We haven’t seen it as much this season, but in a slowed down, drag out playoff-like atmosphere against the Bucks on Sunday afternoon, the Celtics flexed their mismatch-hunting muscle in Milwaukee.
As CelticsBlog’s Oliver Fox pointed out yesterday, what really makes Boston’s D so good is Jrue Holiday’s ability to guard anyone (and conversely, what makes Milwaukee’s job so difficult is hiding Damian Lillard on defense). That’ll be the crux if these two teams meet in the NBA Playoffs next spring.
Here’s the basic design of Boston’s approach to stopping Lillard and Antetokounmpo: Jaylen Brown on Dame, Jrue on Giannis, and Jayson Tatum on either Brook Lopez or Bobby Portis.