There Are Few Things Better In Life Than When The Celtics Are Operating Like A Basketball Machine Of Death

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I'm going to be honest with you, there's nothing quite like the morning after a Celtics playoff win. For the most part, every aspect of my life is on cloud 9 right now. After watching the Celts blow doors off another playoff opponent, the rest of my night was filled with ice cold Celts Kool Aid, highlights, interviews, more highlights, more Kool Aid, some private alone time, more highlights, and one of the best sleeps a human is capable of having. 

Then this morning, my coffee tastes better, the birds seem to be chirping louder, life is great. 

This is the emotional rollercoaster of a playoff run as a title contender. The highs are HIGH to the point where your entire outlook on life can change, and the lows are so low it gives you a feeling in the pit of your stomach so unique that it feels like you're being eaten alive from the inside out.

There's truly nothing like it and frankly, I wouldn't want it any other way. This is what we live for.

When you're on a high like I imagine a lot of fellow Celts fans are right now, it's important to cherish it and remember that things will not always be like this. No playoff run is without challenges, so do not take this feeling for granted. There is A LOT of basketball still to be played in this series let alone in the Celts overall run, and as good as they may look right now, it will require them to continue to level up if they want to ultimately be the last team standing. 

One game at a time. One win at a time.

That has to be the mentality. I can understand the appeal of starting to believe your own type, but leave that to us the fans. That's easily been one of the parts of the Celts playoff journey I've been impressed with so far, that despite their average margin of victory being 22.6 this playoffs, you'd never know it. The Celts are coming out focused like the series is 0-0 regardless of what happened in the game before, and for the first time in a long time, it feels like they understand what kind of opportunity is in front of them. Time will tell if they can keep this up, but so far?

The good news is gone are the 4,000 day breaks in between games. We're now on an every other day schedule through Game 4, which in theory should help this team catch a rhythm. 

But as always before we look ahead we first have to look back and talk about what we saw last night. 

The Good

- Now that Jaylen Brown has already lived through and passed the Coach Spo black voodoo test, we're back to seeing how he looks against every other playoff opponent. Here's a secret, he fucking rules

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All year long one thing became pretty evident whenever someone played the Celtics. Unless you have multiple perimeter/wing defenders who have good size and good length, you're going to be in a world of trouble limiting the Celtics two best players. It;s why when you look at their year, the main teams they struggled with all fit that description. The ones that don't? 

Well, just hit play on that video.

This is the challenge the Cavs face in this series. Once you get to the playoffs, everything is about matchups. When it comes to defending the Jaylen Brown/Jayson Tatum, the Cavs really only have someone like Isaac Okoro who fit the description of a defensive wing. For them to have a chance, he was going to have to slow down his matchup and win that battle.

In 34 possessions guarding Jaylen Brown, Jaylen finished with 11 points on 4-5 shooting with just 1 TO. 

Honestly, it didn't really matter who the Cavs threw at Jaylen. He had no issues with Strus (3-5 shooting) or Mobley (3-5 shooting) or Mitchell (2-3 shooting). This is a problem I'm not sure the Cavs will be capable of fixing given their roster construction as long as Jaylen continues to play aggressively. Think of it as controlled chaos. Play with force, but don't be stupid. When looking at Jaylen's offensive approach, it was the perfect balance of what you want to see. With no real shot blocker and no real resistance on the perimeter, Jaylen is going to be able to feast in the paint all series if he chooses. Then, once he starts feeling good, we all know what happens next. The 3s start dropping

One of the more underrated parts of Jaylen's postseason so far (and Tatum too tbh) has been his ball security. Only 1 TO last night, through 6 games we're seeing Jaylen have a 31.6% usage rate with only a 12.4% TOV%. That's his lowest turnover percentage since 2019-20, and the highest usage of his career. The drop from 14.2% last year to 12.4% this year is very noticeable, and given how often the Jays are going to have the ball, I'd suggest how they take care of the basketball is pretty freaking important. 

As great as Jaylen was on the floor, it's what we're seeing off the floor that excites me the most. This is a man who is locked in and focused

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He's right. The Celts don't have to do anything other than what we've seen from them all year. They don't need to overachieve to advance, they just need to play Celtics basketball. Respect your opponent, play with energy, play both ends of the floor, take care of the basketball, and let the chips fall where they may.

- Logic will tell you that at some point, Derrick White will cool off. What we're seeing from him right now is really only reserved for one human on earth, and that man is Steph Curry.

Here's the thing though. What if he never cools down? What if this is simply who Bald Derrick is now? OK, 50% on 9.3 3PA is pretty insane, but look at those 3s, look at that quick as shit release and how he's hitting everything off the dribble, step backs, catch and shoot……..that's Steph Curry.

It's crazy what confidence can do for a player. Compare what we're currently watching with what Derrick looked like when he first got to Boston, and you see a completely different player. Not just because he's bald now either, but how he plays. Confident, aggressive, we're seeing a player who is responding to being fully empowered and it's unlocked something major. As Jaylen said, this is a whole new version of Derrick

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I think it's pretty obvious that Derrick White has been the Celtics best overall player so far in these playoffs, and we've seen enough of these performances to where they are starting to become the standard. At some point, the heater will most likely end, but in the meantime you ride that shit until the wheels fall off. The same issues defensively that the Cavs have on the wing also exist when it comes to their point of attack defense from the guards. White/Jrue are able to get whatever shot they want facing Mitchell/Garland, and if Derrick is going to be hitting pull up threes like this off screens, I'm not sure how you defend him because if you try and take away his three, he'll just go by you and finish in the paint with a floater. 

- Defense, defense, defense. The backbone of every single NBA title run. It's no surprise when you look around the playoff field and the teams having the most success right now are the ones who can lock the hell in defensively and make their opponent's life hell. I do not give a single shit that the Celts have played some poor offenses so far, I care about execution. They earned the 1 seed, they earned the easier path, so take advantage of it.

Another game holding an opponent under 100, something they've now done in 5 of their 6 playoff games (5-0), the Celts are 20-0 on the season when they do this. 

Sometimes basketball isn't complicated. If on one end the Celts are holding their opponents to under 100 and on the other end are scoring 110+ every night, what do you think happens? 

Why I care about this is it tells us they are taking their opponent seriously and aren't just going through the motions. We all know what that looks like when they do, and it almost ALWAYS gets them into trouble. The way you secure quick series is by defending at a high level and not playing with your food, which is exactly what we're seeing the Celts do. 

- Depending on if you consider Al Horford a PF or a C, I would like to pose a question. Is Luke Kornet the best center currently playing in the East playoffs? 

I'll answer for you. Yes.

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Once KP went down it was going to require the reserve bigs to step up, and we didn't really know if that meant Kornet or someone like Xavier Tillman, but Kornet has been so good Tillman can't even get on the court. Something that many considered a weakness (big man depth) so far has shown to be nothing but a strength. Kornet has gone from maybe being unplayable in the playoffs to a legit rotation big in a blink of an eye, and honestly this allows you to be even more cautious with KP. 

Now that Al won't have 4 days in between games to rest, the play of someone like Kornet now becomes even more important and based on everything we're seeing he's ready for the challenge. His job is simple, just go out there and be a menace defensively, hit the offensive glass, make some FTs here and there, and be the ultimate vibes guy. 

With no Jarrett Allen it looks like Kornet is going to be able to feast against the Cavs lack of size, which is certainly not something I saw coming.

- The discourse around Jayson Tatum is starting to get really fucking stupid. As always, everyone is taking the extreme angle when in reality, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

I'm not really sure what it is, if it's just a bunch of 16 year olds crying on the internet, or fans that are just upset they didn't hit a Tatum prop bet, but it's all starting to get a little embarrassing. But this is why I exist. If I have to be the one to tell the truth then so be it.

Truth #1: For the Boston Celtics to win the NBA title, Jayson Tatum cannot shoot 40/25% from the floor. His shooting has been abysmal to start this run, and last night it was mostly due to settling way too often for low-quality shots. That needs to improve.

Truth #2: Jayson Tatum is currently 1 of 3 players in the entire playoff field to be averaging 20/10/5. That's it. 3 guys. Jokic, Embiid, Tatum. His struggles have been shooting, that's it. 

Truth #3: Not needing to rely on Tatum 40 bombs to win playoff games is a GOOD thing. Scratch that, it's a GREAT thing. After years of people crying about burnout and Tatum's playoff fatigue, it should make you HAPPY that he isn't emptying the tank just to win games

Truth #4: It shouldn't matter if Tatum averages 10 points a game if it means the Celtics are winning by 20 every night on their way to the title. THAT is what matters. Winning. Not Tatum scoring 40, not him taking every shot, winning. The thing that has made the Celtics so dominant all year is they win AS A TEAM. The best player understanding that and not forcing things just because he's the best player is GOOD. 

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Truth #5: There are other ways to impact winning other than scoring the basketball. There's rebounding, defense, playmaking, etc. Early in his career when Tatum would struggle shooting like this, all those other aspects of his game would disappear. Now? He's finding ways to make a winning impact all while his jumper is broken as shit. Last time I checked, that was a GOOD thing. 

Anyone who suggests Tatum's offensive struggles will not be an issue as the Celts move on is full of shit. That's just NBA history talking. In order to reach the top of the mountain, your best player has to go up a level, and that will be true of this team and Tatum.

Anyone who suggests Tatum has been bad in these playoffs or was even bad last night, is also full of shit. 

As always, the truth is somewhere in the middle. So far, Tatum has been fine. But at some point there will be a time where Derrick stops hitting everything, Jaylen struggles, and it will require Tatum to step up and execute offensively. But in the meantime, until that happens all I care about is finding a way to make a winning impact despite not making shots. That's what Tatum has done, and the results speak for themselves.

- It was looking pretty shaky there for a minute with Payton Pritchard, but since most of his misses were 95% down before rimming out, it felt like it was only a matter of time before he broke through. When he finally did, boy was it fun

Payton Pritchard's role in this series is pretty simple. He needs to match the Caris LeVert scoring output at a minimum. LeVert is the Cavs bench scorer who has a history of torching the Celts (just 4 points last night), and in return Pritchard has to fill that role for the Celts. Nobody on the Cavs can stay in front of him, and given he usually shares the floor with players who command a ton of defensive attention, Pritchard is going to have all the open looks he wants.

- 12-14 from the FT line, only 7 Cavs OREB, 6 TOs and just 2 ties and 2 lead changes. The Celts dominated the margins of this game which is how they maintained their 10-12 point lead, and then once the 3s started dropping it was a wrap. 

The Bad

- Listen, you don't have to feel this way, but I can't help it. I'm officially worried about the Jrue Holiday Playoff Offense Experience. Even though we were told this is what happens with him in the playoffs, all year I was told not to worry because Holiday was the 5th option. Well now he's the 4th option with KP out, and the results speak for themselves through 6 games

GM1: 25/50%

GM2: 33/25%

GM3: 20/33%

GM4: 40/25%

GM5: 60/50%

GM6: 42/28%

Overall, Holiday is off to a 37/34% start to his Celts playoff career. I can handle missing 3s and shit like that. What I can't handle are plays like this

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So far in these playoffs, Holiday is shooting just 50% in the restricted area and just 36% in the paint (non-RA). From the corners, he's shooting just 33%, which is a MASSIVE dropoff from his regular season.

Defensively? Awesome. 

Offensively? Nowhere near good enough.

Just like with Tatum, the Celts have been able to survive despite the offensive issues from Holiday, which is great. It's also not going to be sustainable once they start playing better teams. 

- I know the Celts scored 120, made 18 3PM and blew the doors off the Cavs, but offensively I didn't really love how they looked. A lot of those buckets were bail out makes by White and Jaylen as oppose to an offense that looked like a well oiled machine. Only 22 AST on a night you put up 120 is pretty glaring, and it's something you wouldn't notice unless you actually watched the game.

It felt like at times they were playing a little too slow in terms of getting into their sets which got them into some trouble with a late shot clock, I can only remember a handful of possessions where the ball moved side to side and 3-4 guys touched it on a single possession, and these are all things that are going to have to be ironed out moving forward. 

I'd honestly give the Celts offense a C+/B- last night given what we expect from them and what they are capable of. 

- I have zero idea why Tatum kept settling for his fadeaway, many of which were the one legged version. There's simply no need to settle like that, especially against someone like Max Strus. At a minimum, I expect Tatum to win that matchup. Would it kill him to remember he's capable of using a step-through move in those moments? The fadeaway should really only be used once Tatum is starting to feel it offensively and not the shot he takes initially to get himself going. 

I found that to be very frustrating.

- You wouldn't tell by the box score, but the Celtics transition defense in this game was complete dogshit. The number of times they either lost Donovan Mitchell in transition or decided not to step up and guard him in transition was offensive to watch. There is ONE GUY you need to worry about, and that is Donovan Mitchell. In no world should he ever be allowed to operate without resistance in transition. Fortunately the rest of the Cavs offense was buns, because allowing easy transition buckets is usually the kiss of death.

Every time the Celts would make a big 3, they would immediately give it back by doing some dumb shit like not guarding in transition. That's a communication and effort issue, and it needs to be much better in Game 2.

The Ugly

- I don't know how you slow down Mitchell. Nothing the Celts did really worked, it didn't matter who guarded him, Mitchell got to where he wanted with ease. There are only a few players in the league who give you that sense of dread whenever he's on the floor, and for me, Mitchell is one of those guys. I simply expect him to make every shot he takes. He's a playoff riser and someone who can take over games all by himself if you let him get comfortable.

He was a combined 5-6 from the floor against Jrue/White, which is a tad concerning considering they are the ones who are going to have to limit his offense, and if there's one thing you can bank on it's that there will be more Mitchell scoring outbursts. I'm not sure you can shut that water off completely, so it may come down to continuing to limit everyone else.

- Joe got very close to getting some very angry tweets from yours truly with him having Tatum & Co in the game with 3 minutes left up like 25 points. He quickly took Tatum out, but this shit needs to stop. The reserves are good enough to hold 25 point leads. This is the playoffs where one rolled ankle can kill you. Coming off the KP injury, there is no world where Joe needs to risk it moving forward in blowouts. Take everyone out.

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Look, this was Game 1. We've seen the Celts look dominant in Game 1 and then immediately turn around and drop Game 2. Here is their opportunity to show us they learned from that disaster and are ready to respond appropriately. Go up 2-0 and you put yourself in a great position to wrap this series up quickly as well. Fuck around, and you might find out you don't like the result.