How Could The Celtics Be SO BAD At This? 

It was actually baffling to me how Boston didn’t even try to run a simple old school floppy with either brown or Tatum running off a screen😂

Conclusion: beating the Zone is more of a coach job. They should find someone better than Mazzulla.

Coach Spo is a genius, directing his players and strategizing while Joe is a bystander watching passively clueless. The Heat are well prepared and studied everything about the Celtics gameplay.

Never seen a team play against a zone without interior game

Heat better not let the Celtics win game 8

The Celtics have had issues against zone even going back to when Brad Stevens was coaching. It's been infuriating as a fan.

Horford was given open 14 footers all day against the zone. But the elite shooter couldn't take advantage.

Give spo and the heat all the credit they earned and deserve

There's a channel called "Film Sessions" that lambasted poor defense in this series When the Heat going to the zone, Smart could just do a back cut for an open layup/kick out but instead he simply waited outside the 3 point line to jack up a poor shot. Don't let me get started on why Celtics players don't sprint to get better positions but rather just jog as if there's no sense of urgency even when down by double digits.

felt like this series was a perfect demonstration of how important a good coach is to a championship contender. So many casual takes over the past few years about how guys like Kerr and Popovic are only considered good bc they had a good team. Yet here, Boston was clearly a better team on paper, but Spo completely outcoached Mazzulla and thus miami took the win.

Al Horford not taking advantage of the mismatches is head scratching to be honest. When the heat went small I expected to attack the paint smh but instead they kept jacking up 3s

Brown and Tatum rarely ran action off each other all season, which is the ultimate indictment of “Court side seats” Mazulla

Ever since the mavs destroyed the heat with a a zone defense in the finals Spoelstra been slowly mastering it

South Florida we are dominating NHL and the NBA let's get it done

Great explanation coach. It’s really insightful seeing a film breakdown explaining why we see what we see in this stagnant offense.

Keep it up nick. You're my favorite channel for nuanced takes and coaching analysis. Wish you had some longer content to binge but I'm not complaining. Thanks for what you do.

That Celtics literally had no growth from last season

What’s even more inexplicable is that it was the same way back in 2020! You’d have thought they would have made learning how to attack the zone a priority after that but 3 years later they’ve learnt nothing!

Celtics not hitting the open threes Heat zone gave up allowed the Heat to comfortably clog up the lane, help on drives, and watch the Celtics bricks one shot after another.

That Tatum screen & release, leading to a wide open mid range jumper, is a beauty. Why couldn't they have done that more? When they play zone, don't just shoot corner threes, attack the space between the two defensive lines!

your best vid this season. i been watching the heat’s fluid every zone to man defense since the bubble & it is damn impressive. the coaching & communication that goes into such defense is admired.

I feel robbed that we didn’t get a competitive game 7

Crazy how Robinson looked Like a good Defender at times im the series especially in the Zone even blocked Tatum in isolation once in Game 7

Good Video Coach ! Shows how Mazulla failed to attack the zone ( rookie mistake ? ). Since Horford setting the screen and rolling into the lane for entry passes didn't work ( he can't shoot over Bam ), then why didn't they let Brown or Tatum be the roll guy to put a dynamic scorer into the paint ? Obviously Spoelstra knew how to outsmart Mazulla.

I Hope Joe Mazzulla watches this video

Love your videos coach. Hypothetical question here, do you reckon you could coach an NBA team if you were Givne the opportunity to?

The Celtics are an example of talent not working hard. And im a C's fan.

You might think an organization like the Celtics would never allow a group of coaches to be in charge who could not solve a simple zone but that seems to be what happened. There was no veteran hired to help them against basically the best coach in the league and it was a young and inexperienced staff. This simple oversight cost them a trip to the finals. If a Vogel or someone similar is not brought in these problems will continue. This team is led by two young stars and they are incredible but need guidance to get to a ring. No matter how talented, guys don't win rings without a solid, astute leader as the coach. It's not Tatum's job to set up the entire offense, he has enough on his plate as the superstar on the team.

Because it's not a zone per say, but an amoeba zone defense. They mix in man with it

that's why I'm holding Mazzulla accountable. whole series, they almost had no adjustments and relied on the star power. now Tatum and Brogdon got hurt, it was a blowout

Last season, Ime used Tatum as the screener a ton. It was great to see.. the Celtics didn’t really struggle with zone (for once) with him. Celtics just don’t run any sort of real offense with mazzulla other than hoping they get hot

People were quick to blame Brown for the Celtic's collapse but as this video demonstrates it's Horford who couldn't handle responsibility as the facilitator. The Heats can't run this zone against the Nuggets tho, because it's going to be Jokic who's in the middle instead of Horford and he will destroy Bam every single time.

Excellent analysis! Your breakdowns are first rate.

Definitely a nice mix of Heat knowing exactly what to do, and how to do it; And the Celtics being completely lost on offensive coordination. Not a good mix when the games matter this much.

Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown said “Don’t let us win game 8” so we’ll see if Boston gets better

3-Out 2-In Shallow Cut Offense. 👍 Dribble-At the wing player (Marcus Smart) to force the wing player to loop uptop, then swing to opposite wing (Jaylen Brown). Smart set the Pindown Screen for a Top of Key 3-pointer by Al Horford.

I’ve been saying this over reliance on threes and the team’s inability to take advantage of the paint and midrange was a big reason they lost the finals last year too. Tatum kept getting clamped by Wiggins because he kept looking to get a three instead of attacking close outs and gaps. Tatum would get by his man then take a stepback, sidestep or just extra dribbles in order to get behind the 3 point which resulted in the defender catching up and contesting the shot. The Celtics coaching need someone in there to preach to the team to look for the mid range and zone gaps cuz this 3 point stuff ain’t cutting it

3:50 Carried to Cancun

It wasn't only againts Miami. In the series againts Phila, the 76ers stop the Boston's offense and they get eliminated because of there few answers on offense

The Celtics actually played Robert Williams nearly the same minutes in the 2022 and 2023 ECF despite him being the best offensive llayer against Adebayo during the series and the best defender aganst Jimmy's midrange game. Udoka's decisions to add extra passes, early passes and movement to get easier lobs for Williams which he could get over Adebayo due to Adebayo's lack of size is a key difference the Celtics made in 2022 that they just ... magicslly forgot in 2023 lol. Also movement tends to destroy zone defense since the zoners have no idea where you'll end up so either they follow you and give the enemy a free drive with a free throw or they dont follow you and now you're wide open for a corner three. Why they chose not to run that same movement based offense with a ton of passaing again in '23? I'll probably never know.

Been saying this last year: Celtics need an actual PG who can create easy shots for his teammates, a quick PG who has elite penetration abilities - you need different pieces against different opponents and the lack of a consistent penetrator hurts them because Jatum/Brown are methodical guys in the playoffs, not blow-by guys. Smart is obviously not that guy. Brogdon is also more like a 2-guard.

Boston played no defense. I have never seen such a lopsided affair of open shots and layups for the heat vs every celtics attempt being contested well. And offensively they seemed to have no real game plan. I can't tell you how many times I saw them run a screen that ends up with a better defender on the ball handler after the switch. Mazzula needs to go. Too inexperienced

Amazing breakdown! Top Tier content!

lol at the blatent carry at 3:53

These are just basic basketball strategies that I’ve learned since middle school/JV. Was there no one in the organization who could speak up and figure something out?

Can you please give your prediction for the Heat Nuggets series?

They were doing the 2-2-1 Full-court zone defense after the Celtics time out and back to 1-1-3(AKA 2-3 with a pressure on the ball)

Zone defense is something Europeans and South American players have definitely faced during their formative years. I think Jokic will know exactly how to exploit the zone weaknesses (which it has plenty). The Heat will be far more selective about when to use the zone, and will eventually throw in some mixed defense (box-1; triangle-2)

great analysis , the music is a little loud

Great insight! How could no one of the (likely well paid) "experts" TNT or ESPN come to this conclusion about the zone?!

Would like to see a break down with the nuggets against this zone when it comes to it. I think they’ll do a much better job knocking down corner threes. Also vid mentioned that bam could handle horfords drive a few times not sure if he’ll be able to do the same against jokic

That Bam in and out of the paint is amazing. Not even looking.

3:50 nice multiple carries by smart on consecutive dribbles

Things I would have expected consistently: 1. Tatum at the high post 2. Rob Williams in the dunker spot or an athlete like Jaylen when he is off the floor 3. Surround them with 3 shooters 4. Cut, cut, cut

Never give heat real credit

The short answer to this is that the Celtics play analytics ball and don't value the midrange game. They chose to be stubborn even though the zone defeats that offense

With Denver's team passing I can see interior opportunities once Bam commits to the slasher.

Joe mazulla looks like the type of person to thrash every single thing inside his house if he's having a bad day

I think more than anything, they lost to the Heat as a result of a colossal coaching failure. I can't imagine they would have the same outcome had they retained Udoka as the head coach. And this also means Brand Stevens must bear some blame as well.

The difference will Jokic in the middle and he'll destroy that zone defense with MPJ hitting the 3pt or Gordon getting a lob from Jokic from the free throw line.

This team is so frustrating to watch and I hope Brad makes a coaching change. zero excuse to watch that mess and do nothing. Congrats to the Heat tho.

Thanks

To answer your question, they have a manager who thinks it’s a good idea to continue with tactics that don’t work and to change nothing.

I cannot see how zone will trouble nuggets with murray, KCP and MPJ spread out waiting for open 3s.

What's up with the music coach?

If they move the ball it’s easy to beat the zone cause they gonna be scrambling everywhere and eventually it’s gonna open up shot and the would get tired

Love your videos brother. But please turn down the volume of the background music. It's so distracting it takes away from your quality content. 😎

Should have never fired Udoka. They had a championship caliber team with a coach mentored by Pop. They could've ran it back but no.

will this Heat zone works against Nuggets good off-ball movement?

Nuggets licking their chops

I remember the Celtics struggling with the zone back in 2020 also I wonder why it’s still an issue to this day you’d think they’d be used to it by now but I guess not

02’:27” It hasn't changed to the m2m defense because it already is. The rule is: we are defending like a Zone but defenders must guard the players who are in their area. Bam is responsible for covering the paint also high-post when he doesn’t have anyone in the low-post. 02’:40” Kyle should cover the corner, 2 players on the ball 🤦🏻‍♂️ 07’:10” No low post again so Bam should come up to cover the high post. Also, you can see the bad communication on the pick to switch on the ball. 09’:12” Again, Bam doesn’t have anyone in the low-post.

As long as shots don't fall defence gets all the credit. But when they do fall no one can do anything.

I think the Celtics need another capable big man to compete forms title. They should probably trade a few assets for one if they can't sign anyone in the off-season. They could draft an upperclassman like Trayce Jackson-Davis or Kobe Brown as their age would gel with this young core.

"Attack the seams" is something I knew back in middle school.

It was just crazy how theyd give up half way through those games. A team that was known for thier threes(and had success) than anyone else. And just quit once they were down 15.

I wonder what the offense would look like when the pass into the zone finds Jokic as a target and not Horford. Good luck with a zone against Jokic. Cannot be stopped by any Miami defender 1:1, the help will leave someone open and Jokic will find that man or a cutter. If Miami finds a way to stop or significantly slow down the Denver offensive game, Spoelstra should get Coach of the Year on general principle for the next three years running.

Maybe the first part is a problem because the Celtics use one man to walk the ball up and no one else is even looking in case he gets in trouble. Their problem with the zone is that they always try to use one pass (or just a guy beating his man one-on-one) to get the shot they want. A better team would use the pick & roll or a motion offense to force the defense into positions they're not comfortable in and at least sometimes would get an open man just on bad switches. You need a passer at the free throw line to distribute the ball and the Celtics don't have that. On top of everything they tried to use the dribble to beat the zone and none of them are good ball handlers (MAYBE Smart). That's why you get Brown with 8 turnovers which by itself is enough to have turned the game around. The Celtics have bad coaching that just let's them play playground ball and hope they can overwhelm the defense with their awesomeness. It's a stupid philosophy and puts enormous strain on their offense to hit very difficult long jumpers while defended. Good luck in the finals against an infinitely better coached team.

Coach can u go back to the original theme.... and just keep this one to use as an alternative? - an OG fan

Can ya crank your BG music down or crank your mic up? They ain't supposed to be roughly at the same level. Dang lol.

Coach, what about all those moving screens thou? They don't even call a lot of these

no background music gag? sad... 😔

I think some coach in South East Asia is very happy with the Miami Heat defense.

This is as much on the coaches as it is on the players. Boston went back to their no-ball movement - not-agressive driving playing mode, which resulted in a lot of iso 3's. They're unbeatable when driving and kicking for 3's, in rhythm. What I just don't understand, is that they seemed so lost against the zone. That's on the coaches but also on the players for not attacking of coming up with solutions; they were just being passive and standing around. The clip at 8:30 says it all for me; look at the horrendous spacing. Boston is a team that will be good and bad, and the zone brought out the worst in them, because they're not a great off-the-ball moving team. They rely on driving and kicking instead of motion offense or off the ball movement (like the Warriors for example do a lot of). To me, this shows that especially Brown, but also Smart and Horford aren't as tactically skilled as you should be to be a champion. Even Tatum on a bad ankle can be added to the list. Derrick White was the only player playing his heart out and trying to beat the zone. Great job by Spo, he's such a great coach. Boston clearly is the better team than Miami, yet Spo led his team to the Finals. Wondering though if the zone will be effective against the nuggets, who are better at off the ball moving, have Jokic and Murray as great passers and a great coach. Also don't think Bam can stop Jokic while Gordon can stop Jimmy and KCP can lock down Vincent. To me, the Nuggets are heavily favoured, but then again, Spo can defy the odds. Anyway, amazing run by Miami.

People gotta stop hating on mazzulla bro. Im a heat fan and still know mazzulla has a lot to learn but this firing of coaches is like the heat waiving Jimmy Butler after his 14 pt per game performance in the playoffs.

Lol as a life long Heat fan it’s feels great that you were wrong

Zone defense really was Bostons downfall when the 3's weren't hitting. If Boston just hit high percentage shots this would have been over.

Can you please use the dramatic music again?

One side had a coach the other side had Jethro Bodine

Great. Unfortunately for the Heat, the Nuggets annihilated zone defenses this year racking up 1.17 pts per possession against zone which wasn't just the best in the NBA, but one of the best all-time. All these games can turn into blowouts even if the Nuggets shoot poorly. So the play-in #8 seeded Heat better have another gimmick up their sleeve.

The Heat avoided the biggest embarrassment. Pat Riley...heads would roll...

We should've known this team wont go far with Mazzulla when marcus said their offense is pretty random

But did the Celtics learn how to drive left?

nah that background music was distracting af i coudn't focus on what BB had to say

Basically beat them with basketball zone read (pattern matching)

This video make that Celtics series L even more infuriating and I’m not even a C’s fan jus expected to watch way better basketball leading to the finals

Bam is the key to all these defensive schemes. That's why spo will always defend bam's impact in the game even when he is shooting poorly on the other side of the court. His impact don't show in the box score (where casuals only look at).

I would very much prefer to discuss the brilliance of Spo and the Heat instead of, in a way, taking credit off of them by saying the Celtics were bad and that they lost the series. The last section briefly mentions the outcoaching this series showed, and I believe that's exactly what should be highlighted. But maybe I'm being biased as a Heat fan.

it was baffling how boston never just put tatum at the elbow of the zone, and just have him flash to the strong side. once you have a wing there that can put pressure on the zone, you can collapse it from the inside and force it to shift. tatum as an initiator would've forced bam to have to come off of horford, if he does there's a passing opening. if bam stays home, then tatum has a mid range pull up. instead, boston had horford playing that role and it was clear he just didn't have the legs and ballhandling to be effective there; mad no sense whatsoever. boston just kept taking contested 3's, which is exactly what any team running a zone wants you to do. not having a single answer to a 2-3 shifting zone, knowing that it's at the top of the scouting report for miami is absolutely asinine. they knew they were gonna face it, yet never properly prepared themselves for it.

do the celtics even have an offensive system or philosophy? I couldn't identify one in this series, other than iso their two All Stars on the perimeter