This season, the Boston Celtics made it to the Conference Finals once again, continuing their dominance of the Eastern Conference. They lead the Pacers 1-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals after the latter defeated the Knicks in seven games to force a rematch with the Celtics. LeBron James and JJ Redick gave a preview of the current series on “Mind the Game pod,” emphasizing the Celtics’ capacity to use many ball handlers and make long-range jumpers.
They observed in-depth details about the offensive strategies of both teams and daydreamed about a Knicks-Celtics game in the Eastern Conference Finals.
James said that the Celtics are fortunate to have players like Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown who are nightmares to deal with in crucial circumstances, whereas the Knicks only have their leader Jalen Brunson starting the offense. He said,
“From half-court standpoint, Jalen Brunson has the ball 97% of the time. Boston have four guys in their starting lineup who can handle the ball so you can’t just hide, you can’t point switch because they have multiple guys who can get them into the offense and also make plays either you fu**ed up a switch or a closeout game,”
The Celtics can win in crucial moments because the defense can’t afford to be careless with any one of those four arrows, according to LBJ. Even if the defense thwarts the first play, they may always start over and devise a new strategy to score late in the game.
He also mentioned that they try up to 45 triples, which is horrifying for the defenders.