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Introduction: Joe Mazzulla explains how West Liberty dominated with offensive rebounding, few turnovers, earning free throws, and shooting the right shots.
0:35 High IQ veterans outsmarted their opponents.
1:00 A switch everything team, the Celtics kept Porzingis out of the PnR by "preswitching" Tatum onto the center and then switching him onto Doncic. That shuts off the lob game and keeps Porzingis available near the rim.
2:00 In addition to 'preswitching' they sometimes doubled Doncic and pressured him into turnovers. The 1.25 points/possession lob game against Minnesota was gone.
2:30 The Celtics held Dallas to 0.68 points/play on their roll game.
2:55 Holiday switches to cover the corner 3 shooter allowing Porzingis to help in the paint.
3:20 The Celtics "concede" some above the break threes by staying out of scramble situations.
The Celtics held Dallas to 6 percent corner 3 attempts, about 40 percent of what Dallas had the prior series.
4:10 Dallas has the backdoor and Horford immediately steps up to deny a layup.
4:25 In a "Draw 2" situation, Holiday comes and White switches to take away the corner 3.
4:57 Scouting helped players stay home against Doncic upfakes at the rim.
5:20 Disciplined defense resulted in Doncic drawing fewer fouls than in any of eight prior playoff series.
6:10 They try to foul early in a possession (ahead by six) to prevent a pair of threes (two possessions) from tying.
6:25 The Celtics had a guard in the dunker spot meaning that smaller defenders end up in rim protection.
6:45 When Dallas started overhelping the middle, the Celtics allowed the help to come, then reversed the ball and got Dallas into scramble mode.
7:55 The old adage of the ball moves faster than the player pays the Celtics a corner 3.
8:15 Boston gets Lively to switch onto Tatum, who drives and kicks when Dallas helps (a little) off the corner 3.
8:50 The Celtics "Screen Your Own" to open space for shooters.
9:05 Boston also had Holiday slip high screens setting up Holiday drives or short roll passes out of the middle.
The overarching lessons are that winning blended talent and strategy, not just "rolling the balls out."
Lagniappe. Dean Smith understood that shot distribution shouldn't be equal.
"Basketball is a team game.
— Coach Mac 🏀 (@BballCoachMac) July 1, 2024
But that doesn't mean all five players should take the same amount of shots"
- Dean Smith
Lagniappe 2. This is incredibly important, especially for high school. Players who don't execute at high levels in the half court will often generate much higher points per possession in transition. Working to get transition in as many as thirty percent of possessions gets edges.
🚨 OFFENSE LARGELY COMES DOWN TO CREATING A NUMBERS, SPEED OR SIZE ADVANTAGE. 🚨
— Chris Steed (@steeder10) June 30, 2024
In the NBA this season, 4 teams had a PPP > 1.00 in ISOLATION.
13 teams had a PPP > 1.00 in TRANSITION. @cleantheglass had HALFCOURT offense ~ 0.95 PPP and 15% of total possessions coming in…