We’re back! Welcome to the Celtics’ Top-5 Highest IQ Plays of the Week!
Sure, we love the high-flying dunks and the deep, off-the-dribble step-back threes, but this is a place for the under-the-radar plays that might not get the credit they deserve. The plays that get the basketball sickos and nerds out of their chairs. The plays that even YOU could make in your weekly rec league game.
Each week, the plays will be ranked from five to one—one being the smartest—and will only be taken from games that occurred within the past week. For this week, games from February 6th to February 13th are considered. The Celtics went 2-1 this week, with wins over the Heat and Bulls but a tough loss to the Knicks. Onto the All-Star break!
5. Getting the All-Star break started a bit early
Pritchard is all about efficiency, even when it comes to saving a few seconds. Let’s be honest—he’s just trying to get him and his teammates to the All-Star break as quickly as possible. Here, he’s being a good sport and not taking a shot to extend the lead, so he just gives the ball to Sexton instead of getting a shot-clock violation, which would require the ref stopping the game and initiating an inbound for Chicago. PP’s going to be given a turnover anyway, so he might as well just give the ball to the opponent rather than dribble out the clock. And who knows, perhaps those extra 10 seconds of sleep will allow Payton and the rest of the squad to be extra rested post-break.
Basketball is like dominoes. Once you get the defense to commit two defenders to one offensive player, that advantage needs to be KEPT by way of quick decisions that don’t allow the defense to get back into the play. The first advantage should lead to a second advantage, which should lead to a third, and so on. Here, Walsh notices that two defenders lunge at Vucevic, so he immediately cuts to the rim, creating an advantage. When he gets the ball, he swings it quickly to Gonzalez, who swings it quickly to White, who swings it quickly back to Vuc. Everybody already knows what they’re going to do with the ball before it comes to them, because they’re watching the defense rotate while they’re spotting up. Beautiful, decisive basketball.
3. Know your personnel (welcome to the highest IQ plays, Nikola!)
The best basketball players hide their weaknesses and showcase their strengths, and they also bring out their opponents’ weaknesses’ and eliminate their strengths (you have to study them to know what they are, by the way). Vucevic demonstrates on this play that he knows both his weakness (a lack of vertical pop) and KAT’s weakness (uncoordinated, flailing limbs). So, instead of meeting him in the air, Nikola stays grounded and takes the contact from a bulldozing Towns. Way to know yourself, and your opponent, Vuc.
2. Being in two places at once
The situation that Gonzalez finds himself in here is one of the most common defensive predicaments in the NBA. After briefly collapsing into the paint for help, Hugo is forced to guard two players on the perimeter at once, until a teammate (usually, although not in this case) flies out to eliminate the advantage. In real time, Gonzalez stunts at Pelle Larson while positioning his body in a good place to also guard the extra pass to Davion Mitchell, the better three-point shooter. But because his stunt is so aggressive, he throws off Larson’s timing and ends up forcing him into a turnover. Oh, and then he makes an awesome pass to Brown in transition. What a two-way play by the rookie.
Could anything be more Derrick White than a no-look steal? It’s so ridiculous that he even has the wherewithal to throw his arms up at all, let alone the IQ and instincts necessary to raise them at the exact time the outlet pass is coming. White crashes hard for the rebound—like he always does—and then he doesn’t even look at Larson before perfectly timing up his hands for the steal. Special stuff from Derrick, but I have to admit I’m not remotely surprised he would make a play like this.
