Ten plays that highlight Porzingis’ defensive challenges

There have been a variety of expectations for Kristaps Porzingis earlier than the sequence in opposition to the Orlando Magic. For the primary time in his quick profession as a Celtic, he was beginning a playoff matchup wholesome, and the general public was wanting ahead to his affect in a postseason context. Nicely, it’s secure to say that to this point, the outcomes are combined.

The capturing gravity he brings is schematically crucial. He nonetheless makes the Celtics the most effective spacing workforce within the league when he’s on the ground. However on the opposite facet of the ball, it has been poor by way of particular person efficiency. The Magic offense is focusing on him, and the Celtics should discover a answer. Nonetheless, the Latvian huge man is conscious of all that and appeared prepared to handle these issues after the final sport:

On this article, we’ll look into Porzingis’ struggles on protection and search for potential options. We are going to deal with protection as a result of that’s the most alarming difficulty for the Celtics’ back-to-back expectations.

Throughout this sequence, the Latvian huge man has been matched up with Wendell Carter Jr., Jonathan Isaac, or a non-shooting guard like Anthony Black. When it comes to defensive protection, the Celtics ask him to be in drop protection. They tried to make him swap too, however the outcomes have been troublesome.

First instance beneath has KP in drop protection that didn’t cease Franz Wagner. The German is a tall ball-handler with a excessive launch, which makes him tougher to include. However due to the drop protection, the younger star can even achieve a variety of pace earlier than entering into the capturing movement.

The pace and Wagner’s body are sufficient to maneuver Porzingis and create sufficient house for a floater above the protection. Plus, Wendell Carter Jr. is a step forward of Jaylen Brown due to the drop protection, which supplies the Orlando Magic an edge on the offensive rebound if wanted.

As a result of he has a much bigger affect near the rim, the Celtics are attempting to maintain him low in a roamer place. He performs like a security as a result of he’s matched up with a non-shooting guard whom the Celtics are comfortable to depart alone. Nevertheless, the Magic discover a approach to punish that with motion.

Within the play beneath, Porzingis is matched up with Black on the finish of the primary quarter. The Magic sport plan is to pull the large man so far as doable and set a display screen to punish his lack of mobility. He adopted Black excessive sufficient in order that when Wagner set a display screen for the guard, KP couldn’t sustain with the reduce to the rim.

From one other out-of-bounds motion, the Magic have been in a position to punish Porzingis’ inadequate motion patterns. Due to the drop protection, Derrick White has to struggle over the display screen whereas the large man stays stagnant. Jaylen Brown stays on the in-bounder, and that’s one other open shot for the Magic.

The pick-and-roll and the set actions have been the largest half-court protection points in Recreation 3. One other instance beneath the place there appears to be a misunderstanding of the defensive protection: Kristaps switches, however Jayson Tatum stays on the ball. This could set off assist from the weak facet, however no one is able to rotate. Onerous to inform who’s responsible, however the defensive execution is problematic.

New pick-and-roll, new exposition of the Celtics’ drawback on half-court protection with Porzingis. Wendell Carter Jr. units an excellent display screen and Jaylen Brown will get caught in it. As a result of they don’t swap, this triggers assist from the weak facet. However Carter Jr. is fairly good on the short-roll and finds Cory Joseph open past the three-point line.

As the sport goes on, the examples maintain piling up. The Magic clearly recognized that it was a weak point within the Celtics’ protection, they usually didn’t cease going after him. Within the subsequent play, Brown will get caught within the display screen once more, Porzingis is in drop protection, and Wendell Carter Jr. goes behind him. This triggers weak facet assist from Al Horford.

Once more, Carter Jr. is a great passer and finds Wagner open within the nook. Horford tries his finest however will get beat on the closeout, and the Magic have three gamers open from one other pick-and-roll motion.

Following that, Joe Mazzulla tried the Kornet/Porzingis double-big lineup. This meant one of many two seven-footers needed to defend in opposition to Banchero or Wagner. As soon as Banchero bought the ball remoted in opposition to KP, he drove and was capable of finding a shot place deep within the paint. Like we noticed on the pick-and-roll, this triggered assist on the rim, which gave house for Carter Jr. to seize one more offensive rebound and rating one other putback.

New twist within the pick-and-roll motion from the Orlando Magic. This time they go for a Spain pick-and-roll, with Isaac setting a display screen on the ball and Wagner setting a display screen on Isaac’s defender, Porzingis. As they don’t swap, Brown stays within the center for a second and loses Wagner, who runs past the road and makes one other open three.

After which, to complete the sport and this text, let’s take a look at the 2 actions that sealed the deal and uncovered Kristaps Porzingis as soon as and for all. First, Wagner discovered the mismatch he wished and was able to assault the Latvian huge man. The Celtics determined to not ship assist, and Porzingis backed down because the possession progressed… As soon as Wagner had a step within the paint, he drove, spun, and created an open three for himself.

Just a bit bit later, Wagner pointed at Porzingis so KCP would come for a display screen and convey him the Latvian huge man so he may attempt to prepare dinner him.

And as soon as once more, that’s what he did.

Whereas this appears to be like problematic, the Celtics have what it takes to seek out options. They already did it earlier than with Robert Williams, for instance. Again in 2022, the Celtics constructed an elite protection whereas protecting the Timelord near the rim. Each time a workforce tried to contain him in a display screen, the Celtics would swap off-ball, and one other participant would substitute Williams within the screening motion so he stayed low.

The Celtics may additionally attempt to imitate the Nuggets’ method with extra strain on the ball handlers. The Magic don’t have that good of spacing, so why not attempt that method? We additionally noticed some zone protection in Recreation 2, which didn’t all the time work, however it protected Porzingis and disrupted the offensive stream.

So don’t fear, the Celtics teaching employees and Kristaps Porzingis shall be alright. Nonetheless, it’s higher to discover ways to take care of these defensive dilemmas early within the postseason. You could have extra time to arrange and adapt your method for the higher groups that the Celtics will face alongside the best way.