The Celtics play the Memphis Grizzlies in their final regular season game.
It is the final day of the NBA regular season, and several teams, including the Boston Celtics, are still fighting for the seeding. After a slow start to the year, the Celtics have turned their season around, and are now considered one of the better teams in the league.
Tonight, the Celtics will face another team that has exceeded expectations of becoming the more feared roster in the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies. According to the Celtics' injury report, everyone except Robert Williams and Nick Stauskas is available for tonight's game, while the Grizzlies have yet to inform the world who is and who won't be tonight.
Who plays?
The Celtics and Grizzlies are both guaranteed a spot later in the season, and neither is in danger of slipping into a play-in position. So, even if both teams failed to get their players out via injury reports, there's no guarantee we'll be taking their full-strength rosters to court tonight. And even if we're treated to a few star player minutes, that doesn't mean they'll get a full game play time.
Maybe Ime Udoka wants to keep Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum in rhythm, so opts to give them 20 minutes each, or maybe the Celtics' head coach decides to experiment with some new lineups that they want. How to look against high-level competition.
There is also concern about a potential matchup with the Brooklyn Nets, who are currently seeded seventh in the Eastern Conference. Should the Bucks lose and the Celtics win, Boston will likely be ahead of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the first round for the second straight year, and that's not ideal given the absence of Robert Williams.
Taylor Jenkins may also decide to rest some of her stars. The Grizzlies are second in the Western Conference and their position is guaranteed at the moment, so why risk injury to some of your star players who have nothing to play for? Or making sure your guys risk their own rhythm and tempo?
Controlling space
Similar to the Celtics, the Grizzlies prefer to run a double-big lineup when healthy, Jaren Jackson Jr. providing size and spacing at 4, while Steven Adams provides physicality and rebounding at 5. With Robert Williams recovering, the Celtics can compete with the Grizzlies quite well, but if Jenkins decides to field a full-strength roster, playing a bunch of drop defenses could undo the Celtics.
Sure, Adams doesn't boast a mid-range sport, and isn't one of the elite passers-by in his position, but the Grizzlies have many people working in a back-pedaling space created by Daniel Theis. Would like Or Al Horford. The Grizzlies are ranked 9th in the NBA for mid-range shots, although they're only ranked 20th in mid-range shots—but with Adams and Jackson Jr.'s boards crashing, the team is more than capable of punishing you on second. Has-chance points and is currently ranked 7th for offensive boards per game.
Whoever decides to put the Celtics on the floor tonight, the game plan will be to pinch drives, box out on every shot, and switch as many perimeters as possible. The Grizzlies are a well-balanced roster with limited weaknesses, and to limit their effectiveness, the Celtics would need to limit the space in the mid-range we usually see created by drop defense, while also Make sure they limit mismatch opportunities. low-block.
We can also see the return of the "heroic back" defense Ime Udoka used earlier in the season, where a guard switches to a rolling big around the elbow to keep them off the boards and take away post-entry opportunities. Hurry up. ,
If you've been listening to any of my podcasts in the last week or so, one concept you might have heard me talking about is the "veer-back."
— Adam Taylor (@AdamTaylorNBA) October 26, 2021
Where a big switches onto the perimeter and the guard switches onto the roll-man. Here's a good example pic.twitter.com/ICyQTjQ8Md
Limit mistakes
As impressive as the Celtics have been over the past few months, you can never bank on their offense firing on all cylinders. Sometimes, Boston will go supernova from the deep, and other times, they can't buy a bucket on the periphery and need to attack the rim with reckless abandon, that's all. Of course, Sam Hauser's rise as a bench scorer, and Derrick White's progress with his shooting, are both welcome developments.
The Grizzlies have a top-5 defense and rank 1 in rebounds per game, so the Celtics will need to be disciplined in their offensive execution tonight as second-chance opportunities will be limited. Memphis also ranks first in the NBA for "percentage of points scored at the break," so it served well to get the Celtics back on track after a shot attempt, rather than entering a futile fight for an offensive rebound. will be given.
Another part of the Celtics' game plan should be to limit their turnover, as the Grizzlies are currently ranked sixth in the NBA in points of turnover, and first in the league for steals per game. Simply put, Memphis is young and hungry and will punish every mistake with high-intensity hustle-dramas that will leave you bruised and demoralized.
Considering the Celtics field a full-power roster, they must have had enough ball-handling, playmaking, and defensive abilities that the Grizzlies could throw at them, but every mistake would be punished.
Final thoughts
While the Celtics have consistently stated that they are aiming for the highest possible seeding, no one will blame them for trying to avoid the Nets and finish the regular season in third place only to drop the Chicago Bulls in the first round. But, if you want to be the NBA champion, you're going to have to beat the creme de la crme sooner or later, so I'll expect Boston to heat up tonight, in a bid to show the world that they're the real contenders. Huh. Upcoming playoffs.