We’re back! And we might actually be really good?! Welcome to the five highest-IQ plays of the week!
Sure, we love the high-flying dunks and the deep, off-the-dribble step-back threes, but this is a place for the under-the-radar plays that might not get the credit they deserve. The plays that get the basketball sickos and nerds out of their chairs. The plays that even YOU could make in your weekly rec league game.
Each week, the plays will be ranked from five to one—one being the smartest—and will only be taken from games that occurred within the past week. For this week, games from November 26th to December 3rd are considered. The C’s went 3-1 this week, with wins over the Pistons, Cavs, and Knicks, three Finals contenders.
5. Five defenders, one brain
This is what it looks like for a defense to move on a string, together. As LeVert gets into the teeth of the defense, Boston is compromised—Caris has two solid passing options in Cade Cunningham and Duncan Robinson, but the Celtics only have one defender (Payton Pritchard) to cover them both. As LeVert finds Cade, both Pritchard and Williams instantly close out to their defensive assignments without skipping a beat, thus destroying the shooting window. And when Robinson thinks the pass to Duren is open, Brown cuts right in front because he’s two steps ahead of the play.
4. Slipping 101
If I were to show young players how to slip a screen—essentially turning your screen into a basket cut—I would probably show them this Sam Hauser clip. As soon as Hauser feels Dean Wade give him a light shove with his left arm (and perhaps also yells “switch” or whatever the team’s call for switch is), he knows that means the Cavs are switching and Craig Porter Jr. is now his primary defender. But since Porter Jr.’s head is turned, Hauser slips to the rim for the easy basket. This is how you read a screen quickly and decisively.
3. Mind games Derrick
Derrick has always had the physical tools—strength, lateral quickness, and good leaping ability—to be a standout defender. But it’s his mind that I think elevates him to a different stratosphere. On this play, White notices Duren is going to keep the ball on the fake dribble handoff and follows him because he knows the powerful center doesn’t have eyes behind his head. Derrick is going for his patented back-tap steal. When White realizes that Duren sees him, though, he starts tracking back to his assignment, Tobias Harris. But he doesn’t sprint out to him; instead, he baits Duren into thinking he won’t get there in time, while simultaneously timing up his jump to steal the pass. Absolute mind games.
2. Spamming Spain actions
The Spain action—where an initial pick and roll happens and then the roller receives a backscreen from a third player—has been a staple of Boston’s offense this season. They’ve run various versions of the play throughout the year, and in their win against the Knicks, they absolutely spammed a variety of them. Here is just one example of a Spain-type action, where KAT gets confused by Pritchard moving in the opposite direction of Jaylen’s drive. Is PP going to set a screen for Queta, is he going to dive out to the three-point line, or is he going to fly out towards the top of the key or the left wing? All of these options and more are at Pritchard’s disposal, which is why it’s such a difficult action to defend. And a Brunson-Towns duo is the perfect personnel to run it against. Good game plan, Joe.
1. Marcus Smart to Jaylen Brown throwbacks
The true Celtics lifers remember the classic Marcus Smart to Jaylen Brown backdoor pass that they converted on AT LEAST one or two times a game during Smart’s time in Boston. It’s pretty simple: a couple hard dribbles at Brown’s defender gets him to think a dribble handoff is coming, and there aren’t many players with a quicker and more explosive first step than Jaylen Brown, so he consistently used to get his shoulder past his defender for the backdoor cut. Can Derrick White be the new Marcus Smart and continue to work this obvious wrinkle into the C’s offense? This one definitely gave me some deja vu.