In games three and four of the Boston Celtics’ first-round playoff series vs Atlanta HawksThere was a major battle going on. For all the talk of Boston targeting Trae Young on the defensive side, it appears he’s also targeting someone when he’s on offense: Al Horford.
Over the last two games, the Hawks have been looking to get Horford into a junior on the perimeter, where a skilled guard can take advantage of the 36-year-old veteran’s legs, putting him in the difficult position of trying to stay ahead of his man.
Take this acquisition from the third game, for example. Covering men’s guard Jalen Johnson is guarded by Marcus Smart, and Young’s pick is guarded by Marcus Smart. A quick build-up screen forced Smart and Horford to switch, thus putting the veteran Boston man on Young, who runs the Jets and leaves Horford in his dust.
You can’t blame Horford, though. Young has exceptionally good body control and can change pace in the blink of an eye – he would be tough cover for anyone, let alone a big guy in the later years of his career. However, Joe Mazzola sought to counter Young’s fishing trip by pulling Horford out of action on the perimeter and executing drop coverage instead.
The downside to fall coverage is that it often creates shooting pockets around the free throw line, pockets Young, a guard who has shot 292/646 from middle range this season, is happy to exploit.
In Game 4, we saw a similar story between Young and Horford, as Mazzola played ways to limit the impact of targeting a versatile defensive center by forcing him to make multiple changes of direction in quick succession.
Below, we have another example of looking to switch Horford to Young, this time from Game 4, despite Jayson Tatum’s poor side turning pressing the shot and forcing a huge foul.
For the most part, whatever effect Mazzulla may have had, as on Sunday Young only got two shot attempts when directly guarded by Horford, converting one of them. However, the space created from playing such a deep touchdown was certainly open for action as the Hawks looked to capitalize.
Take that possession, for example, when the Falcons go hunting for the Horford/Young mismatch early in the first quarter. With Horford in a deep dive, Marcus Smart fights off Clint Capella on screen and essentially directs Young towards Horford, who is waiting around the edge. Derek White guards Dejounte Murray on the powerful flank side, limiting Young’s ability to escape dribbling away from Smart, who blocks midfield.
The result is Young’s save, followed by Murray’s ejection. Well, possession still produced three points, but it wasn’t because of attacking Horford, and given the way Quin Snyder went into that game so early on, successfully limiting their impact was an encouraging result.
Throughout the regular season, we’ve seen the Celtics experiment with playing a “switch 1-4 with 5-on-the-drop” with encouraging results. So, seeing Mazzulla lean into this defensive system when Horford’s presence on the perimeter can serve as the proverbial welcome mat in screening proceedings makes perfect sense. However, when both Robert Williams and Horford were on land, and neither was advancing on the perimeter, things got a little hazy.
With two bigs committed to the paint, there is little resistance on the perimeter, allowing Young to change gears, get an uncontested runner, and finish with two easy points. However, if memory serves, the big Horford/Williams double lineup is better served when Williams can roll over the weak side to beat shots rather than build a wall against a slight guard who doesn’t have the strength or brute strength to bully his way in.
Of course, we saw some other defensive differences when Young went looking for Horford, such as how Jaylen Brown turned to pick him up early in the fourth quarter, which resulted in Atlanta’s offensive plans being out of sync, even though Young managed to get to the line. .
Over the past two games, the Young and Horford cat-and-mouse subplot has been an interesting one to follow. As good as Horford is on defense, you can’t escape the fact that age isn’t on his side, and sometimes, when facing an elite guard on the perimeter, he’ll give up some ground as he changes direction and duels in the rear view.
However, when placed in a scheme trusted and protected by elite Celtics perimeter defenders and wingers, Horford remains one of the most reliable players in the conference, if not the league. The challenge is to continually evolve the way to protect it on the perimeter while ensuring it can be a valuable defender from falls – that’s where modifications come in.
As we head into Game 5 of the series, in a potential close game for the Celtics, in which Dejounte Murray will be absent due to suspension, it will be interesting to see how often Atlanta will show up to target Horford, especially now that the offense will surely run through Young. What’s more interesting, however, is that the Snyder identified Horford as a target for their mismatched chaser, considering him to be a pillar of everything good that’s been happening for the Celtics over the past two years.
However, playoffs are about adjustments, so let’s see what Snyder and Mazzola did on Tuesday night.