Joe Mazzulla threw everyone for a loop on Wednesday night when the second quarter began with both Mitchell Robinson and Neemias Queta standing on the floor.
“Just kind of wanted to get some game reps in it, so we could have it on film to see what we want to work on,” Mazzulla explained after the win over the Charlotte Hornets. “Just exploring. We have a deep bench, a lot of depth, so just want to give every look imaginable, so that we're able to have a general idea of how we want to attack it defensively and offensively when the season starts.”
The decision to go double big was made that day by the coaching staff, but the players didn’t know it was happening until it happened.
“He did not tell us. It was just like, just go at it,” Robinson said in the locker room. “It caught us off guard. Overall, it was a little shaky at first, but after we got going and kind of learning spots and stuff like that, I think it kind of went smoothly.”
There were some good and bad moments with it.
Derrick White ended up scoring on this play, but that might have just been because the Celtics personnel was better than the Hornets personnel on the floor at the time. I’m not bookmarking this play as something the Celtics can go to when they need a bucket.
First of all, the balance of the floor was way off.
Pritchard could have thrown an alley oop to White if he wanted to, but that's not the kind of play Boston is really looking for. Maybe the Minnesota Timberwolves can do this and get Anthony Edwards something at the rim, but this group, with Payton Pritchard closely guarded, isn’t really going to pull that off.
Queta gets White some space and the threat of his roll does allow White to get into the lane, but this was more a case of White being faster than Royce O’Neal.
“We hadn't practiced it,” Mazzulla said. “The first time they knew was at the beginning of the quarter, so obviously got caught up in some janky spacings that ideally you wouldn't want.”
This next one is better.
Queta sets the pin-down screen for Sam Hauser and because Hauser’s defender is chasing over the top of it, Robinson’s defender has to step over to prevent a pass and drive. White flips it to Robinson, gets a screen from Hauser, and then a hand-off from Robinson, Because White’s defender has to defend against White turning the corner and getting a pass from Robinson, he loses White behind the screen and it turns into an open look from three.
It’s a nice little action, but they don’t need to go double big for it. Anyone can stand in the opposite corner where Queta is. In fact, this is more of a teaching moment for Charles Lee and the Hornets than it is for the Celtics. I’d tell Brandon Miller not to worry about protecting against the drive there because Queta is in the far corner. Naz Reid and Moussa Diabate can handle those duties because Robinson and Queta aren’t dangerous in those spots while White is.
Now we’re starting to see some better use of both bigs.
White and Robinson play a little two-man game with the hand off and flipped screen. At the same time, Queta sets a flare screen for Pritchard that creates an open three-point opportunity, but the pass isn't made.
This is where we start to see the offensive value of two bigs that put pressure on the rim. Defenses are going to have to decide what to leave and what to cover. I think double-big lineups will almost have to have a piston-like effect (the engine, not Detroit) where one attacks and then the other follows after him.
Interestingly, the Celtics just started parking Queta in the corner, which really lends credence to the lack of preparation for this lineup. They clearly haven't looked at any double-big-specific offense. Maybe this is a way to expand Queta’s game, because he had two fun plays attacking from the wing.
The whole play is a mess but then Queta gets Reid to bite on the three-point fake, which allows him the space to go to work. Honestly, Reid should be fined for biting on the fake, because until Queta shows he can consistently hit from there, getting that shot from the Celtics is a massive win for the defense.
Then, of course, there was this.
This was another messy possession that came down to Queta having to create something. He again smartly got the defense to react to a fake, in this case a fake hand-off to Pritchard. Having Robinson in froze the defense and gave Queta the runway to finish the dunk, but again, I’d challenge Queta to make that dump-off.
“I think the best version of Neemi gives us a little bit of playmaking opportunities and being able to make plays off the dribble in the seam,” Mazzulla said. “You envision him making those type of plays, but I thought they handled it well. Like I said, we threw it at them, wanted them to see what we could get out of it. Obviously I would say the spacing, just cleaning that up, but that playmaking is an area that we'd like to see Neemi take to a little bit of a different level for sure.”
Queta hoisted a few threes and made some fun plays, but that's not something that can be counted on yet. Still, it’s an interesting evolution for him. It’d be an understatement to say Queta growing into a viable stretch option would be a game-changer. It’s not happening right now, and it might not ever, but there's a glimpse there that makes it an interesting thought experiment.
This also could simply have been a way for the Celtics to ramp up their communication. Mazzulla has been challenging the team to talk and figure problems out on their own, so this kind of lineup required a lot of the figuring things out on the fly that Mazzulla has been looking for. This might have simply been a massive curveball to make sure everyone was paying attention and to challenge the brains of players who have had enough of the preseason.
The Hornets were just as confused by the double-bigs as the Celtics were. The real value in the lineup was the defense, which barely allowed anything inside of five feet of the rim. The Celtics had plenty of studio space to explore because of their defense with these two on the floor, which just did a great job covering for one another and deterring drives. The Hornets also helped the Celtics by keeping Diabate and Reid on the floor, which gave the Celtics good matchups on the defensive end.
I’m curious to see if the Celtics draw up any actions for this group to experiment with moving forward. We might only see the lineup situationally, like when another team goes double-big and Boston wants to counter it and blow up the opposing rotations. There could be something there for Boston to develop, which would be another way for them to maximize their depth.
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