Around the Arc: Opening Week Thoughts, Attacking Towns, Edwards, Shai & Chet
Welcome to Around the Arc!
Around the Arc is a semi-regular thoughts and discussion about anything that is going around the league. It’s everything that I found interesting that I want to talk about. It will be diving into particular games, breaking down key performances or takeaways from games, and it will be looking further into what’s going on by providing that extra context, film, stats, and analysis.
There will be a mix of two sections depending on what’s more important: Around the Arc and Main Ideas, in the first section focuses on everything that happened in games. It can be some reactions, takeaways, and thoughts from individual games. It can also be focusing on some Xs & Os and breaking down some film. Anything that stands out to me throughout the week from games will be here, no matter how small. The next section is the main ideas that focus more on the big picture. It’s adding some additional context to the games, having a further discussion on the team, players, and awards, or it’s digging deeper into particular topics where I break things down more in-depth.
It’s only been a few days of basketball and it’s already been great. The season started off with a bang on opening night with the Boston Celtics almost setting an NBA record for most 3s. That not-so-surprisingly led to the narrative that the Celtics are also ruining basketball with all of the 3s that they’re taking.
We got to see some great player debuts for their team, and some were rather disappointing. Young stars already have elite games. There is already plenty to talk about.
Around the Arc
Game thoughts(NYK vs BOS, MIN vs LAL, MIL vs PHI, ORL vs MIA, SAS vs DAL, OKC vs DEN)
How the Celtics attacked Karl Anthony Towns
Anthony Edwards’ decision-making and how the Lakers defended him
Julius Randle’s defense(or lack thereof)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander slicing through everyone
Chet Holmgren’s HIM performance vs the Nuggets
Game Thoughts
To start things off, here are some quick thoughts from the top games.
The Knicks-Celtics game was one of the better ones despite it being a blowout. The Celtics came out strong and it was looking a lot like they were all season long last year. It’s like they didn’t miss a single beat. They clocked in, did their job, and that was it. It’s only game one, but that felt like a statement.
Whereas the Knicks showed that there is a lot of work needed to iron out on both ends of the floor. There is going to be a question of how do we deal with Towns-Brunson getting attacked constantly.
I liked what I saw from the Lakers a lot. They couldn’t hit anything from 3pt and it still didn’t feel like it was a game. A couple of things have caught my eye with Anthony Davis being used in the corner right away that ended up with a Rui Hachimura 3pt and a dunk. Dalton Knecht had a solid rookie debut with his off-ball play. But a lot came with their defense. They felt big at times in the paint.
The Wolves, on the other hand, felt disappointing. The offense was a lot worse than last year. A lot of that was on the Lakers, but they weren’t helping themselves with some of their decision-making.
The 76ers were without both Joel Embiid and Paul George, so there’s only so much that you can take away from. That in itself isn’t a great start to the season.
The Bucks, though, looked good but some of the concerns that I had for them showed up like a red flag again, as soon as Brook Lopez went to the bench. When Lopez was on, his impact as a rim protector was felt and it was loud. The issue was without him, there wasn’t anyone else who cleaned everything up the way he did.
If Lillard bounces back as a 3-point shooter off the dribble, then that’s going to be scary. There isn’t anything else that you can do at that point if he’s a high 30s guy — he had a down year shooting 32% off the catch and 36% off the dribble.
Giannis was already Giannis. So many possessions, where there was nothing a defense could’ve done. They’ll likely be one of the best offenses again. One little Xs & Os tidbit that stood out was Giannis being used a lot on the elbow with the sides cleared.
The Magic might be more legit than I thought. It’s one game I know. The Magic also faced a team that they could’ve hunted, so the offense was much better than it may have been. But with how Paolo Banchero approached all of that, it wouldn’t surprise me if their offense jumps to around average.
I enjoyed watching Chris Paul’s debut. His presence was felt. Some of the reads that was making that I don’t think there are many players that are capable of doing. He made some of the passes look so easy.
Luka also showed up. It was a close game until it wasn’t. And a lot of it was with the step-backs. It did feel as if he was settling for too much. That feeling was also the same with the rest of the team. They were going for many, many 3s and at times it was settling. BUT when those step-backs go in, man, it’s so demoralizing.
And my favorite game of the season was the Nuggets-Thunder. Seeing Jokic play again is always fun. The Thunder looked to double him every single time to start the game and have him pick things apart. But it was the Thunder that had me jump out of my chair in excitement. The way Shai was going through everyone and there was not a single thing the Nuggets could’ve done was fun.
Celtics Going at Towns
Probably the main takeaway from the Celtics game was the 100 3s that they put up, but that conversation should be directed at the defense. There is a reason why they were able to put up such a high number of 3s and it wasn’t because they all decided to chuck up 3s whenever.
I watch the Miami Heat put up many 3s at times and that is settling or shots that aren’t generated in the best ways. What the Celtics do is pressure the defense in the best way possible that generates them wide open, practice shots.
What makes the Celtics more dangerous is they have the perfect personnel to put up such a high volume of 3s. Pretty much every rotation player can shoot and dribble(at a serviceable level for what they need).
Now you also combine that with the defense they faced and how they could’ve exploited that. I don’t think this game showed anything other than a defense simply getting exploited. It was more about that than the Celtics offense chucking up 3s.
If you can generate a wide-open look for a player who is likely shooting around 40% on open looks, why would you even look to pass it off for a chance at a better shot? That would be a different story if the shooters weren’t elite.
The way they did that was to go at Towns a lot:
On the very first possession of the game, it was a simple Tatum-Horford PNR to go at Towns in a deep drop. Bridges didn’t react to the screen on time and it’s a wide-open pull-up. They did that again in the next clip. Or it could be targeting him off-ball where it’s a pindown from Horford for Brown but Towns was sagging off Horford for some reason.
But the best way they generated 3s was when Towns had to show. When either Brown or Tatum put two on the ball, it was wraps. That’s when the Celtics got practice shots. Look at the 1:15 mark where the White gets an open corner 3pt off-ball movement. Or the last clip, which was my favorite, where it’s a similar approach that resulted in Brown having an open 3 because of the ground players have to cover.
I wouldn’t say the Celtics were settling on those shots. It’s just that they forced the defense to give up. The team will always want to generate the best possible shot. Of course, you’d want to get open shots at the rim, but they will also be harder to constantly generate.
The Hart Problem
On the other end for the Celtics, their defense also stood out and it was how they were treating Hart:
They not only helped off of him, but it was also interesting to see both Horford and Kornet on him. They put Holiday on Towns and had their bigs help off Hart.
That meant helping with isolations and post-ups from Towns, making that less effective. It was having a bigger body roam around the paint being a deterrent or acting as the weak-side defender.
Holiday is also a good enough defender to not give up easy shots that would force you to overreact. You wouldn’t put him on someone like Towns if at every possession, it’s a layup or a foul. But he’s strong enough to kill time, force a further shot, or give them enough time to send a timely double and kill the possession.
Randle’s defense
Not the best debut for Randle. I’m not a fan of either team and when I watched some of the lapses Randle had me just wanting to scream at the screen.
It was not tagging rollers, offering any resistance when helping, missing boxouts(the Lakers killed them on the glass), losing cutters, and that one play where he got killed by a back cut.
Edwards’ Approach & How He Got Defended
The defense against Edwards from the Lakers stood out with how much they helped on a lot of his possessions early. As a result, his decision-making also came up.
First, we have Edwards working in the PNR:
It started with Davis showing and blitzing him. They played a more aggressive coverage against him. The results weren’t entirely great to start. It involved early pick up and just getting rid of the ball quickly which didn’t do much. But as the game went on, he began to look better.
Notice at the 40s mark where Davis is lunging at him and he splits the defense perfectly. He’s able to attack, get a paint touch(Hachimura is already waiting for him in the paint), and it’s a kick to Reid for 3.
In the following clip, instead of splitting the defense, he turns the corner on Davis. We have Hachimura again being very early in the paint, but this time he doesn’t hesitate and goes at him(could’ve had a lob to Gobert).
I also like the clip at 55s. Before, when he faced Davis lunging at him, he picked up the dribble early. Here, he kept it alive and attacked a recovering Reaves.
In the second half, they chose to play it more conservatively with Davis either in a drop or at times switching.
Moving onto these isolations:
In these examples, it’s more about the Lakers’ defense that stood out. Notice how much help he’s seeing early. Even if he beats someone 1v1 where there isn’t the initial help, there’s already someone in the paint. But more often than not, he was seeing the help even before he attacked anyone. The defense was showing a lot in every possible gap. There were no lanes available to him.
And towards the end, he was seeing a lot more blitzes, which kind of had me wondering why. What was the point in giving them the numbers advantage?
No One Can Stay In Front of Shai
Staying on the topic of players that can leave a defender in a blur, that was Shai for the entire Nuggets game. No matter who it was, they couldn’t keep up with him.
With Shai, though, it feels like even if there aren’t any driving lanes available, he will create it himself. He was seeing help in the gaps and early in the paint, but it just didn’t matter one bit. His ability to get to his spot regardless of the dribble is probably the best in the league.
That ability is the best way to pressure the defense. So much of the offense was easy because he made it easy.
Holmgren Starts the Season with a Bang
But as good as Shai was in that game, this was more about Holmgren. He had himself a game both as a finisher, self-creation, and passing.
I enjoyed how he’s been attacking off those closeouts and getting those drives. He had some of those drives off the dribble, showing he’s more than capable of creating for himself. He that drive vs Porter Jr going to the rim.
But I probably liked his passing and decision-making a lot more. He was used on the short roll a couple of times, but when he was also attacking closeouts, he made the right decision time and time again. There were some pretty good reads that resulted in open looks.
And that’s everything for the first week-ish of the NBA season. It’s only been three days but it’s already been so fun to watch every team.