Marcus Smart showcased pick-and-roll improvements in latest Boston Celtics win

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Marcus Smart showcased pick-and-roll improvements in latest Boston Celtics win




Marcus Smart continues to develop for the Boston Celtics. (AP photo)

Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com
on January 24, 2015 at 6:00 PM, updated January 24, 2015 at 6:23 PM




DENVER, Colo. – Marcus Smart’s stat line Friday night against the Denver Nuggets looked underwhelming. Heck, he had more fouls (five) than either points (four) or assists (three). Yet as one of my old golf partners used to say, the scorecard does not include any of the finer details.

When Smart checked in midway through the third quarter, the Celtics trailed 63-56. They had already started a bit of a comeback, but over the next four minutes, Smart pushed them into the lead with a string of successful pick-and-rolls – showing intelligence and poise in an area that hasn’t been a real strength of his this season.

On Smart’s first possession of the second half, he threw a nice pass to Tyler Zeller for a layup. The big man missed but put in his own rebound. After that, Smart unleashed one of his most promising stretches of point-guardishness this season.

For about four minutes, the Celtics repeatedly went to an action that gave Zeller a choice: dive to the post or run a pick-and-roll with Smart.

“And the way they were defending that,” head coach Brad Stevens said after the 100-99 win, “Tyler just kept making the read to the pick-and-roll."

"Marcus did a pretty good job in that. I thought he held on to one a little bit long, but we'll go over all those on film. I thought he did a really good job though making plays off of it. He got to the foul line, did some good things."

The stretch started rather quietly. Smart came off a pick-and-roll with Zeller, but the screen was not strong. Arron Afflalo guarded it well, but Smart read the defense, which was sagging off Jae Crowder, and flipped a pass to his teammate. Crowder drilled a three.

The Celtics went back to the well a minute later, as you can watch here:



Coming around the ball screen, Smart hesitated, just for a second, until Jusuf Nurkic leaned toward the rolling Zeller. Earlier in the season, that might have been the extent of Smart’s pick-and-roll work. He might have swung the ball to the other side or settled for a low-percentage jumper. Instead, he attacked, made Nurkic commit to him, and dumped off an easy left-handed dish to Zeller for a dunk.

Reading the defense like that is what the great point guards – the Chris Pauls, Tony Parkers, Kyle Lowrys and Jeff Teagues – do on every possession. But Smart hasn’t always shown great point guard skills this season. He hasn’t always gotten into the paint or showed full knowledge of pick-and-roll reads. Though he played the position at Oklahoma State, he was often used in different ways. His rookie season, then, really has been a learning experience, made more difficult by an ankle injury that bothered him for a while.

But he is showing signs of development. After he hit a 3-pointer on the next possession – another improvement – the Celtics again put the ball in Smart’s hands:




This time, Nurkic hung back from the start, which Smart recognized right away. He slowed down just a bit so help defender Danilo Gallinari stayed tight to his man, then drove into the paint. He should have delivered a bounce pass a step earlier. Instead, he went too far into the lane and needed to muscle a pass through Nurkic’s arms. The pass still hit its target, but Zeller, out of rhythm because of the poor delivery, missed the layup.

Obviously, Smart did not execute perfectly. But he read the first line of defense correctly and put pressure on Nurkic to stop him. That’s a step forward for a guard who has often been too hesitant (and/or unable) to inflict damage inside the arc.

The next play showed another step forward:



This was the same set, but an entirely different read than the previous looks. Instantly spotting an opening to the baseline, Smart rejected the screen and drove straight toward the rim, something he has not done often this season. Especially for a guard his size and strength, he has done too much floating on the perimeter, a sign of how much he still needs to develop. But in this case, he exploded right into Nurkic, led with his heavy shoulder and drew the foul.

More of that would be wonderful. And a gem came shortly thereafter:




Zeller set a pick toward the baseline. Smart used it but got contained by the defense, dribbled out of trouble, and swung a pass to Marcus Thornton. When the ball came back to Smart, he ran another pick-and-roll with Zeller. That one provided a highlight. Smart executed a dipsy-doo spin-o-rama, somehow spotted Crowder open in the opposite corner, and hit Crowder with a next-level pass very few humans make on a consistent basis.

Crowder’s triple capped a four-minute spree that saw Smart directly account for 11 points (four points, three assists) and deliver a pretty dish that resulted in a Zeller bucket. During that span, the Celtics yanked the game in their favor, outscoring the Nuggets 17-8.

While Smart then committed two cheap fouls, lost control of his dribble for a careless turnover and sat for most of the fourth quarter with foul trouble – he remains a 20-year-old rookie, after all – his third-quarter run screamed of play-making potential. Sometimes, the finer details include a 290-yard drive right down the middle or a youngster learning how to run an NBA team.


bob
MY NOTE:  Fundamental basketball, and Zeller is made for it.  If this is what Brad and his coaches are drilling them on, I'm happy.


.

bob,

Yes, the pick and roll is very much fundamental basketball. I am sure that Smart has been playing for well long enough to be better at this than he has shown this season.

His total offensive game will become so much better when he gets more comfortable with the pick and roll. His points will go up, his outside shots will be less contested, his assists will improve, he will get to the free throw line, etc, etc.

Also, glad to see you mention Stevens and his staff as likely being a part of Smart's improvement.

I'm thinking that this commentary is as much about Zeller as about Smart. We all know that Zeller isn't a top-line center, would probably be better cast as a backup center, yada yada yada. But, as some of us have been stating for at least a couple of years, in lieu of Mr. Intimidator, the Celtics had to create better balance on the roster in order for the team to have an opportunity to grow under "normal" conditions.

That meant getting a serviceable center who knew and practiced the basics and would be the kind of "placeholder" who could enable the team to develop under reasonably normal conditions rather than being a bunch of guys playing out of position.

On offense, Zeller does a good job of posting and reposting, setting picks, using hook shots (a lost art, as Tommy will tell you), and even popping in a jumper from time to time. His timing on the pick-and-roll is impeccable. He has very good hands, and he might just be the quickest center in the league. (I'm talking about his quickness in releasing shots, not his quickness in running the floor, although he's not at all shabby in beating his man upcourt either.) It might surprise some that Tyler is tied with Kelly for second (behind Sully by a hair) among Celtics big men in terms of assists per minute on the floor. And he ranks second on the entire team (close to the leader, Sully) in terms of rebounds per minute.

On defense, Tyler's obviously not a prototpyical shot-blocker, but he knows how to get up and under an opponent to bother the shot. He's not as laterally challenged as Sully or Kelly. He can be a victim of opponents' overpowering strength, and that's the main reason why he could never assume the role of "The Great Intimidator." And Brad deserves credit for limiting Tyler's minutes in accordance with favorable matchups.

Despite being one of the staunchest advocates of finding "Mr. Intimidator," I now think it could be a blessing in disguise that, as a team in transitional and developmental mode, the Celtics wound up with a center who can do a little of everything rather than being limited to a few superior talents (e.g. blocking shots or discouraging penetration) but lacking others (e.g. running the floor well or being an accomplished inside scorer). This has enabled Brad and the team to experiment and coalesce (subject to discontinuity) around a center who is not struggling in his own role.

There will be a time when the team is ready for players who, while they perhaps can do many things, do one thing particularly well. In other words, a bunch of complementary role players who play their roles extremely well. Some may be stars, and many may have multiple talents; but all will be able to focus most on what they do best without offsetting their attributes with exceptional weaknesses. If in doubt about what that kind of aggregation can accomplish, pick up the phone and dial
1-Red-Cigr. 1-Red-Smo-king

Right now, however, it's premature to think about that kind of Nirvana. Now is when the talents are being developed and discovered among the younger players such as Smart. And a lot of the credit for making that possible belongs to the balance created by Tyler Zeller.

I've always said that the floor general position is the most important on a team because the floor general affects the other four positions to such a high degree. But, especially now in the absence of a true floor general, it just could be that, in his own quiet way, Tyler is influencing the other four positions more than anyone else on the team.

Sam