The Boston Celtics have continued to ace the Eastern Conference and managed yet another Conference Finals appearance this season. They are up 1-0 in the ECF against the Pacers, which beat the NY Knicks in seven games to draw the match-up against the Celts. On the ‘Mind the Game pod’, JJ Redick and LeBron James previewed the ongoing series and highlighted the Celtics’ ability to employ multiple ball-handlers and knock down deep-range jumpers.
Advertisement
They fantasized about a Knicks-Celtics match-up in the ECF and made deep observations about the squads’ offensive schemes.
James remarked that the Knicks just have their leader Jalen Brunson as the one initiating the offense, while the Celtics are blessed with Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown who are nightmares to deal with in crunch-time situations.
“From half-court standpoint, Jalen Brunson has the ball 97% of the time. Boston have four guys in their starting lineup who can handle the ball so you can’t just hide, you can’t point switch because they have multiple guys who can get them into the offense and also make plays either you fu**ed up a switch or a closeout game,” LeBron James told JJ Redick.
LBJ emphasized that having those four arrows in their quiver enables the Celtics to prevail in clutch situations as the defense can’t afford to be loose on any one of them. Even if the defense disrupts the initial play, they can always reset and work a fresh way to accumulate late-game points.
Additionally, he pointed out that they attempt as many as 45 triples which is nightmarish for the defense. This ability was in full display during their OT win in the first ECF game against the uptempo Pacers.
The Celtics proved LeBron James right
As LeBron James predicted, the Celts attempted 45 triples in Game 1 and clicked on 15 of those attempts. This game turned into an instant classic as the Celtics pinched out a 133-128 OT Win. In the fourth quarter, the Pacers were up 117-114 with around 8 seconds to go but then Jaylen Brown blasted a three-pointer to force an Overtime.
In the OT, Celtics’ leading scorer Jayson Tatum took charge and scored 10 of his team’s 16 points to close the book on Tyrese Haliburton and Co. Derrick White also made a crucial lay-up with around 27 seconds left in the game and Jrue Holiday played his part through some sizzling passing and late-game free-throws.
As James pointed out, the Celtics quartet showed up big in the clutch and the Pacers couldn’t capitalize on the chance to steal a game from the #1 seed in the East. The Celtics are looking to repeat what they did in 2008, moreover, with all the criticism around JT and his legacy, he needs a ring on his resume.
