Should we take a time-out to design the decisive system or rather let the players set up something on the fly, taking advantage of more favorable duels, with opposing defensive specialists on the bench?
The question has already arisen in these playoffs, when Mike Budenholzer let his players try to make the difference against the Heat. A strategy that helped him lose his place. She arises again as Joe Mazzulla refused to request a time-out on two occasions, during Game 4 lost to the Sixers.
Attack weaker defenders
At the end of the fourth quarter, it allowed Jayson Tatum to draw all the defense to serve Marcus Smart, completely open, at 3-pointers. The point guard nevertheless missed his shot and the two teams spun in overtime.
In overtime, the strategy again allowed Jayson Tatum to draw the Sixers defense into the key, only to bring the ball back to Marcus Smart behind the 3-point line. This one even put the shot, but it was after the siren, and it is therefore Philadelphia who wins (116-115), leaving the Celtics facing questions.
But for Jayson Tatum, who recalls that the strategy had allowed the Celtics to beat the Nets in the last playoffs, it was the right approach, the only problem being the implementation too late on the final action.
“You have to trust the guys on the pitch to make the right choices”, thus explained the winger. “I should have passed the ball a second earlier [en prolongation], but at the end of the fourth quarter, the shot was good. Sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes not, but we have a good group of guys, who know how to play, especially in these situations. It’s just that things don’t always go the right way. »
Attack earlier next time
Even if Joe Mazzulla hasn’t really developed his philosophy, the manager obviously prefers to let his players put in place something against weaker defenders, rather than letting Doc Rivers bring back better stoppers, like De’Anthony Melton. For example.
“We had the right matchup”explained the Celtics coach. “Jayson attacked the circle and he made the right choice under the circle (against the opposing defenders). We just have to play with a bit more rhythm.”
The main concern is that Boston’s action only really started with five seconds on the clock, while the Celtics had more than 18 seconds on the throw-in…
“It was close” concludes Marcus Smart, a few tenths of a second from being the hero of the day. “It was a good shot, a good choice by JT. He did a good deed, I put the shot, he just didn’t get in in time. »
