Four Rounds: The Celtics' biggest enemy is perfection

The Talking Point: The Celtics aren’t perfect, and they know it

A big takeaway from the last week of the NBA playoffs.

There’s a saying, “Perfect is the enemy of good.” Apparently it comes from the French writer Voltaire, but that’s not important. The idea is that folks can get so caught up in trying to be perfect that they ignore the signs of progress.

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla might be more of a fan of The Town or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but maybe he’s picking up some French philosophy on the side. Because he knows that the goal for the Celtics isn’t to be perfect, it’s to be good. Good enough to win the championship. And based on their 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals, they are.

Boston’s Game 3 win over the Dallas Mavericks was classic Celtics. They broke the game open in the third quarter with a dominant stretch, making their first seven shots in the second half and suffocating Dallas’ offense. After a pair of 3-pointers to start the fourth quarter, Boston opened a 21-point lead.

But the Celtics can’t make it easy. The Mavericks went on a 22-2 run to get back into the game. During that stretch, the gears of Boston’s Swiss movement offense stalled. 

The imperfections of the roster surfaced. Jayson Tatum (whose biggest flaw is his finishing) smoked a point-blank layup. Jaylen Brown (who doesn’t have the tightest handle) had the ball stolen from him on a drive. Jrue Holiday (whose decision-making late in games is questionable) rushed a jumper early in the shot clock and fouled Kyrie Irving on a 3-pointer.

After Irving made his three free throws, the Mavericks trailed 93-90 with 6:11 left. Neither team scored for almost three minutes. Luka Doncic fouled out after picking up his fifth and sixth fouls in a span of 26 seconds, so Dallas turned the offense to Irving. On the very next possession, Irving dragged Al Horford — closing in place of the injured Kristaps Porzingis — into a pick-and-roll and scored over him on an 18-foot jumper. The Celtics know Horford can be targetted, but they are OK with letting him defend the Mavericks’ All-Star guards one-on-one.

Because they are not trying to play perfect defense, only defense good enough to win the championship. Let Doncic and Irving score to a degree, but shut off the other options. Limit Dallas’ exit ramps when Doncic and Irving get stuck in traffic.

Down four with 25 seconds left, Irving again got Horford on an island. Only this time, he dribbled himself into a corner and settled for a tough, fading-away 3-pointer that missed. The law of averages worked. The Celtics won.

Despite the scare, the Celtics never surrendered the lead. After their 21-point edge narrowed to one, Brown (Boston’s most physical rebounder) scored on a put-back after a Tatum drive, Holiday (their upgrade at point guard) tossed a slick pass to Derrick White (whose having a career season from 3-point range) for a 3-pointer and Tatum powered through two defenders for a dunk. In less than 60 seconds, Boston had created a six-point cushion. Brown’s pull-up jumper with 1:01 left was the dagger.

Technically, this was a clutch game — one that was within five points with five minutes left to play. The Celtics were 21-12 in clutch situations in the regular season and are now a perfect 6-0 in clutch games in the playoffs. Many of these clutch situations were self-created by giving up double-digit leads late, but the Celtics dial it in when they have to. They’ve out-scored their opponents by 47 points in close games this postseason.

It’s easy to blame Boston’s imperfections — specifically the reliance on the 3-pointer — for the blown leads. When the Celtics miss a bunch of 3s at a time, they can let their opponent back into the game. But then they can stretch the lead just as quickly.

Here’s a look at how Game 3 played out based on stretches of Boston’s 3-point shooting:

• 1 for 6: Dallas leads 15-7
• 4 for 7: Dallas leads 31-28
• 2 for 5: Boston leads 38-36
• 2 for 9: Dallas leads 51-50
• 3 for 4: Boston leads 69-61
• 0 for 4: Boston leads 71-65
• 4 of 5: Boston leads 91-70
• 0 for 4: Boston leads 93-90
• 1 for 2: Boston leads 100-96

This is what Mazzulla means when he says to trust the math.

The Celtics went 17 for 46 from 3-point range in the game while the Mavericks shot 9 for 25 from distance. For the series, the Celtics are outscoring the Mavericks 129-66 from beyond the arc.

It might not always look pretty, but this is Boston’s plan. Defend Doncic and Irving one-on-one and get up a ton of 3-pointers. Sure, the Celtics could have lost Games 2 and 3, but a few good breaks went their way and the plan was good enough in the end. The goal was never to sweep the Mavericks but to develop a plan to win four out of seven.

And yet here are the Celtics, one win away from a perfect 2024 Finals record. With a win in Dallas on Friday, the Celtics would become the 10th team in NBA history to sweep the Finals.

The Reset: Trades for the last six teams eliminated from the playoffs that are just crazy enough to work

Sometimes an old narrative needs another look. Teams that make a deep run into the playoffs usually don’t need a major shakeup to the roster, but I came up with some funky fake trades anyway. I kind of love them.

Timberwolves trade Karl-Anthony Towns to Portland for Jerami Grant and Malcolm Brogdon

If the Timberwolves decide to trade Towns, they should be looking to add versatility and playmaking depth. Replacing Towns with Grant in the starting lineup would give Minnesota another lockdown perimeter defender alongside Jaden McDaniels while still spacing the floor for Anthony Edwards. Brogdon, 2023’s Sixth Man of the Year, will provide ball-handling depth and can play alongside either Edwards or Mike Conley. Portland grabs an All-Star to form a trio with Deandre Ayton and Scoot Henderson.

Pacers trade Myles Turner to Cleveland for Jarrett Allen

When looking for a way to boost Indiana’s defense (24th in DRTG), it’s easy to start at center. The Pacers gave up the most points in the paint and were 26th in defensive rebounding rate last season. Turner is going into the final year of his contract and he isn’t the rim protector he once was. Flipping him for the 26-year-old Jarrett Allen, who is on a team-controlled deal worth $20 million per year for two more years and is a good rim-protector and rebounder, would be a sensible way to address a lot of issues. For the Cavs, Turner’s pick-and-pop ability would be a better fit next to Evan Mobley.

Nuggets trade Michael Porter Jr. to Memphis for Marcus Smart, John Konchar and GG Jackson

With four players making more than $20 million a year, the Nuggets are too top-heavy to address their beleaguered depth in this new second-apron world. Turning Porter’s $35.8 million salary into multiple helpful pieces could solve a lot of problems. Smart could give the Nuggets the defensive perimeter presence they haven’t had since Bruce Brown and Konchar and Jackson are both good shooters and toolsy enough to grow in Denver’s system. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, get the elite shooter with size that they have been looking for to space the floor alongside Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr.

Knicks trade Julius Randle to the Nets for Dennis Schroder, Dorian Finney-Smith, TWO FIRST ROUND PICKS

This is a depth and injury insurance play by the Knicks, who add Schroder to run their second unit and Finney-Smith as another top wing defender to pair with OG Anunoby. Anunoby has failed to play at least 70 games every season since his rookie year and missed a chunk of the playoffs with the Knicks. Finney-Smith could step into a similar role when Anunoby is sidelined, or play next to him to form one of the stronger defensive wing duos in the league (something that should help when they run into the Celtics).

Cavaliers trade Darius Garland to the Magic for Jalen Suggs and Jonathan Isaac

After swapping Allen for Turner, the Cavs continue to retool around Donovan Mitchell, hoping he’ll sign a long-term extension. Suggs, a defensive bulldog who shot nearly 40 percent from 3 last season, is an ideal 3-and-D complement to Mitchell in the backcourt. Isaac helps to fortify a defense that lost Allen but still has Turner and Mobley. The Cavs can play big for 48 minutes with any two of Isaac, Turner and Mobley on the court together.

Thunder trade Josh Giddey to the Bulls for Lonzo Ball

The Thunder have more than $30 million in cap space this summer but there might not be a free agent to use it on. Instead, GM Sam Presti can do what he does best and use the space to trade for a distressed asset. Ball, who hasn’t played in an NBA game since January 2022, said on his podcast that he expects to return next season. The Bulls, however, have handed the keys to the offense to Coby White and can use more cap space to rebuild. Swapping Ball’s $21.3 million expiring contract for Giddey’s $8.3 million salary helps them do that. For the Thunder, Ball is everything they are looking for at that position when healthy. He’s a genius passer and smart player who can defend and make 3s — everything they were hoping Giddey would be. And, if it doesn’t work out, he comes off the books next summer.

Observations

The Celtics went to a version of this set a few times during their third-quarter run. It’s an empty-side pick-and-roll designed to get Tatum the ball in the post.

What makes these two possessions work is Tatum reading the floor. On the first play, Irving over-plays the switch and Tatum gets a clear angle at the basket. Al Horford’s screen at the top forces Doncic to step up to Brown, which forces Daniel Gafford to make a decision between rotating over the corner or helping under the basket. Brown and Tatum make the right read, leading to an easy basket.

A few minutes later, Boston runs it again. This time, Holiday dumps it into Tatum but Tim Hardaway Jr. remains solid and doesn’t switch. Now it’s a Tatum post-up. He dribbles twice into the paint to get the Dallas defense to take a step inside, then kicks it out to White to trigger a chain of passes that leads to an open corner 3. The beauty of a tried-and-true set where everyone is on the same page.

The Celtics taking their windows 

As Jared Dubin pointed out in his “Last Night In Basketball” newsletter, the Celtics did a great job of stepping into shots when the Mavericks were a beat late on switches. Dubin called it the “switch pocket.” 

“You know how there is a moment when the defense is going to switch on a pick and roll or a dribble hand-off or an off-ball screen, but hasn’t actually executed the switch yet? There’s a little pocket of space that opens up when that happens, and it can be exploited.”

A mashup of examples:

The Mavericks have to be just as decisive on making these switches as the Celtics are in taking advantage of those openings.

Luka attacking Tatum

Over the last couple of games, the Mavericks have been happy to have Doncic attack Tatum. What seemed like a decent matchup for the Celtics, well, hasn’t been.

In Games 2 and 3 combined, Doncic shot 7 for 13 (53.8 percent, up from his 47.3 percent overall clip for the series) when Tatum was guarding him and the Mavericks have scored 29 total points out of that matchup. It reminds me of when the Timberwolves tried to guard Doncic with Jaden McDaniels. Despite both Tatum and McDaniels being long, neither has the strength to guard Doncic one-on-one. Doncic puts them on his hip and goes to work.

This series is probably too far gone, but at least the Mavericks had that.

Take That For Data

Some numbers and stats. Some of them made up.

2: That’s how many seasons, on average, a coach has lasted in the Lakers job over the last two decades. They have reportedly scheduled an interview with JJ Redick, who once looked like their first choice but now looks like their second. Everything is fine.

3: Words I never heard of in Porzingis’ diagnosis. The Celtics diagnosed Porzingis with a rare injury they are calling a torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon in his left leg. Retinaculum? Tibialis? Allowing? 

Plus-9: That’s Xavier Tillman’s plus-minus in Game 3. With Porzingis out, that should have been happy time for the Mavericks to go to work and bludgeon Boston’s second unit. If the Celtics are going to win Tillman’s minutes, the Mavs don’t have a chance.