The 2024 NBA Champions, Boston Celtics finished first seed of the Eastern Conference. However, their dominant run didn’t end there. The Celtics qualified automatically for the best-of-seven series to win the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Indiana Pacers to get to the NBA finals.
At the 2024 NBA finals, the Celtics played against the Dallas Mavericks to win 4-for-1 and clinched their 18th banner to become the franchise with the most Larry O’Brien trophy. How could their outstanding performance influence the league’s future?
The Boston Celtics Playbook
Joe Muzzulla takes full credit for the kind of playbook he orchestrated for the Celtics team. From observation, this playbook depicts a different type of thinking that other NBA teams could consider in the future.
This type of thinking is system thinking. System thinking is the sense that each player, despite your basketball skill, has a role to perform that would keep the system synchronized.
The NBA teams the Celtics played against had this linear thinking system which is star dependent. Therefore, their system thinking playbook outshined NBA teams with linear thinking.
For example, the Dallas Duo couldn’t stand a chance against the Boston Celtics team. Though the Celtics’ main stars are Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, Joe Mazzulla’s playbook made it possible for any player to perform well.
How The System Playbook Applies To The Celtics
In Game One, Krisraps Porzingis was the star due to his performance from the bench. Still, in Game One, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were on top of their game playing good defense to support the team’s overall performance. Luka Doncic got a double-double with 30 points but that wasn’t enough to clinch the win.
In Game Two, Jrue Holiday bagged a double-double while the team played a supportive role. Jayson Tatum wasn’t at his best because he performed a playmaker role by dishing 12 assists to his teammates to make the bucket.
Finally, in Game Three, Jayson Tatum elevated his performance level to score 30+ points as expected. Also, in game three, the Celtics missed Kristaps Porzingis due to injury; yet, the team system playbook was fluid which gave them a 7-point lead over the Dallas Mavericks
In conclusion, the system playbook could be what Joe Mazzulla used to progress through the 2023-24 NBA season. Also, this system playbook beats the linear playbook which depends on Super Duos and Big-Three Teams.
The 2024 NBA Champions Player Combination
This system was possible because of the player combination the franchise acquired throughout their years of not qualifying for the NBA finals. Therefore they didn’t focus on having an outstanding Duo All-Star Team or an unstoppable Big-Three Team.
The Celtics Team combines most two-way players. Two-way players are basketballers that can play good defense and offense. For example, a Center that can shoot threes – Kristaps Porzingis, or a Guard that could play good defense – Jrue Holiday.
Other players in the Celtics team played crucial supporting roles to improve the team’s offense. For example, in game one of the NBA finals, six Celtics players on the court scored double-digit points. This performance helped balance the game to clinch their win.
Aside from their two-way players’ combination, their team averaged a career field goal of 47%. This is the same with Luka Doncic’s career field goal percentage. However, a one-man team effort can not beat a synchronized team effort. These are the career FG% of the Celtics’ main players:
- Jayson Tatum – 46%
- Jaylen Brown – 48%
- Jrue Holiday – 46%
- Al Horford – 51.3%
- Derrick White – 45%
- Kristaps Porzingis – 45.9%
Final Thoughts
The Celtics team playing style and player combination gives a different view on how NBA teams could approach their offseason plan. Therefore, instead of focusing on building for a Duo or Big-Three team, other factors to consider could be how effective the basketballer performs on both sides of the court and how their career field percentage could allow team fluidity and flexibility.
About the Author
Wisdom is an email and brand copywriter with two years of content writing experience. He started Cloud Kitchen Concept to help startups and business owners elevate their brands from good to great. You can connect with him on LinkedIn and Instagram to enjoy cooked meals for your business’s growth.
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