NEW YORK — Jayson Tatum, at the top of the key, collected the ball tipped to him. All five defenders locked in on him, waiting for what he would do.
It was the middle of the fourth quarter and the shorthanded Brooklyn Nets were making a run. Tatum paused, used his eyes to bait a defender to dash toward the wing to an open Payton Pritchard, leaving a cutting Kristaps Porziņģis streaking down the paint for an easy flush.
Tatum backpedaled nonchalantly, pointed in acknowledgement to Porziņģis and settled back into defense.
On a team with so much weaponry, a team in which any starter — and even most reserves — can pop off for 25-plus points on any given night, it’s patience, deference and sacrifice, a trio of overlooked but utilitarian traits, that keeps the Boston Celtics (50-19) ticking. Put more simply: Boston thrives because it spreads the floor with shooters, and priority goes, always, to the open man.
“We have really good players — really good guys — they all want to do what it takes to win,” coach Joe Mazzulla said recently. “They have a knack to want to make the right play, regardless of the role that they’re in. I really just kind of trust the guys in that and their ability to make plays. You’ve seen at different times, different guys make different kind of plays, different kinds of roles. To me that’s just a testament to who they are as players.”
It’s not just the stars who benefit. In a March 10 victory over the Utah Jazz, the Celtics were without Tatum, Porziņģis and forward Al Horford. Undrafted forward Sam Hauser, a glue player earning a spot start, laced seven 3s in the third quarter alone en route to a career-high 33 points.
Sensing he was in a rhythm, his teammates kept feeding him; Hauser put up 23 attempts, 19 from beyond the arc, also career highs.
“I feel like a lot of us do a really good job of whoever’s hot, just trying to find them and get a couple more up,” Hauser said after his career night.
That’s merely one part of why it works. While Boston freely distributes the ball, it becomes incumbent on players to move without it, work symbiotically to space the floor and find soft spots in opposing defenses.
Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff, whose Pistons got thumped by Boston in a 24-point loss in December in which the Celtics recorded 34 assists, one off their season high, called the Celtics “one of the most unselfish teams” the Pistons had seen.
“I know this sounds crazy, but there aren’t that many teams that will just throw the ball to the open man,” Bickerstaff said then. “That shows the ultimate amount of trust in team. … They just seem like they care about winning more than anything else.”
This is only magnified, now that Porziņģis has returned to the team. (He came back Saturday after missing eight games with a non-COVID, upper-respiratory illness.) Perhaps more than any other big in the NBA, Porziņģis, at 7-foot-2, can stretch the floor with his range and draw out opposing rim protectors; in his return Saturday night, Porziņģis played 32 minutes and led all scorers with 24 points.
No Celtic has had to sacrifice more than Tatum. One of the elite wings and a near-permanent presence in USA TODAY Sports’ NBA Most Valuable Player power rankings, Tatum has often patiently deferred when the game dictates it, opting to set up his teammates.
In Saturday’s victory against the Nets, once Jaylen Brown left the game with a lower-back spasm, Brooklyn constantly threw double-teams at Tatum when he was set to initiate Boston’s offense. Even during pick-and-roll actions, the Nets repeatedly held their defenders at the mesh point, clogging up possible lanes for Tatum to take.
Tatum, for his part, practiced patience, scanning the floor and waiting for other Celtics to find creases in the defense. After the first quarter, Tatum led all scorers with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He would finish the game with only 20 points, though he scooped eight rebounds and dished out eight assists — many created because of the extra defensive attention he drew.
“Shoot, double-, triple-teams, they was doing it all,” Tatum said. “It’s just scanning the floor, take your time, don’t be rushed, know where your outlets are and deliver the pass.”
The Nets are far from the only team to employ this tactic against Tatum, who’s averaging 27.1 points — sixth-highest in the NBA — 8.7 rebounds and a career-high 5.9 assists per game.
But, even though Boston has Porziņģis back, Brown (back) and Tatum (knee) missed Tuesday night’s victory over the Nets. Derrick White (knee) and Horford (toe) have also missed games within the last week. As the grind of the regular season gives way to the playoffs, injuries may continue to be a factor down the stretch.
The Celtics stress they’re built to overcome it, and it all comes down to trusting the open man.
“We have an identity,” Tatum said Saturday. “We know what we’re trying to accomplish on the floor, and we’ll just try not to skip a beat when we plug in and replace guys.”