Three leaf clover: generating open 3s, Jaylen screen machine, and is Porzingis addicted to Coke-a-Cola?

It’s good to be back. Naturally, LeBron and the Lakers required the entire league to stop playing games in the middle of the season so they could capture their second questionable “championship” since 2020 in just another “look at me move” in a career full of them. While there haven’t been a lot of games, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to discuss. On we go.

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Stat of the Week: 31.3% 3-point field goal percentage

Stop me if you’ve heard this before (which is really a poor figure of speech in writing because you have no way to stop me), but the Celtics shoot a lot of threes. That’s, generally, a pretty good strategy, especially if you create open ones, or make not-so open ones. The Cs create the 22nd most wide-open 3s per game (defenders 6+ feet away) with 17.6 per game. They do, however, generate the most open 3s per game (defender 4-6 feet away). That boils down to a team that’s slightly above average at generating open looks. That’s all well and good.

There is one particularly glaring issue related to the Cs’ three point shot diet: pullup 3s. It’s not just that they don’t go in, and they don’t (22nd in the league at 31.3%), it’s the amount that’s truly the issue. The Celtics lead the league in pullup threes per game despite being one of the least accurate teams in the league.

Meanwhile, they shoot an elite 39.4% on catch and shoot threes. They still take plenty, 8th most in the league at 27.7 per game, but there’s clear room to build a more efficient offense by trading in some of these pullups (looking at you Jayson Tatum who takes 5.7 per game at 28.6%) for literally anything else, even if it’s just a simple pass. Ideally a handful of those pullup possessions morph into more catch and shoot opportunities or shots at the rim. The Celtics, and especially Tatum, need the threat of pullup shooting, but the efficiency doesn’t justify the current volume and there’s very little argument for taking this many.

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Xs and OOOhhhhhhhhs: Jaylen Brown screen connoisseur

Jaylen Brown is a fairly divisive player in the Celtics zeitgeist. One thing that is irrefutable, however, is Brown’s success as an off-ball player, especially when he’s coming off of screens. The stats back this up (otherwise I probably wouldn’t have written about it because I’m a coward). He’s in the 78th percentile of efficiency for Off Screen possessions according to the NBA’s tracking data. That is, in a word, good.

The primary way the Cs get Jaylen these types of possessions is via wide pin down screens, usually set by KP. He can attack in a myriad of ways out of this fairly simple action. Mazzulla and co. will often have two spacers opposite of the pin down action, which gives JB an open floor to really make some magic.

The three hasn’t been going down as often as Celtics fans, and probably Jaylen, would like, but he’s still dangerous when defenders go under the pin down and he’s got time to settle, rise, and fire. It’s an easy way for the Celtics to generate open catch and shoot threes for JB, and they regularly use it early in games to get him going.

Of course, JB is absolutely at his best attacking downhill with a head of steam. Able to get all the way to the rim or pullup for one of his sweet little mid-range jumpers.

He’s also got a nice chemistry with KP where they operate in handoff actions. KP regularly pulls the handoff and finds Brown streaking to the rim after Porzingis picks the defender in the handoff action.

He draws so much defensive attention coming off screens that teams often will double him or show help. That’s when he can leverage this attention to create chances for others. Is this the smoothest, prettiest assist to Derrick White for a three? Absolutely not, but it’s effective all the same.

Here he is coming off a flare screen and flipping it back to KP for an open 3. It almost functions like a pick and pop, but since he’s off ball he can get a head of steam and really drive Quickley into Porzingis’s screen creating loads of space.

Maybe the best part about JB’s off-screen efficiency is when he doesn’t use the screen. Defenses are so worried about him coming off of screens that they cheat. They’ll shade up the floor just a little bit, and that is when JB hits them with the backdoor cut.

My only complaint about screening actions for Jaylen Brown? We don’t run nearly enough of them. Get that man flying off screens, causing mayhem, and slipping backdoor when defenses least expect it.

Non-basketball Stuff of the Week: is KP addicted to Diet Coke?

Have you ever trusted someone, truly trusted them? Maybe you haven’t known them that long, but you clicked immediately. You could see this growing into something special... And then they go and do something despicable. Even worse, it’s caught on camera for the world to see.

That’s exactly how I felt when this disturbing video of Kristaps Porzingis leaked.

Diet Coke before playing an NBA game? The lack of judgment, the consumption of harmful substances, the caffeine. What type of example are we setting for the youth? Think of the children KP, think of the children. Clearly, you need help sir.