On defense, Celtics are planning to team up

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On defense, Celtics are planning to team up


By Shira Springer, Globe Staff, 5/4/2003

ALTHAM - This just in: The Celtics will stop the Nets with team defense. No
one player will be responsible for containing Jason Kidd, restraining Kenyon
Martin, or holding down Richard Jefferson. The Celtics will sprint back, load
up, and lend support. Anything else would be basketball blasphemy on a Boston
team full of defense-first adherents.



The party line in answer to questions about Kidd, Martin, and Jefferson was
recited with little variation after practice yesterday. The Celtics have gone
beyond ''being on the same page'' defensively. They sound as if they are
speaking with one voice.

Tony Delk, how will you handle Kidd?

''Well, it will take a team effort.''

Antoine Walker, how will you deal with Martin?

''Well, I'm not worried about Martin. We just need to play good team
defense.''

Walter McCarty, what about your matchup with Jefferson?

''We all know it will take team defense to handle the Nets.''

The Celtics have been practicing those lines - or ones similar - throughout
the regular season. But against the Pacers in the first round of the playoffs,
they finally played the type of defense that backed up their beliefs. Boston
held Indiana to 38.8 percent from the floor. Following the Celtics' victory in
Game 6, veteran Grant Long said Boston was the best defensive team he had
played for in his 15 years in the NBA. Eric Williams said the defense was
finally coming together the way they expected, that all the hard practices had
produced results. He called Game 6 ''the best defensive game'' Boston played
all year.

''It's good that we're getting to this point in our head where we can play the
best defense,'' said Williams. ''This is the time, right now. Everybody knows
all the defensive schemes and concepts. Everyone's listening and everyone's
talking out there. And it's fun. When a guy needs help, he's screaming out
help and the other guys are picking up on it real fast.''

Help and quickness will be keys in defending the Nets. Did someone mention the
importance of transition defense? Only about 12 players in green and white
practice jerseys and their coach. Only about 20 times. But with everything
else defense-related, neither Jim O'Brien nor his players tire of repeating
the tenets of Celtics defense.

''Again, we don't view our defense as individual matchups,'' said O'Brien.
''What we will tell our players is to make sure when the New Jersey Nets gain
possession that you get five guys sprinting to the paint, maybe 41/2. You've
got to worry about either [Kerry] Kittles or Luscious Harris from the three.

''But everybody else has to really concentrate on sprinting to load up to Kidd
on the break. At the same time, you're sprinting so Jefferson and Martin don't
run the lanes and get behind you for alley-oop passes or passes directly at
the rim. We want to concentrate on always having as many fast runners as we
can on the team to sprint back and be there in transition.''

The Celtics will still match Walker up against Martin, McCarty against
Jefferson, and Delk and J.R. Bremer against Kidd. There will be help, but each
defender assigned to one of the ''Big Three'' knows he has a difficult task
ahead. The Nets shot 46.2 percent in their first-round triumph over the Bucks
and averaged 102.2 points game, of which Martin (22.3 points per game), Kidd
(18.8), and Jefferson (15.2) accounted for an average of 56.3.

The Celtics must keep Martin from establishing deep post position and make the
Nets' power forward beat them from outside. McCarty must also make Jefferson
beat the Celtics from outside. In the regular-season series against Boston,
Martin averaged 16.3 points per game and 7 rebounds. Jefferson averaged a
team-high 19 points as well as 7 rebounds in those games. Martin and Jefferson
bring athleticism, quickness, and leaping ability to the floor, making them
dangerous scorers and rebounders.

When contesting rebounds against Martin and Jefferson, O'Brien advised, ''You
have to get a body on them because if you let them have an athletic step
they're going to jump over you and have their elbows on the rim.''

In the regular season, the Martin-Walker matchup was particularly physical. In
the last meeting, the two also went at each other verbally. But Walker claims
he is not particularly concerned about defending Martin.

''I ain't really worried about Kenyon to tell you the truth,'' said Walker.
''You're more worry about it than I am. He don't turn my head like that. I'm
not worried about him. They've got 10 guys that can play basketball. He's just
one of many players. I'm not necessarily worried about stopping him. We've got
to stop all of them.''

McCarty was more comfortable addressing the task of guarding Jefferson, though
he would not divulge any strategy secrets. Then again, McCarty has always been
a player who prides himself on consistency of effort, using his high-energy
and high-intensity style to frustrate opponents.

''I've just got to work hard and try to make it hard for him. There's no
player in the league that can be stopped. You just have to make it tough for
them whether it's not letting him get the ball that much or making him shoot
the ball in places where he's uncomfortable.''

Kidd can hurt an opponent inside, outside and on the glass. In addition to
being the Nets' second-highest scorer in their series against the Bucks, Kidd
averaged 9.2 assists and 6.8 rebounds. Because of Kidd's effectiveness on the
glass, the Celtics' coaching staff has cautioned point guards Delk and Bremer
that they must block out Kidd. Add that to the challenges of keeping Kidd
under control on the break and preventing him (with help) from getting to the
paint.

''[Having played with Kidd in Phoenix] gives me somewhat of an edge,'' said
Delk. ''But I still know he's a great player and he's going to make passes,
he's going to get rebounds, and he's going to score points. But it's a team
effort in order to contain him and stop him from getting the ball to open
people. I play him the way I normally play him. I still defend him the way I
would defend anyone else.''

That statement brings the conversation back to team defense. The Nets will put
the Celtics' defensive principles to the test. Long believes Boston has the
personnel and defensive perspective to succeed in the second round.

''I would say to a man this is the best defensive team that I've played on
where everybody feels like that is the way you're going to win, by playing
defense,'' said Long. ''You don't have to sell that on the guys. These guys in
the locker room know that defense is going to win. It's not a hard sell to get
them to believe that. That's the encouraging thing.''

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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