Jokić is hard to stop because he can take care of the ball and see over everybody, even when he’s getting double or triple-teamed. That allows the team to mix up their spacing across the entire lineup in weird ways and find shots in bizarre places, making it so much more unpredictable to defend. But the offenses we’ve seen in the Finals both thrive because they have a great player who can handle tight spacing and still maintain composure. Maybe it’s because Tatum and Brown aren’t elite playmakers yet like the stars in this year’s Finals, the three coaches they’ve played under generally followed the theory that you want them starting from opposite sides of the court to keep the defense spread apart. They also need a possession here or there to take it easy and catch their breath when they are running the floor and handling the ball as much as they do. These are the kinds of simple actions the Celtics should run more frequently, but it’s hard to get to them consistently when you’re playing in transition and getting into offense as quickly as you can. This is an effective way for Boston to get its floor spacers in the corners and have the defense worried about keeping up with the Jays’ speed and skill rather than their spot-up shooting ability. That lets Tatum attack a close-out with James Harden being the low man on the strong side who tries to take a charge and block Embiid from contesting the shot. To open Game 5 against the Sixers, they ran a play in the first minute of the game that targeted a cross-match and some confusing cuts to get the defense twisted up. There were times when you could see Joe Mazzulla making a concerted effort to get them playing off each other. But it clogs things up when you’re going against a team that can switch or just play zone like Miami and can help off shooters to stop the ball. It’s a simple action the team has been utilizing for years that is effective when you’re feeding the ball to a big wing who can pull-up and score from anywhere. This often comes from a big or guard coming down with them in transition and setting an early drag screen to start the action and get one of the Jays running across the floor. The primary way they get the ball to each other when they aren’t sprinting on the break is one of them will have the ball and a teammate will screen for the other to cut and catch a swing pass. This isn’t a broken situation that needs fixing, but rather a partnership that needs to take one more step to be worth what will soon be an exorbitant price tag. The Celtics were a plus-69 in the 622 minutes the Jays shared the floor this postseason, even with the team shooting 34.2 percent from deep in that span. Tatum and Brown are both wings, with varying contrasting strengths as playmakers and scorers. Jimmy Butler and Murray are on-ball creators, Jokić and Bam Adebayo are great passing bigs. Part of that is inherent to the positional overlap and it’s apparent in the NBA Finals. But Brown and Tatum still haven’t found the peak synergy that drives an elite offense. Jokić is unguardable when he is popping or rolling after handing it off to Murray. Murray is at his most dangerous when Jokić has the ball. What makes the Nuggets - and the same is true for the Heat- offense work is that their two stars can play both off and around each other.
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