Celtics Experiment and Rest in Jazz Win and West Coast Trip Notes

In the Celtics’ west coast road trip final that Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford sat out, Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday also took a seat at the start of the fourth quarter. Boston only led 98-91, but Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Derrick White shuffled in alongside bench bigs Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman Sr. Joe Mazzulla experimented some with the game on the line.

When a reporter told Mazzulla in Utah that the Jazz had cut Boston’s lead to two moments before that substitution, Mazzulla deadpanned — did they? Oh s***. 

“I was so caught up in managing the game,” Mazzulla continued. “There were three times we got leads where I wish we could play that team like five more times, because they have an innate ability to dominate the transitions. So three times, we had a lead and either came down and had a transition turnover, we took a tough shot or the offensive rebounding spacing was poor, and they were able to get out in transition and get those easy baskets.”

Mazzulla rattled off the margins again, transition threes, transition baskets, offensive rebounds and free throws all keying Utah’s competitiveness this year. Will Hardy keys them as much as Mazzulla, having led him and the other assistants in Boston in 2022. Mazzulla often mentions the impression Hardy left on him that season, but since his departure and ascent to the head coaching role, the Celtics not only amassed an enormously talented top end of the roster, they carefully developed the bench that mostly spent Hardy’s lone season in Maine. Pritchard and Kornet started on Tuesday. They and Hauser rarely played during that Finals run. Now, they compose the bulk of the minutes alongside Al Horford  on the league’s best +/- bench.

That group powered a third straight Celtics win, 123-107, with a new addition to that group beginning the closing run of rest and experimentation before a ramp-up for the playoffs over the final 17 regular season games with a 20-0 run to begin the fourth quarter. Tillman and Kornet hadn’t played together prior, but posted a +53.3 net rating and 60 defensive rating in eight minutes together during the win.

“At the start of the third, we went to our bread-and-butter of D.White pick-and-rolls,” Mazzulla said. “I thought Luke and X did a good job navigating that, Oshae (Brissett) setting good screens and we got a steady diet of those … which kind of settle us down … we get different looks out of that.”

Mazzulla mentioned both that Tillman didn’t know he would play as much as he did and that he and Kornet found ways, creatively, to co-exist during their minutes. Tillman knocked down a corner three, improving to 24.6% from deep this year (2-4 with Boston) and set layers of screens that freed Kornet on the back line. Tillman grabbed an offensive rebound on a White floater miss early in their run, leading to a pair of kick-out passes by Kornet to White and Tillman that produced a three-point and closeout opportunity. Boston didn’t score, but on the ensuing play, Tillman ran a pick-and-roll to White’s left that flowed into a Kornet handoff to his right and a three.

They ran the same play on the next possession, attacking downhill instead this time and getting Kornet an alley-oop look that rimmed out. Holiday replaced Kornet after a 3-for-10 start to the quarter, but Boston held Utah to 0-for-6 over those minutes with a turnover, expanding the lead from seven to 16. Holiday’s three on the next play made it 19, then Tatum returned to score eight of Boston’s final 10 points and secure himself a bounce-back 38.

Other notes from the west coast trip that concluded on Tuesday…

• Tillman’s first three games with real rotation minutes for the Celtics: 15 points in 45 minutes, 13 rebounds (5 OREB), 4 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK on 7-10 FG, 1-2 3PT, 0 FTA (+15).
• Brissett played his first rotation minutes since January during the last two Celtics wins, recording six offensive rebounds in 36 minutes with five points and two assists. His 10.4 OREB% by far marks a career high and would rank in the top-20 of the NBA if he qualified, while Kornet’s 13.9 OREB% would rank third behind Clint Capela (19.1%) and Isaiah Hartenstein (14.8%). Boston is tied for 14th as a team in that category (28.8%), but that’s up from 27th last year, a marked shift in their approach that Kornet and others talked about being an adjustment earlier this season. In Milwaukee, Doc Rivers has abandoned offensive rebounding, the Bucks falling into a tie for last place (22.8 OREB%) since the all-star break.
• Mazzulla shared some interesting insight with Sean Grande on 98.5 The Sports Hub before the Utah game, echoing post-game comments from the night before in Portland about how Boston wanted to reach the second and third layer of the Blazers’ defense that holds opponents to the sixth-fewest three point attempts in the league. The Celtics emphasized in film how they could produce more quality shots for Pritchard and Hauser by running 3-4 actions within one set, a revelation that Mazzulla alluded to learning from the Denver loss last Thursday. Mazzulla, last season, talked about Boston needing to take the first open shot. The Celtics rank 20th in assist rate (60.5%), but set a franchise record with 34 assists and three turnovers at Portland.
• Tatum shot 38.8% from the field through the first four games of the west coast trip, turning the ball over 3.0 times per night, seeing his rebounds drop to 8.0, not recording a block and scoring 24.0 PPG in part due to getting to the free throw line only 5.0 times per game, albeit while shooting 45.2% from three. He emerged from those struggles in Utah, shooting 13-for-25 from the field and 4-for-10 from three (8-8 FT).
• Brown sat on Tuesday due to an ongoing back ailment. He’s averaging 28.0 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 3.7 APG and only 1.3 TOV on 53.2% shooting since the break (38.3% 3PT). He shot more than Tatum over that stretch. I assessed his All-NBA case on Monday.
• The Celtics built a 9.5 game lead in the east after the Bucks lost to the Kings on Tuesday and the Cavs dropped their second straight the day before. The east race is effectively over, with 17 Boston games remaining and their magic number decreasing to eight for the top seed. Their magic number for the top seed in the NBA over Oklahoma City and Denver is 12. Boston has the easiest remaining schedule (.422).
• Neemias Queta did not play, but the Celtics activated him for the 42nd time this season on Tuesday. That leaves him with eight available NBA games over the remaining schedule. He is not eligible to play in the playoffs unless Boston signs him to a standard contract. The Celtics maintain an open roster spot, but The date for playoff eligibility for players bought out passed earlier this month, leaving Otto Porter Jr. ineligible after Utah waived him this week. He announced his retirement soon after.
• Derrick White’s brilliant season continued, climbing back above 40% three-point shooting with a 7-for-11 night from deep (he started the trip 1-for-14). His 15.1 PPG and 5.0 APG rival career highs, while his 1.3 BPG shattered his previous high. White ranks 17th in expected plus-minus (+4.6), as high as Tatum’s number and crafting a legitimate All-NBA impact case for him negated only by his low usage and scoring. A strong argument emerged again for utilizing him more, producing 1.02 PPP running pick-and-roll while receiving nearly two fewer per game than Tatum does (0.94 PPP).