Boston Celtics – The Numbers*

• Pace: 92.2 (2nd)
• Offensive Efficiency: 104.4 (16th)
• True Shooting Percentage: 56.2% (5th)
• Assist Rate: 23.56 (1st)
• Turnover Rate: 14.35 (26th)
• Offensive Rebound Rate: 21.10 (30th)
• Free Throw Rate: 30.4 (10th)
• Three Point Rate: 18.2 (26th)

Boston Celtics – Strengths

Using Screens Away From The Basketball

The Celtics are 4th in the NBA in terms of points per possession when their players come off of screens, and obviously this has a lot to do with Ray Allen and his shooting ability.  You can’t talk about shooters who can come off screens and knock shots down without mentioning Ray Allen.  Allen might be one of the best shooters in the history of the NBA, and he is also one of the best when it comes to working off of screens.  Part of what makes Allen so successful is his ability to set up his defender before he even comes off of the screen.

Watch what Allen does here even before he uses the screen.  He starts on the baseline and starts as if he is going to come off of a pindown on the block.  He stops, starts to head in the opposite direction, but then he jab steps, and goes back in the original direction.  This creates enough space for Allen to come off the screen, square up, and knock down the mid-range jumper.  In addition to being able to work before coming off of screens, he can read the defense, see how they are playing him, and just react off of it:

Here, Allen comes off of the pindown set for him, looking to curl off of the screen and meet the basketball.  However, before he can, his defender (Jordan Crawford), shoots the gap and tries to anticipate the pass thrown to him.  Instead of continuing his route to the basketball, Allen reads the defense, breaks off of it, and heads to the corner where he is wide open.  Allen gets the pass and knocks down the open three.

Cutting Off Of The Basketball

One of the things that makes the Boston Celtics so hard to defend is that you have so much talent on the court at the same time, that if you focus too much on the basketball, you are going to get beat off of the ball.  The Celtics’ are the best “cutting” team in the league, scoring 1.32 points every possession that a cutter gets the basketball.  For the Celtics, the biggest threat to cut to the rim are the bigs. Defenses tend to start ball watching on the outside (where you have Rondo, Pierce, and Allen), that the bigs are able to cut right to the rim and usually end up wide open.  Each of the three Celtics’ bigs (Glen Davis – 67.4% shooting on cuts, Kevin Garnett 70.6% shooting on cuts, and Shaq 79% shooting on cuts) have a PPP of over 1.3 when they cut to the rim:

Here, the Celtics are running a pick and roll with Paul Pierce as the ball handler and Kevin Garnett as the screener.  Pierce is able to use the screen to try and penetrate, forcing JaVale McGee to help.  McGee’s man, Glen Davis cuts right to the rim when this happens, making himself available for the pass.  Davis gets the pass and is able to finish easily.

Where the Celtics’ bigs seem to benefit the most is when they set pindown screens for Ray Allen.  Allen is a fantastic shooter, but he is also one of the best passers coming off of pindown screens.  You have to hedge out on Allen, and when that happens, that opens up the lane.  That is exactly what happens here.  As Allen comes off of the pindown screen, Chris Bosh sprints at him.  This leaves Kevin Garnett wide open for the easy finish.

Again, here is another play where the threat of Ray Allen opens up a cutting opportunity. The only difference is instead of Allen making the pass, the pass comes from up top, made by the point guard.

Boston Celtics – Weaknesses

Spot-Ups

It is weird to think that a team with Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett can be considered a bad spot up shooting team, but the numbers show that they are.  According to Synergy, the the Celtics are 27th in the NBA in terms of points per possession (.912 PPP) and 23rd in the league in terms of FG% (38.8%).  The biggest reason why the Celtics are so poor spotting up statistically is because of Glen Davis.  Davis is a very poor shooter when he is catching and shooting on the outside, but that hasn’t stopped him from attempting the second most catch and shoot jumpers, only behind Kevin Garnett.  On those shots, Davis is shooting 33.6%.  Davis is much more effective cutting to the rim (like we have seen above), and putting his head down and attacking the rim.

On this play, Davis sets an off ball screen and flares out to the corner, getting the basketball.  Instead of driving baseline and finishing at the rim (something he is very good at), he settles for the jumper (something that he is not good at).

If Davis continues to waste possessions taking jumpers, there is a chance he brings down the efficiency of the Celtics’ offense, and playing against the Knicks, a teams that can score in bunches, they can’t waste any possessions.

New York Knicks – The Numbers*

• Pace: 97.8 (3rd)
• Offensive Efficiency: 108.2 (7th)
• True Shooting Percentage: 56.0% (6th)
• Assist Rate: 19.60 (21st)
• Turnover Rate: 12.64 (5th)
• Offensive Rebound Rate: 24.43 (24th)
• Free Throw Rate: 30.4 (11th)
• Three Point Rate: 29.8 (2nd)

New York Knicks – Strengths

Isolation

Even though many (including myself) may think the New York Knicks tend to rely on isolations way too much, there is no denying that they have players who can score effectively out of isolation.  Both Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire are in the top half of the league in terms of PPP on isolation sets.

When Carmelo Anthony isolates, he likes to get the ball on the right side of the court, doing so 45.0% of the time.  When he gets the ball he is going to do one of two things, either take a jumper without dribbling (does this 50% of the time) or drive to the left (does this 33% of the time).  In both situations, Anthony is very effective, posting a PPP of over 1.

Here, Anthony makes the catch on the wing and faces up on his man.  With his dribble still live, he feels his man has stepped up too far to him and just beats him off of the dribble with the left hand.  What makes Anthony so hard to guard is that he almost explodes out of these situations.  He isn’t the quickest player in the league, but he has one of the quickest first steps, and that allows him to get his defender on his hip.  Once that happens, it is all over for the defense.

Something that the Knicks give Anthony the freedom to do is actually bring the basketball up and take it to a spot on the court where he can isolate his man.  When Anthony does this, he is taking the basketball to the right wing.  I have noticed that when Anthony does bring the basketball up like this, he almost always takes a jumper without penetrating (compared to when he makes the catch on the wing, he likes to drive left):

On all of these plays, Carmelo Anthony is bringing the basketball up and dribbles into his own isolation set.  With Anthony already dribbling the basketball up, the defender tends to play back on his heels a little bit.  Anthony uses that to his advantage, and when the defense plays back, Anthony is able to pull up for the jumper.

When Amar’e Stoudemire isolates, he likes to get the ball at the top of the key (45.8% of the top, Stoudemire isolates at the top of the key).  What makes him so hard to defend is that he can, and will, do one of three actions.  That is drive left, right, or shoot it.  He does all three actions evenly (drives left 31.3%, right 36.7%, and shoots it 32% of the time), and all three successfully so the defense can’t sit one action or force him to a weakness:

These three videos is exactly what makes Stoudemire so dangerous when isolated at the top of the key.  He can do everything well, so he just reads the defense and takes what they give him.  If they play him right, he drives left and vice versa.  If they back up on him, he pulls the jumper.  There isn’t a set way to stop Stoudemire on the top of the key, because you can’t force him to a weakness.

New York Knicks – Weaknesses

Cuts

The Knicks’ biggest strength also leads to the Knicks’ biggest weakness, and that is cutting off of the basketball.  When either Carmelo Anthony or Amar’e Stoudemire get the basketball in isolation situations, their teammates tend to stand there and watch the action.  This is what has lead to the Knicks only using the cut as part of their offense 6% of the time.  With a team that has two players who can isolate their man like Anthony and Stoudemire, you would expect that cut number to be higher.

This is because defenses tend to load up against a guy when he isolates.  As we have seen with the Celtics’ offense, when teams load up, cutting lanes are open.  When teams stand around and watch the basketball, they make things easier for the defense than it should be.

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*All numbers come from the fantastic website Hoopdata.com