How the Celtics fooled the Cavaliers on Game 3’s most important possession

It took a superhuman effort from the Celtics to beat the Cavaliers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Without Isaiah Thomas in the lineup — usually something that makes them 5.7 points per 100 possessions worse overall — Marcus Smart had the best game of his career, Kelly Olynyk contributed with 15 points off the bench and Jonas Jerebko scored double-figures on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the field in 13 minutes of action. Al Horford also chipped in with 16 points and six rebounds in his first postseason victory against LeBron James while Avery Bradley finished with 20 points.

Even with those contributions, it took a miserable performance from James and a game-winner from Bradley for the Celtics to walk away from Cleveland with a victory. Tied at 108 with 10.7 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the Celtics had an opportunity to take the lead following a timeout and ended up with a wide open 3-pointer from Bradley. As Coach Pyper of Half Court Hoops noted on Twitter, Brad Stevens used a set he’s gone to several times over the last couple of seasons at the end of games to put Bradley in position to make the biggest shot of the game.

As you can see in the image below, the set begins with Jerebko — being guarded by Kyrie Irving — taking the ball out of bounds. Bradley and Jae Crowder, meanwhile, camp out on the other side of the court while Smart and Horford park themselves at the top of the perimeter in horns formation. Once Jerebko receives the ball from the referee, Horford sets a screen on LeBron James to give Smart the space he needs to pop to the 3-point line for a pass.

With four shooters on the floor, Smart has the room he needs to attack his defender 1-on-1, which is why the Cavaliers have LeBron James guarding him. Smart was the best player for the Celtics all game long and the Cavaliers likely assumed he would take over Isaiah Thomas’ role in the closing seconds of the game. However, instead of settling for something that yielded an average of 0.67 points per possession in the regular season, Bradley starts to move towards Crowder in the corner and eventually sets a screen on his defender.

Rather than curling to the perimeter for a jump shot, Crowder actually curls to the basket. This is important because this is where J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert get confused. With no defender in the paint to protect the rim — Tristan Thompson would normally be in position to take away those looks but he has to respect Horford’s shooting ability — both Smith and Shumpert decide to chase Crowder rather than switching or simply staying on their own assignments.

It’s poor communication on their behalf to not know how they’re going to defend the action, but the way in which the Celtics are set up puts a lot of pressure on them to cover shooters and prevent layups. Just look at how well the floor is spaced here with Jerebko pulling Irving way out of the paint on the help side:

As a result, Bradley finds himself unguarded when he pops to the perimeter and Horford sets a screen on his own defender to prevent Thompson from contesting Bradley’s shot. Bradley, who is converting 36.3 percent of his perimeter shots in the postseason, gets off a clean look from his sweet spot and knocks down the 3-pointer to give the Celtics a 111-108 lead.

Here’s video of the possession:

What’s funny is James is well aware of how dangerous the Celtics are following timeouts. According to CLNS Media’s Jared Weiss, James made it clear to reporters after the game that he told his teammates “Stevens is an ATO (after timeout) genius” before the series began. Bradley’s game-winner wasn’t even Stevens’ only stroke of genius in Game 3; the Celtics generated a number of good shots following timeouts down the stretch.

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With that in mind, it’ll be interesting to see if James and the Cavaliers are better prepared for it in Game 4 and beyond. They’ll certainly need to be more locked in to beat the Warriors — a team that has their own Stevens-like ATOs only with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green instead of Smart, Bradley, Crowder and Horford — in the NBA Finals.