The Boston Celtics face off against the New York Knicks in Round 2 of the NBA playoffs. The Celtics should be well rested and have a key contributor in Jrue Holiday back in the rotation. Holiday missed the last three games of the first round series against the Orlando Magic with a hamstring injury.
The Celtics' pride themselves on defensive intensity. They had a top-five defense throughout the regular season and top two in the postseason. But that's after one round with against an overmatched and inexperienced Magic team. Facing the Knicks, led by the NBA Clutch Player of the Year Jalen Brunson, will be a more daunting task.
Brunson is one of the more talented offensive players in the NBA, particularly as a guard. Against the Detroit Pistons in Round 1, if Brunson was able to get to 30 points, the Knicks won. The Celtics can't allow for that.
So what will Joe Mazzulla draft up to stop Brunson? He offered this hint ahead of Game 1.
""You can't just do it with one guy, it takes a team. It takes different coverages""Joe Mazzulla
The Celtics are fortunate that they employ two of the premiere defensive guards in Jrue Holiday and Derrick White. In Game 1, it would make sense to have White take the primary defensive assignment with Holiday ramping back up from his hamstring injury. Brunson works with change of pace and direction to create most of his space and Game 1 is not the time to test a mending hamstring.
Both Holiday and White kept Brunson in check while acting as the primary defender. During 113 possessions, the Celtics guards held Brunson to 41.6% shooting, well below Brunson's regular season average and significantly lower than his shooting percentage of 52.8% against the Celtics during the regular season.
The other option is to send Jaylen Brown after Brunson. He did not fair quite as well against Brunson in the regular seasons allowing Brunson to shoot 10 of 17 when acting as the primary defender. Even so, Brown posseses greater physicality and could work to wear down Brunson as long as he stays out of foul trouble.
Maybe Mazzulla will just take the advice of Derrick White:
""It's gonna be a group effort to try and slow him down...but just make it as difficult as we can for 48 minutes and just have a lot of different guys to try and slow him down""Derrick White;
Look for constant rotation throughout the series but expect White to take primary duties in Game 1. A more fluid rotation in the remainder of the series will work to the Celtics advantage to keep the Knicks and Brunson guessing. The Celtics are fortunate to have multiple options to throw at Brunson.