>**“That’s what I’ve been trying to emphasize for our coaching staff and everybody all year,” Brown said recently.** > >It seems Brown is not just a fan of the Pacers’ style. He wants to adopt shades of it in Boston. The Celtics, who entered Monday ranked 23rd in pace, aren’t likely to become one of the league’s fastest teams overnight, but Brown wants them to look more for transition opportunities. He stressed that goal after a recent short-handed win against Orlando, during which the Celtics, missing all of their usual centers, started Lamar Stevens at the position. > >**“I think we just are playing faster,” Brown said. “We had all guards, all smalls out there so our advantage was speed. And that’s how I want to play all the time. Like, let’s run on a made basket, on a missed basket.”** > >The Celtics haven’t committed fully to running so far this season. They rank 15th in average time to shot at 11.7 seconds, according to Inpredictable. The website tracks time to shot after made baskets, defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds and turnovers; the Celtics don’t rank higher than 15th in any of the categories. They are 23rd in the percentage of possessions that begin with a transition play, according to Cleaning the Glass.That’s not necessarily a flaw. The Celtics can thrive in the half court. They have thrived in the half court. They lead the NBA with a 20-5 record and already have 17 wins against teams .500 or better. (No other team has more than 12.) They have been great so far the way they’ve played. Brown just believes his team can struggle when it slows down too much. When asked Sunday what traits he wants the Celtics to show as a team, he began his answer by saying they need to “set the tone on defense, first and foremost.” After detailing what he wanted Boston to accomplish on that end of the court, he pivoted to his next area of emphasis. > > > >**“And I think playing with a pace,” Brown said. “I think a lot of the times we get in trouble is when we walk the ball up, play slow, allow teams to load up. I like the version of us when we’re getting up and down, making the right reads and playing with a little pace. I think those two are going to lead us in the right direction. Also, taking care of the basketball is important, keeping turnovers down, and not fouling, and I think that contributes to Celtics basketball.”** > >Brown excels in transition, where he scores 7.7 points per game, the third-highest average in the NBA, according to Synergy Sports. It’s no surprise he would like to run and gun more, but that mindset can sometimes clash with the tempo of some of his teammates, including Jayson Tatum. Marcus Smart used to regularly hit Brown with backdoor passes early in the shot clock, but some of those opportunities have dried up with Smart now in Memphis. The Celtics have still set up Brown for some of those easy buckets, but not as many as he used to get that way. With Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday on the roster, the Boston players have needed to get used to the new mix. Joe Mazzulla said he believes they have recently been “playing fast, but we’re playing with poise, which is important.” > >“They’re all good in their own way in what they’re able to do, and they’ve kind of learned each guy’s role when they’re in transition,” Mazzulla said. “So Jrue does a good job of finding guys, whether it’s flips or getting to his post-ups. Jaylen does a good job of attacking the rim. Derrick (White) does a good job on either his pull-up 3 or his paint attacks. Al (Horford) and Sam (Hauser) re-space, Payton (Pritchard’s) pace has gotten really good, and the fives really do a good job of getting JT hook screens in transition, so they’ve all kind of gotten into what their role is and they figure it out on their own.”
Jaylen is really hitting all the right notes this year, improving on his playmaking, turning into one the team’s best defenders, and identifying the Celtics need to play with more pace at times.
I’m particularly encouraged by this because I think that’s one Tatum’s biggest flaws, he plays at a snails pace and can really bog the offense down at times.
**Of players that have played at least 15 games, Tatum is 2nd in average speed behind only Embiid. Players that play faster than him include: LeBron James, Eric Gordon, Luka Doncic, Jeff Green, and James Harden.**
7k4L
Been saying we should be running the whole game for years. We’ve had consistently one of the youngest teams in the league the past 4 or more years but our pace has never matched the youth
bananajunior3000
He’s singing Tommy’s song too. Heinsohn loved aggressively getting out in transition and generating easy buckets that way.
Manic-Finch781
4th Qtr JT will not be liking this style of play. That’s cutting into his 8 secs he needs to cross half court for every possession.
GlassJoe87
Yes please!
Team’s too talented to just hope for good shooting nights in the playoffs
Bewilderbeest79
Let’s run. Let’s run like we’re f ckin lions and tigers and bears!
ImeStopPlayingDennis
Hard to do that if the Celtics don’t run plays until the shotclock hits 12 seconds whenever Tatum has the ball idk why he does that crap
Happy_Yogurtcloset_2
As much as I like the idea, I’d much rather we keep a slower pace IF it means higher chance we make it to the playoffs less injured
vib3v3nd3tta
I think it’s important to find a balance. A championship contending team needs to be able to generate offense in the half court when the pace slows to a crawl in the playoffs, and we need reps in that setting to allow everyone to gel.
sunny_6killer
I mean. We should be able to do that, but playoff ball favors the halfcourt set and the “run first” teams usually struggle when the game slows down like that.
10 Comments
>**“That’s what I’ve been trying to emphasize for our coaching staff and everybody all year,” Brown said recently.**
>
>It seems Brown is not just a fan of the Pacers’ style. He wants to adopt shades of it in Boston. The Celtics, who entered Monday ranked 23rd in pace, aren’t likely to become one of the league’s fastest teams overnight, but Brown wants them to look more for transition opportunities. He stressed that goal after a recent short-handed win against Orlando, during which the Celtics, missing all of their usual centers, started Lamar Stevens at the position.
>
>**“I think we just are playing faster,” Brown said. “We had all guards, all smalls out there so our advantage was speed. And that’s how I want to play all the time. Like, let’s run on a made basket, on a missed basket.”**
>
>The Celtics haven’t committed fully to running so far this season. They rank 15th in average time to shot at 11.7 seconds, according to Inpredictable. The website tracks time to shot after made baskets, defensive rebounds, offensive rebounds and turnovers; the Celtics don’t rank higher than 15th in any of the categories. They are 23rd in the percentage of possessions that begin with a transition play, according to Cleaning the Glass.That’s not necessarily a flaw. The Celtics can thrive in the half court. They have thrived in the half court. They lead the NBA with a 20-5 record and already have 17 wins against teams .500 or better. (No other team has more than 12.) They have been great so far the way they’ve played. Brown just believes his team can struggle when it slows down too much. When asked Sunday what traits he wants the Celtics to show as a team, he began his answer by saying they need to “set the tone on defense, first and foremost.” After detailing what he wanted Boston to accomplish on that end of the court, he pivoted to his next area of emphasis.
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>**“And I think playing with a pace,” Brown said. “I think a lot of the times we get in trouble is when we walk the ball up, play slow, allow teams to load up. I like the version of us when we’re getting up and down, making the right reads and playing with a little pace. I think those two are going to lead us in the right direction. Also, taking care of the basketball is important, keeping turnovers down, and not fouling, and I think that contributes to Celtics basketball.”**
>
>Brown excels in transition, where he scores 7.7 points per game, the third-highest average in the NBA, according to Synergy Sports. It’s no surprise he would like to run and gun more, but that mindset can sometimes clash with the tempo of some of his teammates, including Jayson Tatum. Marcus Smart used to regularly hit Brown with backdoor passes early in the shot clock, but some of those opportunities have dried up with Smart now in Memphis. The Celtics have still set up Brown for some of those easy buckets, but not as many as he used to get that way. With Kristaps Porziņģis and Jrue Holiday on the roster, the Boston players have needed to get used to the new mix. Joe Mazzulla said he believes they have recently been “playing fast, but we’re playing with poise, which is important.”
>
>“They’re all good in their own way in what they’re able to do, and they’ve kind of learned each guy’s role when they’re in transition,” Mazzulla said. “So Jrue does a good job of finding guys, whether it’s flips or getting to his post-ups. Jaylen does a good job of attacking the rim. Derrick (White) does a good job on either his pull-up 3 or his paint attacks. Al (Horford) and Sam (Hauser) re-space, Payton (Pritchard’s) pace has gotten really good, and the fives really do a good job of getting JT hook screens in transition, so they’ve all kind of gotten into what their role is and they figure it out on their own.”
Jaylen is really hitting all the right notes this year, improving on his playmaking, turning into one the team’s best defenders, and identifying the Celtics need to play with more pace at times.
I’m particularly encouraged by this because I think that’s one Tatum’s biggest flaws, he plays at a snails pace and can really bog the offense down at times.
**Of players that have played at least 15 games, Tatum is 2nd in average speed behind only Embiid. Players that play faster than him include: LeBron James, Eric Gordon, Luka Doncic, Jeff Green, and James Harden.**
Been saying we should be running the whole game for years. We’ve had consistently one of the youngest teams in the league the past 4 or more years but our pace has never matched the youth
He’s singing Tommy’s song too. Heinsohn loved aggressively getting out in transition and generating easy buckets that way.
4th Qtr JT will not be liking this style of play. That’s cutting into his 8 secs he needs to cross half court for every possession.
Yes please!
Team’s too talented to just hope for good shooting nights in the playoffs
Let’s run. Let’s run like we’re f ckin lions and tigers and bears!
Hard to do that if the Celtics don’t run plays until the shotclock hits 12 seconds whenever Tatum has the ball idk why he does that crap
As much as I like the idea, I’d much rather we keep a slower pace IF it means higher chance we make it to the playoffs less injured
I think it’s important to find a balance. A championship contending team needs to be able to generate offense in the half court when the pace slows to a crawl in the playoffs, and we need reps in that setting to allow everyone to gel.
I mean. We should be able to do that, but playoff ball favors the halfcourt set and the “run first” teams usually struggle when the game slows down like that.