BOSTON — The Boston Celtics are just starting to peel back the onion that is Kristaps Porziņģis. There are many layers to how he can slightly alter the way his team plays, from his versatility on offense to reach on defense.
As Jrue Holiday finds his rhythm as a playmaker and everyone on defense figures out how they can help around Porziņģis, his impact seems to be growing by the game.
Porziņģis can bring the offense something simple and effective, a pick-and-roll partner for the litany of playmakers this team has at its disposal who can make a bucket as easy as pass, pass, shoot.
Brad's vision pic.twitter.com/HJVGTvrjsK
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) October 18, 2023
“We got a lot of guys that can take the pressure off, a lot of guys that can be that release valve,” Jaylen Brown said after Tuesday’s 123-110 win over the New York Knicks. “I’m looking for KP a lot coming out of those pick-and-roll situations, but the basketball just kind of tells you what to do.”
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Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said Porziņģis will find the ball in his hands because of his particular skill set and will be put into a variety of roles depending on how they want to shape the offense. Boston ran some side pick-and-rolls by the elbows to be the “trigger” for its offense, as Mazzulla put it. Just about every ballhandler has looked to Porziņģis for an alley-oop at this point. If he’s popping, he’s drawing a closeout and creating a two-on-one advantage.
But the thing his coach wants to see more than anything isn’t the particular play execution or the made bucket. He just wants to see his team figuring it out, with a long season ahead of it to devise an optimized system.
GO DEEPERHow Jrue Holiday and the Celtics are learning to play with one another“I don’t know if you saw, one of the timeouts, all five guys on the floor were communicating with each other. That stuff is more important,” Mazzulla said. “The more they can understand who’s guarding them and how to get each other the ball and where they need to get it, that really will help us.”
Jayson Tatum said the relationship with Porziņģis is still growing, as he’s trying to get a feel for where the big man can pop out based on how Tatum likes to attack the defense. Tatum tends to come over screens with patience, which will require Porziņģis to pop or roll a little differently.
“But two guys, we both know how to play basketball. He’s a very obviously skilled player,” Tatum said. “He makes the game easier for myself and for everybody else. His versatility, obviously the ability to stretch the floor and shoot anywhere. So when he’s open, find him.”
Porziņģis’ versatility on offense has been that safety valve, but he’s also been one of the main funnels for everything on defense. The Celtics are still working out the kinks of a scheme that has him dropping off pick-and-rolls to the nail at the free-throw line, similar to how Robert Williams III often operated when he was guarding the five the past few seasons.
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Last season with the Washington Wizards, Porziņģis showed more of an ability to move his feet when defending up in space, and Mazzulla has been mixing in some coverages where Porziņģis guards up on the screen level and even occasionally traps the ballhandler to force a pass. Just look at how well Porziņģis’ guarding a side pick-and-roll up on the screen level shut down the Knicks offense late in the third quarter:
Keeping an eye on the Celtics defense. Good activity. Porzingis not dropped all the way back, contains and then recovers. Having Horford and Jrue rotating is going to be a plus. pic.twitter.com/5kI7SHS3r9
— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) October 18, 2023
The risk with Porziņģis was that his fluidity couldn’t match that of Al Horford or even Williams, so bringing him out of the paint or even switching would be a risk. But his feet are moving well here, and Holiday will likely be the key to making this all work. Boston is helping from both sides to squeeze the roller while Porziņģis stops the ball and then recovers.
Mazzulla talks a lot about shift activity, how the backside defenders are moving in and out of help positions to let the guys on the ball be more aggressive. Well, Holiday is running zigzags here before just smothering the ball. Then it ends up with Porziņģis contesting the shot to force the miss, something he did a lot of Tuesday evening.
“Joe has kind of given me a green light on defense to be able to trap sometimes in certain situations in the pick-and-roll. That’s what I’m looking for,” Porziņģis said. “When I see an opportunity to maybe put some pressure on them defensively, I go for it. We had a few good situations today where they had to look for the next pass, the offense stagnates, and they have to run toward the ball, and you kind of lose some seconds on the clock.”
While the Jays — Tatum and Brown — will get in the mix with Porziņģis plenty and this was Brown’s night, Holiday will be Porziņģis’ best friend on both ends of the floor. He’ll feed the ballhandler into Porziņģis on defense, then feed the ball to Porziņģis on offense.
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“Honestly, since he got here, he’s been looking for me in practices and games, and we’ve been all kind of putting in our minds that we want to play for each other,” Porziņģis said. “We wanna enjoy each other’s success, and Jrue has been phenomenal from the moment that he got here.”
Throughout the first quarter, Holiday made a point to push the ball in transition to get into early actions with Porziņģis. Even if they didn’t go anywhere, it was a focal point to accelerate the development of their chemistry.
It paid dividends after a few minutes when Holiday dribbled over a Porziņģis screen, drew the coverage over, then threw the perfect dime over his shoulder back to his big guy.
“I keep repeating myself, but they draw so much attention that I get wide-open 3s, wide-open looks, and they find me and I just shoot those shots,” Porziņģis said. “It’s really simple. It’s a good game for us to keep building that chemistry.”
(Photo: Charles Krupa / Associated Press)
Jared Weiss is a staff writer covering the Boston Celtics and NBA for The Athletic. He has covered the Celtics since 2011, co-founding CLNS Media Network while in college before covering the team for SB Nation's CelticsBlog and USA Today. Before coming to The Athletic, Weiss spent a decade working for the government, primarily as a compliance bank regulator. Follow Jared on Twitter @JaredWeissNBA
