3 lessons Boston Celtics can learn from Pacers to dethrone LeBron James
By Jason Timpf
3. Full-court ball pressure
Throughout the first round series with the Cavaliers, Pacers guards Victor Oladipo and Darren Collison picked up the Cavaliers point guards from the second the ball was inbounded. Especially in Game 1, the Pacers forced a lot of turnovers before the Cavaliers even managed to get into their offense.
Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue had to respond by letting LeBron James take over as the team’s de facto point guard. Nate McMillan — head coach of the Pacers — had no intention of actually stopping LeBron, but rather, of wearing him out.
He used Indiana’s reservoir of versatile, athletic wings — namely Lance Stephenson and Thaddeus Young — to pick up LeBron full-court in a similar manner to what Oladipo and Collison were doing.
As you can see here, LeBron had little trouble navigating that ball pressure, but plays like this prove to be exhausting over the course of a 48-minute game:
As the games wore on, LeBron showed a certain level of fatigue that allowed the Pacers to claw back into games that otherwise would have been 15-point Cavaliers wins.
The Boston Celtics also have versatile, athletic wings to throw at LeBron. The athleticism of Jaylen Brown, the length of Jayson Tatum, the girth of Semi Ojeleye, or the experience of Marcus Morris could all prove to be exhausting for LeBron to deal with.
The only caveat is that Indiana was fortunate to mostly avoid George Hill due to back spasms. Hill was the only Cavaliers guard to successfully handle Indiana’s pressure. He will be an occasional outlet for LeBron in this series.
All season long, these Celtics have shown a remarkable resiliency that has allowed them to overcome any type of deficit. If they can play the long game, wearing down LeBron over the course of his heavy work load, they have a great chance to win the series.