10 takeaways from a statement night in the desert against the Suns

#1 – Jaylen Brown initiating 5-out offense

With Jayson Tatum resting, Jaylen Brown was expected to lead the offense last night in Arizona — and he did. First, he got himself going with a couple of made threes, but more importantly, he initiated the offense for the whole team. Right after his first two buckets, he started the offense early from the side, in a 5-out setup.

With this set, there’s a lot of spacing, and the strong side corner is empty, which changes the usual defensive structure. With Brown scoring, the Suns’ defense collapses around him, and he can find open teammates. On the first play below, his no-look pass to the corner creates the gap that leads to an open shot.

On the very next play, it’s the exact same setup, but this time the first pass goes to the top, creating an open shot in the corner. What goes around comes around.

Later in the game, Brown ran high-quality pick-and-rolls with Luke Kornet, showing the improvements he’s made in his handle, passing, and court vision. While his scoring efficiency has been below average all season, his playmaking has been one of the year’s great surprises.

His passing from the post-up has been deadly because many defenses fear his isolation game. From the post, Brown can overpower his defender while looking over his shoulder to find the open man. Another great example below: a skip pass from the post-up that ends up being another triple for JB.

From an empty-side action again, Brown gave us the dunk of the night. Giving him the ball in rhythm with so much space is how the Celtics should scheme around him. It’s efficient, and easy on the eyes.

Yet, Brown wasn’t the only highlight in Phoenix, as the Celtics moved the ball beautifully all night.

#2 – Celtics ball movement

Led by Jaylen Brown, the Celtics shared the rock masterfully last night. With 33 assists, they took advantage of the Suns’ lack of defensive mobility and proved once again that the ball moves faster than bodies.

The assist numbers are pretty impressive: two players had five assists, two had four, two had three, and Derrick White finished with seven. Still, the assist of the night goes to Baylor Scheierman with his Rajon Rondo imitation.

#3 – Kristaps Porzingis drives

Later today, I’ll publish a longer story on Porzingis’ recent offensive changes. What stood out last night was his willingness to drive and not just settle for three-pointers. Overall, he took only one-third of his shots from beyond the arc and was able to generate eight free throws.

Here, for example, instead of shooting a catch-and-shoot or posting up for a mismatch, Porzingis fakes the pass and drives to the rim, using his long stride to get into the paint before pulling up for a beautiful floater after slowing down to rise over Nick Richards.

Teams are so frightened by his shooting that Porzingis developing a tendency to fake could open new routes for the Celtics’ offense. Here again, he fakes — and it completely breaks the defensive shell. Kevin Durant falls behind the play, and Oso Ighodaro is caught off guard and too late to help.

The Celtics like to run pick-and-pop with Porzingis, which is already hard to stop. If he starts to drive from those situations too, things are going to get even more complicated for their opponents.

More on Porzingis’ new offensive role later today on CelticsBlog.

#4 – Slowing down Devin Booker

Despite a disappointing season for the Suns, Devin Booker’s individual numbers remain among the best in the league. Alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jalen Brunson, LeBron James, Nikola Jokic, Damian Lillard, and Zion Williamson, he’s one of the few players in the league with both usage and assist rates above 30%, on over 59% true shooting efficiency.

So when the Celtics held him to 14 points on 45% true shooting, it said a lot about their ability to slow down the Suns’ offensive star. But how did they do it?

Well, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White did a tremendous job. The All-Star had to deal with constant pressure from the All-Defensive backcourt duo, and there was no escape. Booker still delivered 10 assists, but his scoring was taken away — and the Suns’ offense struggled because of it.

#5 – Al Horford’s March madness

Maybe March is when Al Horford rises and becomes the best version of himself? Back in college, he won back-to-back NCAA titles with the Florida Gators, dominating March two years in a row. Once again, this season, March seems to give him some extra juice.

Here are Al Horford’s points per game by month:

October: 9.2
November: 9.7
December: 7.7
January: 6.0
February: 7.6
March: 12.3

Alongside those 12 points per game, he’s averaging nearly four assists, one block, and one steal. Overall dominance from the veteran since late February.

But this isn’t a coincidence. Over the past month, Horford’s offensive and defensive roles have shifted. Instead of sticking to the drop coverage we saw early in the season, he’s been switching much more. Offensively, he’s getting more touches in the paint.

After a long season, Al Horford looks ready for the Playoffs.

#6 – Luke Kornet to the rescue

Will he ever stop being amazing? I hope not. Last night, on a spread pick-and-roll action for Phoenix, Kornet rotated from the weak side corner to block the shot with two hands — without fouling.

Amazing.

Later in the game, it was the opposite: he sprinted from the paint to the weak side corner to block Cody Martin’s three.

Is there anything he can’t do defensively?

#7 – Yeah, three is better than two

Speaking of threes, the Celtics won the numbers game. They allowed Phoenix to operate in the mid-range — and the Suns were super efficient from there. Shooting 60% on long mid-ranges, they had one of the best performances of the season in that zone. But 60% from two equals 1.2 points per shot.

Meanwhile, the Celtics made 43.5% of their threes, good for 1.3 points per shot. And they generated 46 three-point attempts before garbage time, compared to just 10 long mid-range shots for the Suns.

The Celtics knew exactly who to leave open — and where.

#8 – Leaving the Suns open

Indeed, while the Celtics allowed Kevin Durant to take his contested twos without doubling him, they gave the rest of the Suns a free pass to shoot from deep. Ryan Dunn, Cody Martin, and Royce O’Neale were treated as non-shooting threats, giving the Celtics defensive flexibility.

With one or two non-shooters always on the floor, Boston was able to crowd the paint and force Phoenix into the shots they didn’t want. That defensive strategy led to a 49.3% eFG for the Suns — while the Celtics posted a 66.2% eFG.

#9 – Spain pick-and-roll against the Suns

It’s a fun detail, but the Phoenix Suns were the team that popularized the Spain pick-and-roll in the early 2020s with Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and Deandre Ayton. So, it was ironic to see the Celtics run the same play last night. One example stood out: Jaylen Brown was the second screener — something rare.

His strong screen forced help from the weak side, opening up Derrick White for a three. It made me wonder how much more offensive juice the Celtics could unlock from Brown by using him off the ball more often — especially as a screener.

#10 – Finishing strong

As Nate pointed out, the Celtics went from 32–15 to 54–19, finishing the season strong and sharpening their tools for the Playoffs.