Tillman on defense is the new X-factor for the Celtics: “He seems to fit right in.”

Tillman on defense is the new X-factor for the Celtics: “He seems to fit right in.”

Boston — Thursday night, the Boston Celtics were on the verge of defeating the Dallas Mavericks when Xavier Tillman’s routine defensive rotations saved a basket.

Al Horford missed a three-pointer, and the Mavericks were down in the paint. Payton Pritchard was working hard to catch up to the play, but he was unable to back out in time to stop Kyrie Irving, his main opponent. Irving was pulled up by White during a transition, but the Mavericks guard still made his way to the paint. Tillman crashed off P.J. Washington in the corner to block Irving’s chance to score before he could set himself up.

It was still possible for the Celtics to be in danger. Luka Dončić was able to break through the Boston defense as the Mavericks swung the ball around the perimeter. Even though Tillman moved in the way to stop Dončić from getting easy baskets, Dončić was still able to dish one to Irving, who was in a wonderful position near the rim. Irving hurried up hoping to score with Pritchard on his back. Tillman’s ability to slip his feet was the source of his frustration. The big man for the Celtics quickly moved to the other side of the hoop to block Irving’s jumper after assisting against Dončić on one side of the rim.

Tillman prevented the two stars for the Mavericks from reaching the rim three times in seven seconds. Following.

He hurried to tap out the rebound to Jaylen Brown even after blocking Irving, which allowed the Celtics to score in transition in a different manner. Tillman also made a significant contribution to that portion of the play, dribbling to the hoop to steal a ball from Horford and then dishing it out to Pritchard for a corner 3-pointer. The Celtics didn’t really need the bucket because they were leading by 18 points at the beginning of the quarter. Nevertheless, it provided a solid illustration of how Tillman, the team’s trade deadline acquisition, could be useful in the remaining games of the campaign.

Brown remarked, “X looked good out there, man.” “He seems to fit right in.”

Even though Tillman hasn’t played much for the Celtics since they acquired him on February 8 Despite missing the All-Star break due in part to a knee injury, he has shown signs of his potential influence in the last two games—both blowout victories—playing 33 total minutes.

With a dominating defensive rating, the squad has outscored its opponents 87-61 in his 36 total minutes since joining Boston. The Celtics have won their last 11 games by an average of 22.1 points per game, so even if it is a small sample size and he has undoubtedly profited from the timing of his entry into the rotation, the club has prospered with Tillman on the court thus far, particularly on defense, which is his area of expertise. His usefulness in that regard has been evident from the start.

Following the victory over Dallas, Brown remarked, “He immediately went in and made contributions on defense, got a few rebounds, and got some stops.” “Offense, it was obvious he had a terrific sense of the game. a proficient screen saver. Because of his large hands, I was able to locate him on the baseline several times, hitting him with seam passes while keeping an eye on the opposition and their defending schemes.

Tillman shown his mettle by consistently switching onto Irving and Dončić during Dallas’ game, effectively countering the formidable playmakers. The Celtics employed Tillman next to Horford in the frontcourt; coach Joe Mazzulla should be able to get new ideas off the bench with that lineup, which will keep the squad physical and versatile. Mazzulla defeated Tillman, a huge, powerful superstar, in his first rotation minutes with his new squad, Dončić. Until he saw the lineup the Mavericks had chosen to begin the second quarter of that game, the coach stated he didn’t necessarily expect to utilize Tillman. Dončić was present on the floor.

Mazzulla added, “And (Tillman is) a guy that can help our switchability and still have size.” “so that’s one of the things that I’m grateful for with this team, is they keep an open mind and they have an understanding that we do what’s best for the team and what impacts winning, and so we felt like that was the right thing to go to (against Dallas) to continue to switch them, and it’s a credit to him and a credit to the rest of the guys for understanding that’s what’s most important.”

Tillman said he had no advance notice he would make his rotation debut that night. Since joining the Celtics, he has acclimated himself by working with assistant coach D.J. MacLeay and soaking up information from the team’s veteran players. Tillman said it helped to have as much time as he has gotten to learn the ways of his new team before stepping on the court for real minutes.

Kornet has played well for Boston this season. The way Mazzulla distributes playing time now that the frontcourt is a little more congested will be interesting to watch. The Celtics should have plenty of opportunity to try out multiple lines in the remaining 22 regular-season games, as they enter Monday with an 8 1/2-game lead over the Eastern Conference. By simulating the remainder of the season 10,000 times, Basketball-Reference’s playoff probability report gives Boston a 100 percent chance of earning the top seed as of Monday night. Lately, the Celtics have been dominant with or without Tillman.

When they picked him up, they are 3-0. Naturally, his contribution to that recent accomplishment has been minimal. Nevertheless, he is an additional vital defender to add to a bench that has helped the team win the entire campaign.

Mazzulla stated, “I believe the story isn’t about Xavier.” It concerns our role players and bench players and the excellent work, professionalism, and readiness they exhibit. Furthermore, our team’s strength lies in how well we complement one another and the variety of paths we might take while playing a game. He had no idea he was going in (during the Mavericks game), as Tillman stated.