addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");
BOSTON – What better way to celebrate the second round of the NBA Playoffs than to release a second playoff edition of Celtics Mailbag?
Exactly. There isn’t one.
So let’s dive right into it and field your questions about the Eastern Conference Semifinals series between the Celtics and the Raptors. Here we go…
Answer: To me, this answer is simple: move the ball.
The best way to beat a great defense is to move the ball from side to side and to force the defense into multiple rotations. The more rotations, the greater the chance that the defense will slip. The proof is in the pudding from the regular-season series between Boston and Toronto.
Boston went 3-1 in the series while averaging 24.7 assists per game during the wins. That stat includes a resounding 122-100 win during the seeding games which featured 27 assists.
To the contrary, the C’s tallied just 18 assists during their lone loss to Toronto back on Dec. 28. Boston did shoot just 39.7 percent from the field during that game, but that percentage was in part a byproduct of lack of ball movement.
As further evidence, Boston was a perfect 14-0 during the regular season when it dished out at least 27 assists, and it was 20-5 when it tallied at least 25 assists. The C’s averaged just 19 assists against an inferior Philadelphia defense during the first round, so they’ll need to play a different type of offense during this round in order to be successful.
Answer: You’ve got company in asking this question. Kemba Walker recently said after a first-round win by the Celtics, which was fueled by staunch defense down the stretch by Marcus Smart, “I just can’t see how he’s not in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation.”
I spoke to one source from a non-Celtics rival over the weekend who gave some insight into this debate. He stated that rim protection is not only super valuable to teams, but it can also be tracked at high level from a data perspective. There simply isn’t as much information on the impact of perimeter players, which makes it difficult for voters to quantify the defensive impact of a player like Smart.
However, he also suggested that as the league continues to trend smaller and smaller, and teams continue to rely more and more on dominant wings like LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Jayson Tatum, there will inherently be more of a focus on the players who defend those stars at the highest level. That suggestion leaves the door cracked for Smart to sneak into this conversation in the coming years.
Answer: No, thank you for being a follower, Josh! To answer your question, Rob Williams will almost surely have more of a role during this series than he did during the first round. Toronto plays a lot of small ball and, with the exception of Marc Gasol, uses athletic big men at the power forward and center positions. Williams, with his combination of athleticism and length, is a much better defensive matchup against a team like Toronto than he was against Joel Embiid, Al Horford and the 76ers.
Truth be told, Williams deserves an opportunity to play. He was fantastic during the seeding games, averaging 8.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game while playing an average of only 10.9 minutes per game. That, folks, is high-level production.
Prepare to see more of Time Lord during this series.
Answer: It doesn’t look like it at the moment, Matt. The C’s, as of now, are running with alternates for all of their road games this series.
Boston is scheduled to wear its Statement black uniforms during Games 1, 2, 5 and 7, which are all of their road games of the series. For their home games, they are scheduled to wear their Icon green uniforms for Game 3, their Association white uniforms for Game 4, and their Icons again for Game 5.
Answer: Fred VanVleet has developed into quite the player after going undrafted out of Wichita State in 2016. He is Toronto’s leading scorer during the postseason with an average of 21.3 points per game, and he shot a ridiculous 55.9 percent from 3-point range during the team’s first-round sweep of Brooklyn.
But – and this is not to take anything away from him – VanVleet is not Kemba Walker.
Kemba Walker is a four-time All-Star who was the starting point guard for the East this season. Walker, who looks healthier than he had all season, is averaging 24.3 points per game during the postseason – and that’s while shooting only 29.6 percent from long range. It’s only up from there.
Both of these players are incredibly impactful for their respective teams. At this moment, however, Walker’s resume and play during the first round give him the edge.