Celtics Top-5 Highest IQ Plays of the Week

We’re back! And Jayson Tatum might be…like…ALL the way 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 March 29th to April 4th are considered. The Celtics went 3-1 this week, with wins over the Hornets, Heat, and Bucks but a loss to the Hawks.

5. Simple pass fake

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Every basketball coach talks about pass fakes, but it’s rare to find a player who uses them as effectively as Baylor Scheierman. On this play, the lefty throws his entire body into the fake and doesn’t immediately get rid of the ball, which is the perfect read on this play. With LaMelo having to guard two players and Gonzalez being the other three-point shooting option, Scheierman makes the ideal play in real time. Sometimes the simplest plays are the most effective.

4. Tatum’s improved(?) vision

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Tatum has very quickly reintegrated himself into NBA basketball. But he might have somehow come back a better passer than he was before. I absolutely love his vision on this play—seeing both defenders converging on him and Kon lurking in the passing lane—and throwing a perfect lead pass to Queta for the dunk. Perhaps it’s because he had time off to watch his teammates and see the game in a different way, or perhaps the Celtics just have a better offense than they did last year, but Tatum looks like he’s leveled up as a passer.

3. The Celtics offense in a nutshell

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Wondering about that aforementioned improved Celtics offense? This is it in a nutshell. More flare screens, Spain pick-and-roll, passing and off-ball movement, and all of it happening earlier in the shot clock. Here, Hauser runs completely perpendicular to the ball-handler in an unconventional flare cut that results in a wide open shot on the wing thanks to Garza’s crushing screen and White’s heady passing. Plays like these have been a staple of Boston’s offense this season.

2. Wide receiver P

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Payton Pritchard does his best Ja-Marr Chase impression on this play, getting rid of the ball and then shifting Pelle Larson into his own basket before peeling away and setting his feet for the jumper. I love that Payton cuts behind Larson, thus making it impossible for his fake cut to be seen or reacted to effectively. So smart.

1. Smart hustle