Kristaps Porzingis gets lost by the Celtics late in the Nuggets game after a strong start…
Boston — On Friday, in the first minutes of what might be a Finals preview, Nikola Jokić stumped the Celtics, while Kristaps Porziņģis tormented the Nuggets just as much. In the first session, he matched Jokić with a three-pointer, making it 15–15 on the scoreboard as the Celtics won a quarter in which Jokić played the whole twelve minutes. He also stopped Jokić twice in isolation.
This early lead, which grew to a 12-point first-half lead, didn’t hold up in the end as PorziŇĿis made only two shots in the fourth quarter—none of which were in the closing minutes—and Boston faltered, going 1-for-9 to end up losing 102-100. With nine assists and 34 points, Jokić was able to counteract the Celtics’ shooting and passing systems, forcing Boston to respond and force Jokić to move away from PorziŇģis in favour of smaller defenders.
Joe Mazzulla said, “I thought we got at the rim at will.” “I felt like we had a few kick-out threes and could probably get K.P. a few more post-ups, but they were able to crowd the paint a little bit because they put a small on him and both bigs behind.”
Aside from the Hornets defeat, the way the game ended in Denver was most similar to a previous Celtics offensive fourth-quarter meltdown during a season in which Boston finished 13-7 in crucial moments. They had previously matched for the greatest point differential in the league, outscoring opponents by 21.4 points per 100 possessions. In such circumstances, their offensive rating dropped from 128.2 to 44.4 in the team’s defeat on Friday. Shooting 66.7% as the third-most-used Celtic in such circumstances, Porziņģis made no effort to shoot as Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown made 7 of 10 shots.
The first was against Jamal Murray, who the Celtics comfortably scored on up until that moment, thanks to a patient pass from Derrick White to Brown. The Nuggets called a timeout as the Celtics had a 98-95 lead. After that, Denver’s offensive rating didn’t get much better at 77.8, but Jokić scored two difficult finishes inside to give the team the lead, and Tatum and Al Horford missed two jump attempts and a slam. Brown attempted two free throws but was unsuccessful, while White and Horford missed good three-pointers on second and third-chance possessions.
Tatum followed his driving slam past Aaron Gordon with a left-side transition layup that he rolled out off the front of the hoop after White missed a wide-open corner three. After collecting a Brown kick-out and transferring the ball to Jrue Holiday, who again failed to shoot in crucial situations, Boston only utilised PorziņĿis momentarily on two game-tying tries with the shot clock off before the buzzer. After the pass, Mazzulla signalled a timeout to stop a foul.
Porziņģis told CLNS Media, “We didn’t force it.” “I missed both of my two posts that I thought looked decent. If I create only one of them, it may be different; perhaps we return twice more. I’m prepared and there. I like to punish these folks because our mismatch makes it fun. I want to make them pay if they put a guard on me, so I’ll rebound, post-up, and draw fouls. If Joker is defending me, however, I get those pops and I hit threes, and they rotate and we make the next play. There were undoubtedly times when I could have done a better job of seeing when to jump in and act aggressively. If that’s what our team needs, I’m prepared.
When PorziŇģis started wearing smaller clothes, he didn’t let that stop him from hitting Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. and drawing fouls. In the second quarter, he scored past Murray as if he wasn’t even there, giving the team a lead of eight. Nevertheless, the Nuggets started to show Porziņģis crowds and force the ball out of the post to Horford in a game that was characterised by tweaks, tighter rotations, and two teams attempting to solve rival stars.
One of the Celtics’ strategies to counter Jokić was to play larger, but he often faced PorziŇčis alone, which allowed him to score more easily and exert more effort than any other centre matchup this year. While PorziņĿis was able to drive the ball to the perimeter on offence, some of the difficulties he had were evident in his poorly executed post-up, his only-glass shot, and his colliding with White on a down screen. Despite a 14-4 run in which White scored or assisted on every basket, with Porziņģis finding him with a skip ball from the post, Denver managed to stay within one point.
The Celtics had their offence flattened by the most aggressive switching of the season when Gordon went to centre. Tatum finished the game 1 for 8 out of 3. Brown went 1 for 9 matching him. Boston was 3-for-12 outside the paint and only managed eight shots within it, including two in the restricted area, in the fourth quarter. With post-ups, rolls, and offensive rebounds, Porziņģis, whose last shot came on a flat-footed mid-range miss in the fourth, altered the Celtics offence to start the season and gave Boston optimism that it might offset a chilly night.
It was only eighteen degrees outdoors at the end of the game, a familiar cold that didn’t phase the Celtics. Though they’re focused on May and June, the Nuggets were ready to foul Holiday in order to win on Friday or at the very least force OT. Tatum still saw one coming and pushed a fast shot over Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but Mazzulla stopped it with a timeout. In response to a two-point look, Aaron Gordon subsequently informed CLNS that Denver wouldn’t foul out of timeout.
Gordon explained Denver’s change by saying, “When you switch everything, it bogs things down.” “Everything is going towards the basket, but you have to play one-on-one and slip.”
PARTNER.
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