With Jayson Tatum done for the year after a devastating Achilles rupture, the Boston Celtics could have rolled over and called it a season. At least for one night, they didn’t do that. Instead, they came together and dominated the New York Knicks, 127-102, in Game 5 at TD Garden Wednesday night.
On Thursday morning, The Greg Hill Show debated whether Tatum’s injury forced coach Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics into making some adjustments that they actually should have made earlier in the series. Listen to the full segment above.
“I found it very interesting to hear about the meeting that the Celtics had after they found out what Jayson Tatum's fate was,” Courtney Cox said. “It was Joe Mazzulla, Al Horford and Jaylen Brown that spoke to the team, and they were all focused on refocusing. The main focus was to make sure that with an offensive weapon like Jayson Tatum going down, that they were going to put more of the focus on defense. Last night, they were able to hold the Knicks to 36% shooting. And that, in itself, to me says, why didn't Joe Mazzulla do this earlier?”
“You and I are simpatico on that,” Greg Hill added. “I understand Jayson Tatum is – we all know how good he is, but when you allow him to play hero ball, whatever the basketball hardos would tell you, you are forcing the others into roles that you can see, when they have an opportunity last night to play great D and to spread it around point-wise, you wonder if they could have won at least one or both of those games to start this series.”
“Precisely,” Coco said. “Why did it take Jayson Tatum going down? You weren't shooting the ball well in Games 1 or 2, so why didn't they make that adjustment after Game 1?”
The Celtics did indeed move the ball around more in Game 5. They had a series-high 27 assists, led by a career-high 12 from Jaylen Brown. The Celtics have now won both games this series in which they’ve had more than 20 assists as a team, while they’ve had fewer than 20 in their three losses.
Perhaps because they were more willing to make an extra pass or two instead of settling for 1-on-1 offense, the Celtics also took better care of the ball and committed just eight turnovers in Game 5. Again, there is a clear statistical line of demarcation here: they have had fewer than 10 turnovers in their two wins against the Knicks, and more than 10 in all three losses.
And then there’s the defense. As Courtney alluded to, Brown said after the game that playing better defense was the key message for the team after Tatum’s injury. Well, not only did the Celtics hold the Knicks to a series-low 35.8% shooting from the field, but they also held them to a SEASON-low 26 points in the paint, with Luke Kornet in particular stepping up in a big way in that area. The Knicks had a shocking 64 points in the paint just one game earlier.
“I think they held the Knicks to like 26 points in the paint, and it's the lowest the Knicks have scored in the paint all season long. That is completely different,” Coco said.
Jermaine Wiggins wasn’t buying the idea that the Celtics are somehow a better defensive team without Tatum.
“If Tatum is one of your best defenders, how does that, by him not being there, affect you playing better defense?” Wiggy asked.
“Because Joe Mazzulla put the focus on defense, and he wasn't doing that,” Courtney responded. “That's what the whole talk was about. That was the message that Joe Mazzulla, Al Horford and Jaylen Brown had for the team.”
Wiggy believes the biggest change was simply that the Celtics made more of their shots. There’s some truth in that as well – the C’s shot a series-best 52.4% from the field, including 44.9% from three. They have now won both games in which they have made more than 40% of their threes.
“The guys made shots,” Wiggy said. “And it wasn't like guys making shots who don't get shots. Like Derrick White gets a ton of shots. Jaylen Brown gets a ton of shots. Pritchard, he gets a solid amount of shots. Jrue Holiday. You made those shots. That's the thing: you made those shots. And that's what's going to happen tomorrow night. Can they do the same thing? Because if they can't make those shots, we're going to be sitting here going, well that's why they lost the series.”