, pass, whatever). That’s a third of the total attack time, and it’s really a very long time, in fact, the team does not run at all, having one of the youngest rosters in the league. Looks pretty weird.

The uniformity of Cleveland’s possessions is also not encouraging. There are some flashes of “Utah” here, if the screen is unsuccessful, then Mitchell has to take heavy throws on himself, well, or Garland. Due to the low variance, 25% of Garland and Mitchell’s possessions (that is, almost half of all) end up with double custody and possession, which is worth about 1.1 points. There will be no problems at the distance of the regular season, but already in the playoffs we can get something very unpleasant. At a minimum, the coaching staff should improve on Okoro’s weak/strong side of attack, move Mobley further from the rim to the spot-up position, and still work on the Garland/Mitchell off-ball move with the addition of hard work from each off-ball player (screenshots, fake- inputs).

3. “Memphis”

Q: How many Memphis players do you think have played on teams other than the Grizzlies?

Answer: two, Jones and Adams.

The pipeline launched by the office runs smoothly and already looks a bit like Eric Spoelstra’s famous player development.

The most interesting thing about the current Memphis is that, unlike last year’s versions, when, to be honest, the team for the most part ran over, jumped over and threw opponents, this version of the Grizzlies plays basketball with its own tactics and ideas. The team is progressing, and almost every member of the roster is getting better (no, not you, Dillon Brooks, you are still inadequate in every possession).

In general, Jah is getting better and changing: he plays the most pick-n-rolls in the league (14.3 possessions per game, 50.3% of all possessions), he is still one of the most heavily-armed players (4th place, 15.2 per game),

Oddly enough, but the team is still very dependent on Stephen Adams! As I said above, they began to play pick-and-rolls much more often, the same Jah gets 27.2 screens per game and as much as 20.8 from Stephen Adams! In general, in terms of screening efficiency, Memphis is consistently second in the league, precisely due to Stephen.

Morant’s changes are not certain to be seen by most, but they are. First, he updated the average throw distance again. Secondly, he increased his move share to 35% (up from 31%), while also increasing his eFG% to 45%. This is the same Jah, who is ready to fly at breakneck speed, but with slightly tweaked settings.

But when talking about Desmond Bain, one cannot help but say that he can again claim the award for the best progressing player, even with a large number of missed games. 45.1% from behind the arc on 8.5 attempts is a very powerful indicator, but Desmond also increased his assists (almost twice) and, in general, became better in every component.

What is most surprising this season is that Memphis is doing well without Jackson, Bain and Morant. In total, they have already missed 40 games in 27 matches of the season. And here you can praise just the work of the office.

Everyone plays.

Roddy and Laravia, rookies, both have almost 20 minutes per game, and Roddy has already made his debut and is a starter, Santi Aldama, last year’s rookie, has been playing for 25 minutes, Konchar – 27, and even Chandler and Lofton get minutes.

Depth, the ability to change line-ups, a good selection of performers – this is all the merit of Jenkins, everyone here adds from year to year, and inside the team everyone talks about good relations between the players.

2. Milwaukee

Bud has been scolded for years by everyone (including me), but the Bucks are still here, albeit at an advanced age, without Middleton, without the exchange of Crowder, with Ibaka, who remembers how he talked about the beginning of construction ” Sagrada Familia to grandchildren, with Portis, for whom every pick-and-roll is a painful event, with the aged Lopez, who shows his best defensive game at 34 and is the undisputed leader in blocks and the best rim protector in the league.

Milwaukee seems to be the most understandable team against which they already know how to play. But they are still one of the two leaders of the conference.

And to be honest, they have changes.

Throughout the off-season, Budenholzer said that it was time to defend on the arc and work in this direction was underway.

Didn’t lie. In the past, the Bucks have tried to box a player inside the perimeter in order to force a mistake, albeit at the cost of a lot of shots on the arc from the opponent. This created a paradox: one of the best teams in the league is in last place in allowed shots from behind the perimeter.

This season, the defense is being built in a new way, with Holiday, Nvora, Allen and Carter pushing players under Lopez or forcing them to throw uncomfortable averages. Where this does not work, Giannis will help, who overcomes the distance from Greece to his own ring in two steps. The key change is the reduction in the number of double guards in favor of ineffective middles or shots from the bold and stupid from under Brook Lopez. The change is small, but lifted the team to the top 3 league defenses and the top 5 perimeter defenses.

Separately, it is worth noting Holiday and Carter.

This tactic is very reminiscent of the days of “Utah” and Gobert. Indeed, the Bucks are the league leaders in the number of shots from opponents from an average distance. What they want to receive. Still, Milwaukee is better than Utah on at least two counts.

1. Giannis. Who can actually insure the mistakes of the rest thanks to the perfect basketball body and excellent understanding of the game.
2. Carter and Holiday, who are forced to jump between screens, keep up with their opponents and try not to give them opportunities for open long / middle.

CourtOptix, which gives NBA stats, keeps track of a metric they call Average Pressure on Ball Handler: translated as “average pressure on the ball handler” and is calculated by ball handler losses, bad passes from him and more. The league leader is Jevon Carter, and there’s another Bucks player in the top 20, Holiday. Statistically, they hold the ball carrier on average about 30% of the time each. In other words, out of 10 times you look at a Bucks opponent, 6 of them are held by Carter/Holiday.

In addition to all of the above, the Bucks’ experience obviously gives them a number of advantages.

For example, an exhibition game with Cleveland.

A very typical performance of the “experienced” against the “young”, where in the second half Milwaukee turned on the championship mode and carried out the opponent.

There are minor problems in the attack, but here we need to give a couple of footnotes.

1. Giannis is still good and is second in the league in doubles per game. At the same time, the Greek remains effective, gaining a record number of points for himself in a meeting.
2. Chris Middleton was injured, and it is he who often becomes the main offensive option in the team when Giannis rests against a wall of defenders. Recovery and form from Middleton is a key factor for the team’s next part of the season.

The Bucks are still contenders and still ready to jump at any chance.

1. “Boston”

To be honest, with my one brain, it was quite difficult to find words about the game and, in particular, about the attack of the Celtics. Yes, unique and one of the historically best in history, but why?

If interested, more understanding people sorted it out for me (thanks to them):

All last season I scolded the Celtics for the monotony of the attack and complained about too much emphasis on the individual playing advantages of Tatum and Brown (I still only remember Udoka as the worst coach, but okay).

In general, Boston is by far the most versatile team in the league that can do everything on offense, but most importantly, it was able to find a balance and now repels not only from the strengths of the leaders, but also makes the most of role players.

• If a year ago Tatum relied on his skills or was looking for the weakest opponent, now when Jason receives the ball, you need to keep an eye on other Celtics players who can play, for example, the Spanish pick and roll. In short, this is what it is:

On the site it looks like this:

 

• Boston very often tries to create chaos with the movement of players off the ball, and while the opposition is focused on Tatum, at this time there are many opportunities for developing an attack. The Celtics are the undisputed leaders in the league in terms of the frequency, number and effectiveness of spot-ups. Seriously, if we compare the best version of Golden State in terms of shooting efficiency with these Celtics, then Boston will win. With a margin. I am not kidding.
• And we also see the best version of Marcus Smart, who goes to the record for assists per game (now – 7.6, the previous record – 5.9). 3.3 assists for 1 loss is very strong. Marcus looks like a full-fledged playmaker, and if Tatum with the ball in his hands is first of all a danger to the ring, he only learned to play combination basketball this year, then Smart is the brain of the team.
• Jaylen Brown also progressed. He, as always, is noticed less than Tatum, but he does about the same things. In addition, Brown also has its own characteristics. For example, going on the attack. If Tatum is prone to long possessions and a quarter of his possessions last more than 6 seconds, then Brown has only 16% of such attacks. Jaylen feels great in transit, perhaps he is the only one on the team who has the right to attack from ring to ring.
• Brogdon is also great, adding unselfish basketball and variety to the team. I would say there is no better player in the world to rotate than him: shooting, vision and the desire to move the ball on open players, IQ.
• Boston is a very versatile team. Everyone puts up barriers here, even Tatum makes about 7 screenshots per game.

Of course, Boston and Mazzulla are having a unique season, and Tatum is rightfully considered the MVP of this part of the season, even on defense he looks not just tolerable, but strong. To give you an idea, Jason is in the top 5 in isolation, transit and in the top 15 in pick and roll. Genius season.

Of the Celtics’ problems is the defense of the “paint”, but there are two nuances here.

1. Horford’s age
2. Williams injury. His return is certainly one of the most intriguing moments of the entire NBA season.

Well, Joe Mazzulla is already an amazing coach, because these Celtics are completely different compared to the Udoka team. And this is a merit not only of the players, but also of the coach, who was appointed in many respects urgently, largely on the advice of Tatum, but we can already say for sure that they did not lose.