ATLANTA — Marcus Smart was excited. It’s a Wednesday afternoon in mid-April, and he is starting to prepare for Trae Young and the Hawks to come to town after they upset the Miami Heat in the Play-In Tournament the night before.
A few months after releasing his “Wicked Smarts” cereal, he jumped on a Zoom call to talk about Pronamel Active Shield toothpaste, because he says, “It’s a great duality, just like me. Defending my teeth from cavities is just as important as defending on the court.”
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He needs plenty of toothpaste on hand because there’s always been a bittersweet duality to Smart’s career. It used to be his heroics were often balanced out by recklessness. Now that he’s the point guard, he’s managed to find that ideal equilibrium, as his Game 4 efforts epitomized.
But then there was Game 5, as Young and Smart battled in a calamitous Celtics crunchtime and Young came out on top. It might have come as a shock to some, but Smart knew this was going to happen.
He knows he’s going up against a fellow Texan who also spent his college days in Oklahoma. Smart was a warrior at Oklahoma State, while Young starred at Oklahoma. Whenever the two have clashed, the sparks have flown. The last time they took the floor, Smart was ejected for throwing Young to the ground — he insists it was an accident from being bumped into.
“It’s that Big 12 mindset. When you go in, you gotta show you the big dog,” Smart told The Athletic last week. “Him being himself is only going to make me better as a defensive guy. Being able to go up against the great offensive players makes me better.”
That battle came to a head in the closing seconds of Game 5, when Smart pressed Young full court, got the deflection to set up the game-winning steal and then was called for a foul when he dove through Young to get the ball back. If it wasn’t for the foul after such a great possession, Smart would’ve looked like a hero and that Game 5 loss would’ve just been a near miss to leave in the past.
Then with 7.3 seconds left in the game, Jaylen Brown’s man screened Smart as he chased Young before the inbound pass, and for some reason, Smart called a switch. Brown handled guarding Young fine in this situation, covering above the 3-point line but not full-on pressing since the Hawks only needed two points to win the game. Young saw Smart rushing over to double and launched a shot for the ages, the kind of play you have to live with against a great player.
EVERY ANGLE of Trae Young's Game 5 game-winner 🥶
He dropped 38 PTS and 13 AST. Ice cold. pic.twitter.com/0sGtPHDNd9
— NBA (@NBA) April 26, 2023
To understand Boston’s approach, you have to go back to the NBA Finals against arguably the greatest pull-up scorer ever. For the first four games of the series, Stephen Curry was tearing apart Boston’s conservative drop coverage scheme on his pick-and-rolls. After Curry dropped 43 points in a Game 4 win, The Athletic broke down why the Celtics were dropping off his screens and giving him the pull-up, trying to contain the bleeding to just the best player on the floor.
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Then-coach Ime Udoka blamed Boston’s offensive stagnation in crunchtime of Game 4 as the reason they weren’t up 2-1 despite Curry’s heroics. But as the questions over his approach to defending Curry mounted, Udoka relented in Game 5 and had his bigs get up on the screen to contain Curry. He was 0 of 9 from deep that night, and the Warriors shot 9 of 40 from 3 but shot 32 of 48 (66.7 percent) on twos as their role players feasted attacking the open space Curry’s gravity created.
Nearly a year later, Boston was facing a similar predicament. Young was looking like Curry late in Game 4 and was still finding ways to score in spite of the Celtics’ well-executed game plan. But their Game 4 win exemplified how this team has evolved from an upstart contender to the title favorite this season.
This series has illuminated the difference between Al Horford and Robert Williams III. While Williams can do things in the air that Horford can’t, Horford’s technical precision and reads are still just about as good as it gets in the game.
Though you would expect Williams to be more valuable in a series against a small scorer working with a lob threat, Horford has been the key to defending Young as he was against Curry. It’s not in his ability to switch, but it’s in the nuance of his drop coverage.
As we’ve covered before, there are generally two types of drop coverage in the pick-and-roll: deep and touch.
A deep drop is designed to stay near the paint and intercept the rolling screener, requiring just two defenders usually. When in touch, the big defends up at the screen level and a third defender has to leave a corner shooter to “tag” the roller.
Horford is able to straddle a middle ground between all of these, closing the space on Young as he attacks while also protecting the rim from lobs and offensive rebounds. The Celtics veteran spends most of the game in a drop just above the free-throw line, halfway between all the way up to touch on the screen and dropping deep into the paint like Williams. The result is that when White or Smart chases Young over the screen and he has to get to his floater, he’s taking it one dribble earlier and a full stride further from the hoop.
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So to try to throw Young off his rhythm, Horford will mix up how far back he goes, what direction he shades Young, and how fast he backpedals.
“I’m not going to do the same thing every time,” Horford told The Athletic. “But definitely showing him different looks to buy our guards as much time as I can.”
Watch how Horford takes three different Young pick-and-rolls in the fourth quarter and subtly mixes it up every time. Initially, he shades Young away from the paint and stays up in touch, essentially “veering” the play where he switches on to the driving ballhandler. The second example shows Horford square up in the drop to stall Young and give Derrick White a chance to get over the screen and rear-view contest.
“It’s really just a feel,” Horford said. “Depends on personnel, who’s on the court, if I feel supported behind me. There’s a whole lot of things that go (into it), but usually I have to be more conservative with the way that I defend.”
On the last play in the above video, Horford drops even deeper to force Young into the floater and give Derrick White a chance to try to get over a tricky screen. This one is on White, though it was just unlucky timing taking the gamble to go under the screen.
“It’s always a challenge, but our guards do a really good job getting over the screen and keep pursuing him,” Horford said. “That’s the biggest key for this to work.”
Smart and White both guarded Young for about 30 possessions in Game 4, according to NBA Stats’ tracking data. White gave up nine points and six assists, while Smart allowed 13 points and three assists. One important caveat is that the last two 3-pointers Smart gave up were on 30-foot isolation pull-ups in transition where Smart was not supposed to be picking Young up all the way out there.
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They followed their rules most of the game, chasing and feeding into the big and then keeping their hands up without fouling — for the most part — as Young attacked. The Hawks star had 21 points in the fourth quarter, but his only assist was when the clock was running out and everyone stopped playing.
It was reminiscent of the Warriors series, as the Celtics were willing to let Curry try to beat them in the midrange as long they contained all of his outlets.
In Game 5, White had 28 possessions and Smart had 20, with Smart only allowing one bucket on Young. It was apparent Atlanta’s game plan was to get Smart switched off in favor of Brown as much as possible, while they often would just accept White on Young since they know he can get to his floater. They would often get Brown switched onto Young, knowing he doesn’t fight over screens as well as Smart and White. Then they would bring Williams up to defend the pick-and-roll, knowing he doesn’t judge the space as well as Horford. That’s how Young is able to sprinkle in clean buckets like this between all his heroics.
White plays the long game and bets that Young can’t keep hitting every floater he takes when White forces him over a screen. Smart tries to seize control, even trying to jump ahead of screeners when he sees Atlanta is trying to force a switch.
With Young continuing to dominate as the series drags on, will Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla do the same thing as Udoka and try to turn the momentum by taking the ball out of Young’s hands? If there was a time to do it, Dejounte Murray’s suspension was that moment.
Maybe Mazzulla will decide enough is enough at this point and start blitzing Young or covering him up to touch in crunchtime instead of switching, effectively serving as a loose double-team. If the Celtics are going to play double big and stick Rob Williams in the paint, then it could work. When the Hawks have a numbers advantage, he presents the length and athleticism to compensate.
They tried that a bit in Game 5, as Horford would press up toward Young and then if he got past Horford, Williams would contest the floater. It worked a few times, but Hawks coach Quin Snyder can counter that a few different ways.
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Now that each team has seen the best they have to offer, this is where the coaching battle will shine. Mazzulla didn’t seize control in time Tuesday and it cost them. But he’s had some great game plans and adjustments in this series.
In the end, it’s going to come down to Young versus Smart. They’re two players who thrive off their pride and love the challenge. Young wants to win the series by scoring over Smart as much as Smart wants to end it by pickpocketing his rival.
“It’s a respect factor. You see them, they see you, they understand let’s go out here and play,” Smart said. “Now because the psych game is even, now you gotta go play basketball. You have to actually beat me and at the end of the day, that’s what it’s gonna come down to. You have two great competitors going at it.”
(Photo: Dale Zanine / USA Today)
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