Boston Celtics: 3 keys to upsetting the Brooklyn Nets in Game 2

No. 2: Boston Celtics must keep the ball moving on offense

Stop me if you have heard this one before, but ball movement is absolutely crucial to the success of this offense.

When the ball stays with one guy for too long, it kills the offense, and typically leads to poor offensive showings from the Boston Celtics offense.

While 93 points in a game is a poor offensive showing, the lack of ball movement wasn’t necessarily the key issue in Game 1. Quite frankly, Boston was just missing shots they should have been hitting, especially in the second half, which tanked their offense. The C’s only had 19 assists, but when you consider they hit just 31 fields goals, that number doesn’t look as bad anymore.

Again, it really starts with getting easier buckets. This is a simple delayed pick and roll that results in an easy dunk for Williams. Pick and rolls may seem basic, but when you have elite ball handlers like Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker, that makes the task that much easier. If you can establish the pick and roll game to create easy buckets in the paint, the three point line becomes a lot more open.

Here’s another sweet play the results in an easy layup for Tatum. He screens Irving for Walker, but Walker hands it off to Thompson instead. Tatum cuts to the hoop anyways, and before the Nets can even blink Tatum already has two points. Creating passing plays like this every possession is an unrealistic expectation, but this layup is a lot easier to hit than a jumper from anywhere on the floor.

Simply put, it’s going to be a lot easier to pass the ball around the Nets than it will be to run isolation plays on them. They aren’t a defensively sound team by any stretch of the imagination, but running isolation plays against them repeatedly just makes their lives way too easy. Durant, Irving, and Harden can stick with these guys when they iso, but when you move the ball, that makes their task that much more difficult.

Just look at the above play; a simple screen causes mass confusion and leads to a wide open layup. If the ball keeps moving around the floor, more open shots will pop up as a result, especially against this Nets team. Of course, they need to hit those shots, which brings me to my final point…