The Rotation: Let’s talk about the Celtics because the Wizards didn’t show up Tuesday

Welcome to The Rotation, our daily playoff wrap-up of our favorite stories, large and small, from last night’s NBA action.

Brad Stevens has unlocked the future of the pick-and-roll

By Brandon Jefferson (@pengriffey_jr)

Just when you thought basketball boy genius Brad Stevens had discovered all the sets under the sun, he unleashed something new on us Tuesday night. Isaiah Thomas has been difficult to defend in the pick-and-roll all year long. However Thomas’ role in that play was flipped in Game 5.

Playing Al Horford at center has helped open the floor for Boston. Marcin Gortat can’t stay with him on the perimeter and if the Wizards downsize they lose their advantage on the glass. Stevens decided to highlight the Gortat/Horford mismatch by letting Horford be the ball handler in a 5-1 pick-and-roll.

With Thomas as the screener having the defenders switch on the action would leave Washington with bigger mismatches. This was also a way to address the perimeter pressure the Wizards had been using to try and keep the ball out of Thomas’ hands.

However, this play has larger implications for the NBA as a whole. With the rise of the unicorn big in the league more and more centers are playing away from the hoop. Imagine Karl-Anthony Towns getting a screen from Ricky Rubio. What about Jameer Nelson setting a pick for Nikola Jokic on the wing? Or how about Kristaps Porzingis getting one from [insert Knicks future point guard here] in two years when the Triangle has been run out of New York.

The spread pick-and-roll has taken over in the modern NBA. Even the Knicks occasionally used it! As a defense there really isn’t much you can do with this action. Have the big go under the screen and you’re giving wide-open looks to 35-40 percent 3-point shooters. Switch on the screen and you have 7-footers barreling down upon guards 6-foot-6 or smaller. If you trap it, you’re potentially leaving a star wide open and even if your defense rotates correctly there will be an open player for the center to kick the ball to. The last option is probably the least threatening, unless that kick out goes to a knockdown shooter.

These stretch fives aren’t going anywhere. The AAU circuit is swimming with bigs that can play off the bounce (Marvin Bagely, Bol Bol, Naz Reid, E.J. Montgomery, etc.). Soon enough the center-point guard pick-and-roll could be a staple of all NBA offenses.

The Wizards might be scrambling on the plane back to D.C. to figure out how to keep this play from shredding them apart again, but the rest of the NBA better be prepared to deal with this new wrinkle on a basketball staple.

Al Horford: The underappreciated NBA All-Star no more?

By Keith Schlosser (@KeithBSchlosser)

Al Horford is the $113 million man. After averaging a career-low 6.8 rebounds this season and essentially playing second-fiddle to the NBA’s third-leading scorer in Isaiah Thomas, Horford flew under the radar for much of the campaign. When Thomas gets cooking and Avery Bradley turns in the remarkable two-way effort he did on Tuesday night, it’s easy to consider the center an afterthought on this team, and as such, arguably even easier to label him “overpaid” just like that.

But as the Wizards’ suffered a Game 5 loss, they just might have been introduced to the Celtics’ version of Merlin. Horford put on a jaw-dropping performance with a stat-line of 19 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Is there another NBA big man with such versatility? Offensively, Horford caught the Washington defense off guard throughout. He took his time and had his way, gingerly picking his spots again and again. At times, Horford appeared to walk his way around the perimeter, subsequently cashing in for open buckets. He had the mid-range jumper working. When the Wizards went small, the taller Horford shot over inferior defenders to drain three long balls from beyond the arc. There was simply no stopping him, even if the Wizards were to try. He was a scorching hot 8-of-9 from the field, but his efforts didn’t end there.

The big man’s seven assists may also go underappreciated, because such a mark ranked just second on his squad. It only becomes that much more special when one remembers Horford is 6-foot-10. He’s an offensive visionary with the capability of switching gears back to being a bruiser on defense. The 30-year old is truly his team’s version of a Transformer. But just like that, his work of art was complete after 28 minutes of playing time. Like a truly gifted performer, Horford left his audience gasping for more.

For years, Horford led the charge on a competitive and content Hawks squad whose seasons continued to end early with premature playoff exits. Fast-forward to 2017, and he’s adding a whole other dimension to a championship contending team in Boston. With the Cavaliers awaiting their Eastern Conference Finals opponent, it’ll be interesting to see if Horford’s versatility will somehow meet its match. For now though, the four-time NBA All-Star (let us not forget) appears to be earning his top dollar.

Avery Bradley is the real deal

By Brendon Kleen (@BrendonKleen14)

Sometimes, the leap from good to really awesome during the NBA playoffs is just as exhilarating as the one from awesome to great. There’s a lot less focus on RINGZ, and more focus on simply appreciating playoff production. Avery Bradley’s performance this spring has become a quintessential one in this annual chronology. Though his highest point total in a regular season game sits at a mere 32, he actively makes value harder to quantify with each movement on the court. What seemed wild during the Year of Isaiah has become reality in the playoffs: Bradley is one of the most valuable pieces on this Celtics team.

Last year, the mask was pried off. It was clear Bradley was an excellent player, with top notch defense and an offensive game bolstered by remarkable shooting improvements. Draw a direct line from the first few months of the 2015-16 season to this year’s second round. Bradley’s stardom, to whatever extent it exists, is not fading, it is becoming clearer. Nothing about his style or success puts down or punishes inferiority. Each made basket is in praise of the thousands that came before it in a quiet Massachusetts gym. Quick, sure-footed ball pressure remembers the hours of stumbling that begat great defense.

Bradley set the tone for last night’s 123-101 blowout over the Wizards early, finding open shooters when the ball pinged his way and making shots when he was that final open shooter. There’s a powerful reaction that occurs when a performance likes that takes place, especially in the playoffs: “How cool for that guy.”

Watching a Celtics game, it’s clear before you’ve even blinked once that Avery Bradley deserves more credit and to be more known in NBA circles. The Celtics have a culture wherein hard work and creativity are core tenets. Improvement, then, is expected and honored. Bradley’s progression over the course of his career is not altogether surprising as a trickle-down from coach Brad Stevens’ philosophies, but nevertheless breathtaking to see center stage.

Last night, in the most decisive NBA victory of his career, in a series tied 2-2 with a road game looming just around the corner, Bradley, not Thomas, took the reins early. He tested his zero-to-sixty time in transition and found open space in the half court, leading the onslaught of cutters slicing into half court pick-and-roll sets between Thomas and Al Horford. Finally, his defense against Washington’s dynamite guard duo set the tone for the blowout as well.

Though 25 of his 29 points came in the first half, scoring any more than four in the second would have been unnecessary. The game was out of reach by that point, thanks in large part to Bradley’s own transition efficiency and physical defense. Thomas is scoring all the points, and there are more important parts of Boston’s ultra-flexible small lineups, but Bradley is using the postseason to finally put it all together. And especially absent any particularly triumphant narratives this summer, Bradley’s rise to notoriety and massive game-to-game impact has been noteworthy and incredibly fun.

Play of the Day: Boston’s hairpin handoff

By Jeff Siegel (@jgsiegel)

The Boston Celtics have a superstar point guard, but unlike most teams with a point guard with Isaiah Thomas’s skills, they don’t often have Thomas pound the ball into the floor in a pick-and-roll. Instead, Brad Stevens has Thomas running his defenders ragged through off-ball screens and dribble handoffs. Often, plays will begin with Thomas in one corner before he flies up toward the ball, receiving as many as three screens before curling into the paint to attack. Teams haven’t found a good way to defend it all year; Thomas is too fast on those sprints for his defender to keep up with him and he’s too good as a shooter for the defense to wall off the paint.

Another action the Celtics run for Thomas is what I’m calling a Hairpin Handoff, but I’m sure it has a real name that’s better and doesn’t give away the entire concept of the play. In this set, Thomas will instead work his way to the middle of the paint, and then pull off his best Brian O’Connor impression, streaking away from the basket and turning as tightly as possible around the big man with the ball at the top of they key:

There’s often a bit of dummy action before the handoff takes place; in the above clip, Thomas receives an up screen from Kelly Olynyk before setting a cross screen for Marcus Smart. Neither of these is expected to actually generate an open look, but they keep the defense honest. Thomas pauses for a second, then pushes off Kelly Oubre and hairpin turns around Olynyk, grabbing the ball from him as he does so. Thomas has several options upon receiving the ball — he can stop there and pop a 3-pointer if Oubre hangs back too much, he can attack the basket if Oubre follows him over the screen, or he can pull it out and run a standard pick-and-roll with Olynyk. In this instance, the defense collapses on Thomas’s drive into the paint, Olynyk pops out to the right wing, and Thomas finds him for a wide-open 3-pointer.

Next: The 20 different emotions of Gregg Popovich

This is just another way that Stevens gets the best out of his diminutive point guard, using unconventional sets to put pressure on the defense. If the Celtics can hold off the Wizards and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, Stevens will have to pull out every trick in the book to have a chance against the Cleveland Cavaliers.