On Wednesday, March 12, I explored how the two-man combination of Al Horford and Jayson Tatum was functioning within the Boston Celtics offense.
Today, I’m focusing on another key pairing: Derrick White and Jayson Tatum, specifically examining how White is getting Tatum good looks at the rim.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be analyzing other specific aspects of two-man actions within Boston’s rotation, as well as examining other key partnerships within the team’s offense. Some of these pieces will be available to everyone, while most will be exclusive to paid subscribers of my Substack, The Celtics Chronicle, and a few will be posted exclusively on CelticsBlog. So, keep an eye on both platforms. and if you’re not already subscribed to the newsletter, now’s a great time to join in!
Whenever we’re looking at assist combo data, I like to use PBPStats.com. So, all data will be courtesy of that wonderful site.
Let’s start with the basics. Here is how many assists White has dished out to Tatum, and where they come from on the floor.
Total assists: 66
2-Point assists: 37
23 assists at the rim
10 assists from short mid-range (floater area)
4 assists from long mid-range (free throw line extended to the three-point line)
3-Point assists: 28
6 assists for corner threes
23 assists for non-corner threes
While White has found Tatum for 28 threes, today’s study is focused on getting the All-NBA forward buckets at the rim. There are three ways this is happening, let’s look at each of them individually.
Weakside Slot Drives AKA Stampede Cuts
The first thing I noticed when watching game tape was that most of White’s assists for Tatum (that ended at the rim) came via second-side actions. That is when the ball is swung from one side of the floor to the other.
Tatum has made mincemeat out of defending bigs that step into space to try and guard his live dribble this season. You can see an example of this in the clip above, with Brook Lopez caught on an island as he scurries out of a drop defense to meet Tatum near the perimeter.
Whenever you can get Tatum driving off the catch and taking advantage of space behind the defending big man, things are going to work out quite well. Tatum is either going to get a quality look at the rim, or he will force the help defense to rotate over, creating a kick-out opportunity.
The great thing about these slot cut assists, is that they’re easy to come by. Check out the above clip. Notice how White’s assistance comes as part of a transition possession. A simple pass to a trailing Tatum allows him to punish the Golden State Warriors defense.
In fairness, Golden State is pre-occupied with some strong side window dressing, as Jrue Holiday has set a pindown for Payton Pritchard. The Warriors are looking to top-lock that action, ensuring there’s no help out of the strongside corner.
Tatum’s drive happens so fast, that the weakside low man doesn’t have time to recognize the play and provide any rim protection.
This play isn’t necessarily a slot drive, but it does fit into the remit of stampede cut, which is essentially a ‘catch-and-drive’ action. Once again, White times his pass to get Tatum the rock just before he turns the jets on — this time while turning the corner. Note how Lopez has been pulled high on the play, forcing him to guard Tatum in space. Again, Tatum attacking bigs off the dribble has been a constant theme this season.
Via off-ball cutting
An often under-utilized aspect of Tatum’s game is his ability to create space for himself or others with his off-ball movement. White has solid processing speed and can vary the weight and speed of his passes, making him the ideal quarterback to hit Tatum as he runs his routes.
Take the above play for example. The Celtics run a ‘chin slice (a non-ball-side cut via a rip screen on the wing) action to get Tatum into the paint via a shuffle cut. White, who is on the second side (the ball changed sides at the start of the play) is patiently waiting for Tatum to get some separation from his defender and generate a passing angle.
Almost as soon as Tatum finds some daylight, White fires a perfect pass, both in weight and speed, to get the Celtics superstar an easy bucket right at the rim. White’s pass had to evade three defenders en route to landing in Tatum’s hands. He also didn’t allow his on-ball defender to take away his vision or deter the pass from being made. The connection between these two guys is almost telepathic.
We can see a similar action in the above clip. This time, Tatum is coming off a ‘flex screen.’ Tatum quickly gets himself into the paint, catching Washington’s defense off guard. Once again, White has remained patient with the ball in his hands, sticking to his triple-threat position, timing Tatum’s cut before firing off another pass to catch him wide-open at the rim.
Ok, both of these clips have come against a Wizards team that isn’t known for its defensive prowess. So let’s look at a play from a different game.
Similar action, similar cut, similar pass, same result. Sometimes, it’s as simple as putting your best player in an off-ball position and allowing them to force their way to their spot. As long as your passes is as talented as White — which is a TALL task — then you can trust the ball will land on target, on time, most of the time.
Once you get Tatum the rock in the paint, be it on the cut, the rip, or via a post-up, it’s pretty much curtains for the defense. White will know this. That’s why he appears to be so content with firing off passes to any spot on the floor that Tatum wants.
The PnR
An aspect of Boston’s pick-and-roll play that has intrigued me this season has been the high pocket pass. Both of the above clips are good examples of this. Tatum is operating as the screen, with White orchestrating the PnR. Almost as soon as Tatum comes off the screen the pass is already hitting the pocket, creating a downhill action immediately on the roll.
Tatum isn’t the only one to benefit from Boston running these early pocket PnRs, but they do account for a fair share of White’s assists to Tatum that end up at the rim. I would assume we see this two-man action continue to scale as we get closer to the postseason.
Another reason why I like these high-pocket actions is because it places two decision-makers at the center of the action. If the defense shows or hedges, White is capable of cooking on his own. If they sink, sag or switch, both White and Tatum can make reads, create for others or handle the scoring load. The fact that anyone in the top-8 rotation can slot into this PnR system is a testament to the versatility within the roster.
These three different approaches are also resulting in mid-range shots.
You can’t always guarantee a player is going to get all the way to the rim. It doesn’t matter whether they’re cutting, posting up, coming off a PnR, or cooking bigs in space — defenses adjust. Fortunately, Tatum is capable of countering a defense, and White is a good enough passer to read when to fire the ball and when to hold.
Here, we have a similar high-pocket PnR. The only difference is that the pass comes over the top rather than off the bounce. The Brooklyn Nets do a good job of defending this action, taking away the rim, keeping a body on Tatum and having someone in the restricted area. As such, Tatum hits a tough fallaway jumper, kissing it high off the glass.
White still gets credited with the assist, but it’s not classed as a rim finish, even though the setup and execution were highly similar. I like this clip, as it’s a great example that White and Tatum have their go-to actions, and when required, a little pivot can counter the defense and still get the job done.
Before we wrap up, I want to point out how another counter to how defenses play that Tatum/White combo is to use Tatum’s gravity to clear space for the impressive guard.
This clip below provides all the explanations needed.
As we’ve seen, the White/Tatum connection at the rim is a significant weapon in Boston’s offensive arsenal. White consistently finds ways to set up Tatum for high-percentage looks through weakside drives, well-timed cuts, and efficient high-pocket PnR actions. Their chemistry is just one strand of what makes the Celtics offense so versatile and difficult to defend.
With the way Joe Mazzulla has the Celtics playing, it’s often easy to overlook the different connective tissues on the court. We all know about Cookies and Cream. And Tatum + Horford is a duo that has now seen three head coaches come and go. However, there are more branches to this tree. White deserves all the credit he gets for his individual production and how he excels as the connective tissue on the floor, yet his two-man game with Tatum often flies under the radar.
I’m interested to see what other hidden duos we can uncover in the coming weeks and months.
