Sunday, April 22 - Game 4 - Celtics at Bucks
Pregame – If Milwaukee Pressures, C's Plan To Counter with Aggressiveness
MILWAUKEE – The key to the Celtics overcoming Milwaukee’s aggressive defense is, coincidentally, aggressiveness.
Upon watching film of Game 3 and analyzing the statistics, the C’s realized that Milwaukee’s defense put them on their heels. Boston’s offense looked nothing like it did during Games 1 and 2.
“Coach (Brad Stevens) had a stat last game that we were leading the Playoffs in passes per game – like 350 passes a game, so that’s 175 a half,” Shane Larkin said. “And then in the first half of last game (Game 3), we only passed it about 75 times.”
That’s 100 fewer passes in a half than their previous average, which is a recipe for failure with this Boston team. If Milwaukee pressures the ball again this afternoon, the Celtics will aim to get back to their number of 175 passes per half by countering with their own aggression, according to Larkin.
“The best thing to do is just drive by and draw everyone to the paint,” said Larkin. “We’ve just got to be more aggressive, and when guys like (Eric) Bledsoe and (Matthew) Dellavedova or (Khris) Middleton or whoever is trying to pressure, I think we’ve just got to drive by.”
That’s what the Celtics did during Game 3, but they did it in a totally different manner.
Boston drove to the basket with its head down. As Stevens said after Game 3, players were driving to the basket and looking to make home-run plays on their own. What Larkin and the Celtics believe they need to do during Game 4 is to drive to the basket to create opportunities for their teammates rather than for themselves.
“I think our aggressiveness needs to be, ‘Let me drive, but also keep my head up so if I draw the people, which is most likely going to happen when I drive, I make the right pass,’” Larkin said as he spoke to Celtics.com at his locker before tip-off. “And a lot of the stuff we talked about today was kick-outs, extra passes and a lot of the stuff we were doing those prior games.”
This notion has clearly been a point of emphasis from Stevens to the Celtics since the completion of Friday night’s Game 3. If Milwaukee expects the Celtics to be on their heels again this afternoon, it has another thing coming.
“If intensity levels are different levels,” Stevens said when talking about countering Milwaukee’s defensive pressure, “then you’re not winning.”
The Celtics want to win, so expect them to come right back at Milwaukee this afternoon with their own type of aggressiveness that they showcased during Games 1 and 2.
- Marc D'Amico