10 takeaways from the Celtics’ checkmate by the Kings

#1 – Kings beat the Celtics at their very own sport

Final night time, the Kings beat the Celtics at their very own chess sport. We’ll dig into how the Sacramento Kings positioned their paws to verify the Celtics’ predominant items couldn’t transfer as they wished.

The Kings got here into TD Backyard, shot, and made extra threes than the Celtics—beating the champs at their very own sport. They aren’t the primary staff to do that, however they’re one of many first to achieve success at it.

#2 – A sequence to sum up the Celtics’ sport

The fourth quarter was nonetheless younger, and the Celtics have been solely dropping by 5… but, it felt like they have been giving up already. On a play the place the Kings weren’t even taking part in quick, the Celtics obtained caught off guard and despatched three gamers to Sabonis and Lyles, leaving Malik Monk open from three.

The guard missed his shot, however the Celtics left the ball bouncing on the ground, and it ended up in Sabonis’ arms. He was open from three too and now had an opportunity to strive once more from past the arc, because the Celtics didn’t appear to wish to play protection on this motion.

#3 – Kings collective protection

The Sacramento Kings have been an excellent defensive staff since Doug Christie took over as head coach. Since Christmas, the Kings have been the Sixth-best protection, due to their means to create turnovers (Sixth) and defend defensive rebounds (1st). What the Kings have been doing is fairly easy—since they don’t wish to be focused one-on-one, they shut the hole as a lot as doable.

To take action, they both step into the driving lanes subsequent to the ball handlers or change to a zone protection. As they’ve many gamers who might be focused one-on-one by the Celtics’ mismatched offense, they crowd the paint as a lot as doable and shut out as laborious as they’ll. They hoped the Celtics would miss their threes—they usually did.

It appears to be like like, increasingly more usually, the Celtics’ opponents are keen to guess on them lacking threes whereas defending the paint and driving lanes.

#4 – The Celtics out rebounded by one man

The Kings have been the most effective rebounding staff within the NBA these days—they usually destroyed the Celtics on the boards final night time. Sabonis alone grabbed as many offensive rebounds because the Celtics did.

On half-court possessions, the Kings grabbed offensive rebounds on 39% of their misses and have been extremely environment friendly on these performs. From their offensive rebounds, Sacramento scored 1.3 factors per possession, making the Celtics pay for his or her lack of seriousness and vitality.

#5 – Celtics pick-and-roll protection wrestle

The Celtics additionally struggled to comprise the Kings on pick-and-roll actions. The Kings are an excellent staff with ball screens, pick-and-rolls, and handoffs. They used these actions to assault mismatches or to get forward of the Celtics’ protection.

On these actions, the Celtics additionally lacked seriousness and communication. Within the play above, Jaylen Brown forgot to modify and left Sabonis open on the lower to the rim. Within the subsequent play (under), he didn’t field him out after the mid-range shot, and Sabonis discovered himself free on the rim once more.

Because the Celtics wished to keep away from leaving Porzingis switched onto the ball handlers, they’d ship assist in the paint to crowd the world. That left Murray free past the three-point line—one other technique to punish the Celtics’ pick-and-roll protection.

The final instance reveals how a lot the Celtics lack communication on these performs. The Kings performed a diffusion pick-and-roll. Al Horford switches, whereas White tries to go over the display as a substitute of switching.

Behind the play, no person comes to assist from the weak facet, and Jayson Tatum is guarding DeMar DeRozan from the three-point line… bizarre.

#6 – Jayson Tatum off night time in opposition to the blitz

Jayson Tatum has improved quite a bit these days in opposition to double groups and stress from the opposing staff. But final night time, he struggled quite a bit.

What the Kings did was fairly sensible and easy. On each pick-and-roll, they despatched two gamers at Jayson Tatum to verify the drive was inconceivable and that he needed to do away with the ball.

Your entire defensive scheme was to decelerate Tatum and power the remainder of the Celtics staff to beat them 4-on-3—they usually weren’t capable of. Additionally, Jayson Tatum’s 8 turnovers present that the Celtics’ franchise participant couldn’t discover his teammates both.

#7 – Jaylen within the center

The Celtics ahead began early by attacking Keon Ellis—who has been among the best defensive gamers this season—and Jaylen Brown simply went at him as if he have been an everyday mismatch.

Jaylen Brown used his broad shoulders to search out some room within the Kings’ crowded paint. Due to that, he was capable of make 8 out of his 12 makes an attempt within the paint. His post-up and drives are nonetheless enhancing—he’s turning into actually good and environment friendly, even when the shot doesn’t fall.

But, his jump-shot quantity might be smaller in a sport like this, the place he appears unstoppable, however nothing goes in from lengthy vary.

#8 – Porzingis post-up wrestle

Since Porzingis got here again from damage, he doesn’t appear as comfy within the post-up as he was final season. The opposing groups additionally appear okay leaving just one man on him, stopping the double-teams that used to sluggish him down. This creates much less area for his teammates and forces him to take robust pictures.

Final season, Porzingis was producing 1.31 factors per post-up, however now it’s right down to 1.17. It’s nonetheless superb within the league, however it reveals that groups have tailored to the Celtics’ post-up offense across the massive man.

#9 – Dangerous execution on offense within the 4th

The offensive execution within the fourth quarter was the low level of the night time. The Celtics couldn’t discover any open pictures or good positions for Jayson Tatum, who ended up with 0 field-goal makes an attempt within the final quarter.

He wasn’t the one one struggling late within the sport. Jaylen Brown drove right here however as a substitute took a troublesome shot on the rim whereas Derrick White was standing alone, free within the nook.

After a pick-and-pop scenario, Kristaps Porzingis was capable of faux Malik Monk from three and determined to drive. He drove right into a crowded paint however took the troublesome shot anyway and virtually missed the rim.

Everybody appeared to be struggling final night time, and the connection between the gamers appeared off—each on offense and protection.

#10 – DeRozan within the 4th

Opposite to the Celtics, DeMar DeRozan wakened within the fourth quarter, scoring 12 factors over 12 minutes and delivering 4 assists. He owned the courtroom in final night time’s fourth quarter, seeing every part and scoring above everybody. On one play, he anticipated Jaylen Brown’s gamble and punished it with a cross to the open man:

His post-up and driving sport have been inconceivable to cease one-on-one for the Celtics gamers, and DeRozan scored simply as simply on Payton Pritchard as he did on Jayson Tatum.

Whereas the Celtics have been collapsing in a very powerful second of the sport, DeRozan rose above all of it and gave the Kings their sixth win in a row.