How Boston held Luka to just 1 assist! | NBA Finals Game 1 analysis

How did the Celtics shut down Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks? Why was their gameplan so successful, and what made this game so different from the Western Finals? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report explores Coach Mazzulla’s approach to the Boston defense, how they defended the pick-and-roll, and why their matchups and spacing were so critical in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

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the Celtics dominated game one of the NBA Finals holding the Mavs to a 97 offensive rating and completely neutralizing Dallas’s deadly pick and roll game with Luca donic so why did this game look so different from the Western Conference finals and what exactly was Boston’s game plan that held Luca and the Mavs in check the first thing Boston did was stick Jason Tatum on Dallas’s Center which meant if he wanted to attack Boston Center in pick and roll Derek Jones Jr would be setting the screen and he’s not a roll threat Boston switches anyway here and Al Horford gets a good contest on Luca’s step back remember this pick and roll connection with dant’s big men torched the wolves in the Conference Finals by playing two on two in the paint where his centers are these big vertical threats to catch lobs behind the defense so so if Luca wants to attack Boston’s Center in pick and roll Jones has to set the screen and when he rolls free even when Luca has Tatum on his hip Jones isn’t a lob threat behind porzingis and the paint is more crowded with Dallas’s Center on the Block bringing an extra help Defender and Chris STS is too big for Jones here’s another one in the third with maxi clra in the game at Center instead of a lob threat so so when Jones sets the screen he has room to roll and it’s a great play by Jaylen Brown to come over and break it up but the play is also below the rim because Jones is smaller and then even when they have a second chance at The Rim Brown stuffs him again now this isn’t some one-off game plan Boston just cooked up they play Dallas like this in their March matchup having a forward guard the MAV Center and having their own Center G of forward to take away Luca’s lob weapons in the paint and they do this all the time so it didn’t matter who it was poor zingis is on PJ Washington here he’s going to drop on the pick and roll but again Horford is also in the paint because Dallas’s Center is parked on the Baseline and they basically ignore Washington on Above The Brak threes this time porzingis is on Josh Green it’s the same drop green pops to the three-point line and Derek white doesn’t even close out to his shot playing the corner shooter instead and green sees a traffic jam and short circuits if the big man is setting the screen then Boston just switches with someone like Jason Tatum the roller can’t run free and JT is good enough to hold his own in isolation against Luca and the Celtics would switch these screens with brown taking away the rle man and then they didn’t really want to help too much on Luca Jaylen stays with Daniel Gafford here and donic ends up with a layup and they wanted to make Luca a score and keep his playmaking in check Drew holiday ignores Jones here to come help on the lob so Brown probably should help but he doesn’t want to leave a lob threat and it’s a tough layup instead the rest of the time Boston was switching all of Luca’s pick and rolles and then mostly playing him straight up and he went after Sam Hower twice in a row in the first quarter and Hower more than held his own poking at this and forcing a turnover and notice how far over Brown is to clog up that driving lane for Luca so even though they weren’t double teaming him they were often shading a Defender toward him pton Pritchard switches this time and holiday just lingers right in that driving line even with Washington one pass away so donic settles for a step back instead this time they let Brown defend him in isolation and porzingis is happy to help off of Jones he can easily recover and contain the drive and again he’s not a roll threat like Gafford or Derek Lively so it’s an easy porzingis block here’s another one isolating against Brown holiday steps in front to stop the drive he sort of lingers near the free throw line but doesn’t double and Tatum is sitting on one block because gafford’s on a shooter Horford’s on the other block guarding Jones and it’s a tough 15-footer for Luca this time Al is on Gafford but when he screens Brown just avoids the switch Horford sits on the roll threat and Luca ends up with a tough Runner and donic actually had some daylight here but holiday l Ling at the ball forces him to pick it up prematurely and shoot it’s the same thing in the second Drew is shading off Kyrie Irving Luca drives but that stunt forces him to pick it up Tatum is lurking white comes off the strong side corner to help and they probably don’t care too much about Washington shooting above the break threes because it’s the same story on this play where donic is looking to pick on Pritchard Drew is one pass away on on Washington but still jumps over to destroy the drive and again it’s a tricky mid-ranger for Luca later in the fourth Pritchard was matched up with donic in transition and an entire side to work with white sees that and spontaneously doubles and then he can stay with Luca after the pass while Boston recovers so when they go back to that isolation Tatum can roam off Jones and it’s a rip through foul on Derek for having arms basically by eliminating Don’s normal pick and roll Partners which then changes the spacing with an extra player in the paint and then ignoring his teammates Luca finish with just one assist that’s the lowest number he’s had in a full game since his rookie season here’s that one dime of the night so even when he had the matchup he wanted with Lively setting the screen and porzingis in a drop Jones’s man can help un Lucas’s drive a guard is lurking to stab at the basketball so porzingis can sit on the lob and this one’s a foul on the pass here it’s Horford guarding a big man but they’ll just switch the screen when he’s involved and he’s so wly that he can block Luca’s step back so despite his Advanced age Big Al is still Nimble enough to switch these screens and hold his own out in space they’ll even switch these on all softball actions and he stays with this so well that he almost ends up with a clean steel and one of the reasons he can play donich like this is because he knows he has some help behind him porzingis is roaming off Jones so when Luca gets a step white is cheating off his man and it’s a great pass but porzingis his glutes Force the turnover unlike Horford the Celtics try to keep porzingis out of the pick and roll with Dallas’s big he tells Hower to pre- switch here so we can roam in the paint and again that puts extra bodies in the lane holiday is ready to help on a drive and that just makes life easier for Sam in isolation and here’s one late in the game where KP ends up on lively but he tells Pritchard to switch into the action instead white just never leaves donic and picks his pocket from behind and that leads to a run out and an easy layup in his first game back in more than a month poringa had a big night protecting the rim and in the first quarter alone he blocked three shots including this masterpiece in transition and on offense his spacing had a massive effect opening up the lane because he can bomb like this from way downtown here’s that exact same play only this time instead of hitting Christ staps they throw it to Tatum and Luca doesn’t want to leave porzingis Shooters are spaced everywhere so JT can attack his mismatch without any help this time it’s Drew holiday in transition and again the shot blocker stretched out to porzingis instead of clogging the lane and Drew just plays a game of one-onone bullyball and I love this away from the ball where Lively’s chasing KP at the three-point line so when Tatum beats his man Luca helps but he’s not a shop blocking threat and it’s an easy layup Boston spacing in general might be the best we’ve ever seen Lively is out on porzingis here and the lane is just wide open when he drives it and this was apparent on the very first play of the game where Gafford tries to cheat over off Horford but when they swing it back around him in the corner the Mavs are stretched too thin so the up fake sheds the shop blocker and it’s a red carpet dunk the Celtics also do crafty stuff like stick a guard on the Baseline while spacing a big man to the perimeter so there’s less shot blocking near the hoop and that created enough space on this play where Brown left Luca in the dust and just punched it on the Finish Jaylen and Company hunted Luca a ton throughout the game and he had a hard time staying in front of the ball as the game wore on well on the other end Brown held up well in his matchup against donic containing the point of attack against Dallas the Mavs finish with just nine assists as a team their lowest of the Year by far in the fourth fewest in a Finals game in the shot clock era so now it’s back to the drawing board for Jason kid and the Mavs to see what kind of answers they can come up with for this Boston machine because after roaring through the regular season the Celtics are now just three games away from an NBA title if you want to work in basketball I have the place for you it’s Sports business 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