How the Celtics’ high IQ dominated the NBA Finals

Ben Taylor of Thinking Basketball breaks down Coach Mazzulla’s analytical attention to detail and the smartest adjustments and counters Boston made en route to their 18th title.

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[TheDietCoffey]

Coaching is one thing all these TV analysts always seem to ignore. The Celtics SCHOOLED the Mavericks with their scheming, and yet the "experts" STILL couldn't explain why even if you showed them this video.

[rayp]

When people talk about playing Basketball the "Right Way" this is what they mean. 🍀

[tluvsbeauty]

Joe is almost certainly intellectually gifted, and he has used that intellect to think about the game of basketball in a way that no one really ever has before him.

So grateful to have him as our coach💚

[KingJerbear]

I heard a lot of comments about how the Celtics play "boring" basketball. But the bottom line is, it's only boring if the only thing you can focus on while watching the game is the ball itself, all the off-ball movement, defensive switches and sets, and manipulation of their opponent is like poetry in motion for real basketball fans.

[keionsprime]

Hats off to Boston, they were in a class of their own this season

[HugoSousa-kdlp]

I think Boston as a city and the Celtics as an organization are such unsung heroes. Not only are they finding the right athletes to draft and trade for, but they are also do an incredible job cultivating loyalty and hard work ethic. Every Celtic is hard working and buys into two-way play, and they are such a strong team that they can field their bench for half the regular season, getting a ton of experience and training on them too. I truly believe that if Tatum and Brown had been drafted to other teams they would not be champions that they are today, they benefited from the Celtics organization as much as the other way around. Boston has been taking players and turning them into the best version of themselves and making everybody look good. Then trading them when they are at their highest value for other athletes that they know they can cultivate. Boston is just such a well run Sports Team from top to bottom.

[AABatteries]

Everyone talks about Jaylen browns iso defense on Luka, which obviously was fantastic and deserves all the praise, but I think we should also discuss how impactful Tatum’s defense was at taking away the impact of Daniel gafford, Derek lively, and pj Washington on offense due to limiting the roll and the lob. Truly a team wide defensive masterclass with a great coached system and a full 5 man unit executing to perfection.

[aieshadaniels]

Jamal and UD face expression alone tells you the respect #Mazzulla has earned amongst the #NBA league now!

[clarasundqvist]

People say watching the Celtics is boring, but seeing the details of how their offense works and how in sync they all are is nothing short of sexy 🔥

[goodisanoun]

There is a reason Brad kept Joe around during the changeover of front offices. They were on the same page both team building and strategy. One of the most well balanced teams in league history. Which is a blueprint for successful teams in the new CBA.

[Global]

I can admit I was a Boston hater the whole season, but I have to give their props they were the most dominant team all year and they played perfect basketball, so my hats off to Boston

[kobekobekobekobekobe]

Actually after watching half of this video I genuinely think that the Celtics deserved every bit of their wins. Fantastic defence and use of anaylitics. Scheming was fantastic

[Global]

3:50 really interesting statistics here, Mavericks love those corner 3s and the fact that Boston dropped their percentage down to only 6% is insane, it took Dallas completely out of their comfort zone

[BoltTwice]

And people said this series was boring…..it was a MASTERCLASS
Happy to see thinking basketball on this platform he is a true basketball

[paulg.dunphy]

Mazzulla was impressive. Love this team.

[noplus]

Thinking Basketball on the NBA channel? Hell yeah! Great content hope to see more featuring like this.

[donigilobor]

Congratulations Thinking Basketball! ❤ to watch your creation here in NBA...😊

[lousgrandcrew]

Thank you for this one! Finally some credit to the Celtics coaching and tactics and as to why JT never went off to splash big points. It was a well-oiled machine that exploited other teams not by sheer talent but Joe Mazzulla outcoached everyone this year. A team sport master class where neither JT nor JB needed to have combined 80 point games.

[dh]

You can really see the Pep Guardiola influence in Joe's detailed and systematic approach of the game. Pep changed football forever, and we might see a massive change in the basketball landscape with Joe.

[cwispypata]

Having @ThinkingBasketball's insights on how the Cs dominated the Finals in the freaking NBA page is basically the league admitting the Mavs had no chance in hell outside of Luka/Kyrie making impossible circus shots for 48 mins. Good to see this video here.

Besides Mazzulla and the coaching staff, big chunk of the credit goes to the players themselves for buying in to the system and using all of the 82 games to master their defensive craft.