Celtics’ SECRET Play They Might Be Saving For The NBA Playoffs

Celtics’ SECRET Play They Might Be Saving For The NBA Playoffs

Adam I’m a huge you know when I when I coached I’m a big big big flare screen believer the whole point of a flare is that Defender is fighting over the top of that screen and coming at you like at a bad angle to close out and that’s why

You like running these kinds of flare screens for really Dynamic offensive players even more so than shooters what is up everybody and welcome to what makes this play great a new series we’re doing here on the all NBA show where we take a play that a team runs and we

Break it down and show you why it works and all the different variations off of it today we’re going to be breaking down Oklahoma flare you can call it horns flare and it’s a specific play and it’s specific example that the Celtics used to open up the game against the Utah

Jazz on Tuesday what you’re going to see is it starts with an inverted horns formation here legs you’ve got your bigs in the corner typically your bigs start out on the elbow they invert this by putting the bigs out in the corner and the guards up top here yep the two

Guards at the elbows and immediately Derek White’s gonna gonna break out to the wing and you got Jason Tatum handling the basketball so as you see Derek white breaks out here to the wing to receive this pass now you’re going to get into this double screen action Adam

And you see teams run this all the time double High screen typically run with two bigs where one big will dive and one big will SP SP up for the three as the guard comes off this is a little different because this is a guard screened by a guard and then a small

Forward so all three of these Defenders are similar size they should be able to switch this but you can see they don’t do that the did the Jazz actually send two Defenders over the first screen two Defenders go around the second screen so now Derek white has basically dragged

Two Defenders from one side of the floor to the other so now you’ve got Drew holiday and Tatum left with only one Defender to guard both of them you see here it’s Colin ston so he’s got to make a decision and he knows that holiday is setting this screen for Tatum to flare

For a three-point shot or a catch and go so seon fights over the top of that screen to get out to Tatum and when he does that holiday can just slip down the lane catches the pass and now you see the two backline Defenders you got a

Decision to make if you’re John Collins and you stay back Drew holiday is going to be at The Rim so as holiday slips catches the ball comes off of the guy in the corner it’s Luke cornette to stop the penetration and then it’s a Simple Touch pass from holiday for the dunk on

The Baseline we got another example of this that they actually ran this is not a play they run in their playbook all the time which always tells me it’s probably something they want in their back pocket for playoff atto special moments but you’re going to see an

Example of this that they ran in December 14th against the uh Cleveland Cavaliers and it’s a very similar formation you’re going to get that inverted pick and roll or horn said again with porzingis you’re big in the corner so he’s dragging uh Jared Allen out but this time they’re going to clear

The side you can see over here with drick white instead of staying in the corner he clears the side everything else here has set up the exact same yeah same thing two High screens uh three Defenders out there trying to figure out how to match up with that I think the

Important thing is and they guarantee you this has a subtle call to tell Derek white slightly different so it’s could be it could be Sooners flare um clear like you would add a word on to it to let that guy know clear out of the strong side corner and in this case when

Both Defenders go with Tatum and you see Dean Wade is up there as well providing help on that screen when holiday slips this there is no Defender coming off of that weak side corner that would be waiting for him on the Block um where now again it’ be the same as the last

One we showed where that backline Defender has a decision to make there’s no decision to make here because both of the offensive players for the Celtics are on the strong side with Jason Tatum so when holiday slips it there’s nothing back there and this is something that

They clearly saw on tape that they knew they were going to be able to exploit against certain personnel and they do it here to start the game it’s nothing better than starting a game with a direct play call that leads in a layup and there’s something ironic that both

Of our examples one was against the uh against the Jazz and another one was against uh Donovan Mitchell because this is a play that is actually popularized by Donovan Mitchell’s Utah Jazz back in the day day you’re going to see the same setup here only it’s both bigs as we

Were talking about it’s not inverted they’re using their guards in the corner which is more traditional and using their two bigs you see Rudy goar switches to flip it so that he can create the flare screen and now you’re just running a straight pick and roll action so this one’s more traditional

Legs more traditional that’s what it typically looks like goar sets the screen turns immediately reverses comes back to get the second one Mitchell plays with the ball comes over the top of the screen and goar Dives Mitchell Just sh got it because he had space in

That but you see teams run this kind of action all the time there’s another one that’s similar to what Boston was running where goar sets the first screen on the ball and the second screen as a flare for that guy to pop out as opposed to going and rescreening there it is

Again this time with Donovan Mitchell catching the flare and you can see this play was the Utah ran it primarily for Donovan Mitchell to be the one getting the ball you saw Boston both times they ran it was for the slip obviously that’s like a a quick nice action you can get

But but Utah used this often times to get that early pick and roll here it is with Jo tell you Adam I’m a huge you know when I when I coached I’m a big big big flare screen believer yeah it creates a lot of pressure on a defense

One of the things that’s great about a flare screen when you run it with for dynamic offensive players in this case it’s Kyle corver who’s basically if he doesn’t have a shot right there he’s gonna have to give it up when you run it for guys like Tatum or Donovan Mitchell

Who we saw in the one example the whole point of a flare is that Defender is fighting over the top of that screen and coming at you like at a bad angle to close out they’re not closing out directly in front of you they’re closing

Out on the side of your body which gives you the ability to catch it and go and you’ll see right here this is the one I’m talking about Mitchell see the close out is too high so he’s able to just catch go nice Euro Step there on the

Backside and after the reverse layup and that’s why you like running these kinds of flare screens for really Dynamic offensive players even more so than shooters right and there even Joe Engles not necessarily the most dynamic guy but a good ball handler good pick and roll player and he’s able to take advantage

Of it uh on that play that is what makes this play great you can call that one Oklahoma flare horns flare whatever you like Boston they used it two times to open up a game legs I have a feeling that’s a play that’s going to come back

We’re going to see that in a playoffs in a high leverage moment if we see it we’ll be talking about it right here I know that there you go hope you guys enjoyed that uh don’t forget to hit that like button for us if you enjoyed this

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Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and the Boston Celtics have run this play, Oklahoma Flares, just a few times all season. Are they saving it for the NBA playoffs? Tim Legler and Adam Mares break it all down in a new series we’re calling WHAT MAKES THIS PLAY GREAT. Check out the Xs and Os behind a play that the Celtics flip on its head to free up Jrue Holiday.

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