The best players all seem to be gifted with a lack of short-term memory, don't they?
It didn't matter Saturday night that Kyrie Irving suffered through some ugly first-half misses. It didn't linger in his mind that he had failed to find his offensive flow. It didn't bother him at all that his Boston Celtics were in danger of dropping another fourth-quarter lead.
Maybe all of that even added extra incentive for Irving to drag Boston out of trouble, which he did by scoring nine points over the final 2:02 of a 96-90 win. In "winning time," as Irving called it, the Celtics knew who to find.
"Obviously, Kyrie made huge plays," head coach Brad Stevens told reporters in Miami. "But they did a good job of spacing and running just a simple action where he has a bunch of different reads."
The first read: dribble hand-off.
The second read: flare screen.
The Heat tried to adjust after the first bucket, thinking Irving would be curling around a dribble hand-off again. Instead, when Josh Richardson tried to jump that action, Irving flared behind Smart.
Goran Dragic switched out to try stopping Irving, but, as he found out, it's really tough to close out to one of the most talented guards alive. Irving roasted Dragic, finished a spicy reverse layup, and continued waving goodbye to the Heat.
The sequence was enough to excite Marcus Morris:
Still, one secret from Boston's 4-2 start is that the team has actually scored more efficiently with Irving on the bench. That stat hardly means anything at this stage of the season, but it's one reminder the Celtics and their new star point guard have yet to maximize their offense. Before Irving's late surge, Saturday brought more bumps. Jayson Tatum was great (more on that later) and Marcus Smart did some promising point guard'ing, but the Celtics didn't always score with ease. Irving had some rough moments against the Heat, especially during the first half, before redeeming himself and then some down the stretch.
Despite the early struggles, the final minutes offered a preview of what a fully realized Celtics-Irving partnership could look like. Hint: really tough to stop. But Boston, currently ranked 20th in offense, hasn't come close to reaching its offensive potential.
More reactions follow below.
Tatum stellar again
AP Photo/Wilfredo LeeDo not overreact to Jayson Tatum's start. Do not overreact to Jayson Tatum's start. Do not over----
Oh, hell. Tatum's been unbelievable. Seriously, if you had told me he would average 15.2 points and 6.3 rebounds over his first six games while shooting 50.9 percent from the field, 50 percent from the 3-point arc and 86.2 percent from the free throw line, I would have called you crazy then wondered why the bartender hadn't cut you off.
But those are Tatum's actual averages. Six games into his career, I'm already writing midgame notes like "I wonder what would happen if Tatum got more touches" and "man, Brad waited too long to put Tatum back in." The rookie's not supposed to be at this stage yet. He's a skinny 19-year-old who had scouts concerned about his shot selection and defense just a couple of months ago. People wondered if the Celtics were insane for trading back from the No. 1 pick to take him.
It's way too early to make any declarations about that, but they look decidedly not insane at the moment -- and not only because Markelle Fultz is dealing with a bizarre shoulder issue. I still think Fultz will be great, for what it's worth, but the Celtics should be thrilled with what Tatum has done. He hasn't even turned on the aggression yet, but he has played like nothing could possibly bother him -- not his defender, not a rowdy road environment, not getting his shot swatted by LeBron James.
Tatum switches onto guards and holds forwards off the glass. He is leading the Celtics in free throw attempts. According to NBA.com, he has shot 58.6 percent from inside five feet, 46.4 percent on all jump shots, and has only taken about one midrange jumper per game (he was supposed to love those too much). Outside of Al Horford, Tatum's probably been Boston's most consistent player, which is crazy. Check out all the ways he scored against the Heat:
And Tatum only seems to be growing more comfortable. Three minutes into the fourth quarter Saturday night, the teenager isolated at the top of the key. Last week -- heck, maybe even earlier in the game -- he might have swung the ball to a teammate. Instead, Tatum froze defender James Johnson with an in-and-out dribble, drove to his left and extended one of his long arms to bounce a layup off the backboard.
It all looked so easy, so smooth:
http://instagr.am/p/Ba0HvXVlCcz
There's still a lot to learn about Tatum, but he's already stating a powerful case he deserves to stay in the starting lineup whenever Marcus Morris returns. What's the longer-term prognosis? Well -- do not overreact to Jayson Tatum's start -- let's just settle on this: the future appears promising.
Is the Celtics defense elite?Am I confident the Celtics have an elite defense? No. Not yet. But they might. Maybe I'm the only one floored by that development, but I had to refresh NBA.com several times just to make sure Boston's defensive ranking was correct. Yup, still second.
Think about all of the circumstances. The Celtics had an average defense last season then lost Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and more this summer. Marcus Morris, expected to start at power forward, went down during the preseason. Stud wing Gordon Hayward was lost on opening night. Rugged human Marcus Smart has also missed time. Brad Stevens has turned to teenagers, children and heavily-muscled toddlers for big minutes, which almost always crushes a defense. But after six games, the Celtics rank second in defensive efficiency. They're even fourth in defensive rebounding, which is less likely than a bird taking on an airplane and winning the fight.
But...
Can Boston sustain this start? I don't think so. With the possible exception of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have staggered around lately, the Celtics haven't played a top offense yet. They're currently leading the league at 6.8 3-pointers allowed per game, but that might say as much about their opposition as it says about them. But even if they're due for some regression, the Celtics have been much stingier than I expected -- especially considering Hayward has played six minutes all season, Smart missed a couple of games, and Morris has yet to make his Boston debut. Those guys were expected to be three of Boston's best defenders.
So how has the team gotten so many stops early? Al Horford's been a monster against some really tough matchups: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Ben Simmons and Kristaps Porzingis. Jayson Tatum has been smarter and more versatile than anyone expected this early in his career, Jaylen Brown took a major step forward from last season, and Aron Baynes is exactly the type of bruiser the Celtics have needed since Stevens took the head coaching job.
"Baynes was one of the best in the NBA last year at defending the rim -- without blocking a ton of shots," Stevens told reporters in Miami. "But the whole verticality deal he's very good at. And he works really hard at it. And he's a big body when you run into him. So he's made a huge difference in our defense, there's no question about it."
The Celtics are long and athletic just about everywhere. They're more intelligent than such a young team should be. And they've got Semi Ojeleye, who occasionally comes off the bench to guard great players. (I probably should not end this segment with a nod to an 11th man, but, hey, Ojeleye deserves a little love too.)
Baynes big againAfter years of watching any big man with weight room access trample the Celtics frontcourt, Bostonians should have heart emojis in their eyes for Baynes. He grappled with Dwight Howard during the preseason opener. He almost died at the hands of Giannis Antetokounmpo and then decided, one week later, to contest another Antetokounmpo dunk. It's tough to tell what Baynes likes more: crashing into another gigantic man or throwing his hands straight into the air to try altering a field goal attempt.
The Australian has already risked his life for the Celtics:
More seriously, Baynes has helped the Celtics in all the right ways. Their defense has been 11.8 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court. Their defensive rebound rate has dipped from 86.9 percent with him to 78.2 percent when he hits the bench. Baynes has already bothered big guys like Joel Embiid and Greg Monroe who historically would have mutilated the Celtics. There are still offensive benefits to going smaller, but Baynes gives Boston a barbaric frontcourt toughness that's been missing throughout the Stevens era. He could form a mean defensive duo with Horford.
Anyway, the Celtics have now won four straight games. It would be nice if Jaylen Brown jumps out of his mini-slump Monday night, but there's a lot to like in Boston anyway.
www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2017/10/boston_celtics_analysis_kyrie.html#incart_river_index
