Should the Celtics put Tatum on Luka?

[31to6]

Defense-by-Committee is the way to go. I think that we have to go with Jaylen as the Primary, and Jrue as the Secondary.
After that, mix it up with Jayson, White and whoever else works.

How do people feel about Tillman on Luka, for spurts?

I’ve been a big Tillman booster, and he could be an interesting matchup against Luka in, like, an emergency, or just as part of a game-wide strategy of giving Luka as many different looks as possible, but I am not expecting Xavier to see the court in this series unless we are missing multiple rotation players.

Agreed..Luka doesn't out speed as much as out muscle..x man can't be out muscled.

You might be right, and I love his defense, but I don't feel like I've seen enough of Xavier to +1 this.
A good tool to have in the toolbox, at least.

[Darthlukey]

I’ve been a big Tillman booster, and he could be an interesting matchup against Luka in, like, an emergency, or just as part of a game-wide strategy of giving Luka as many different looks as possible, but I am not expecting Xavier to see the court in this series unless we are missing multiple rotation players.

Agreed..Luka doesn't out speed as much as out muscle..x man can't be out muscled.

You might be right, and I love his defense, but I don't feel like I've seen enough of Xavier to +1 this.
A good tool to have in the toolbox, at least.

Tillman defended Lebron in the Lakers Grizz series in last years playoffs. He didnt shut him down by any stretch, but he did keep him honest

[Kalela]

Who defends him does not matter in my opinion. Targeting him and forcing him to defend is the best play to make him less effective. Also when defending him, don't let him take threes or pass out to shooters in the corner. Force him to take 2s all game. With that said, the refs will have a lot to say about that working or not. If they refuse to call fouls on him, then there may not be be a point in targeting him.

[Fierce1]

Who defends him does not matter in my opinion. Targeting him and forcing him to defend is the best play to make him less effective. Also when defending him, don't let him take threes or pass out to shooters in the corner. Force him to take 2s all game. With that said, the refs will have a lot to say about that working or not. If they refuse to call fouls on him, then there may not be be a point in targeting him.

If Cs target him every time, he will just stop playing defense and make up for it by making logo 3s on the other end.

Is that sustainable?

We're going to find out soon.

[playa-hater]

Agreed..Luka doesn't out speed as much as out muscle..x man can't be out muscled.

You might be right, and I love his defense, but I don't feel like I've seen enough of Xavier to +1 this.
A good tool to have in the toolbox, at least.

Tillman defended Lebron in the Lakers Grizz series in last years playoffs. He didnt shut him down by any stretch, but he did keep him honest

Honestly I expect kp and Al to get 99 percent of the minutes..

[London2Boston]

I can see him taking the responsibility down the stretch in a close game, but not for large stretches.

[Fierce1]

If Cs not doubling Luka then JB should be the primary defender.

Against OKC, Dort was doing a good job defending Luka.

Luka will feast on lighter players, like McDaniels.

Girth over length when it comes to defending Luka.

[Higgs Boston]

holiday on irving, he is the best on the team defending
ballhandlers,
white on jones, mismatch in favor of dallas but jones is limited on offense.
brown on doncic, brown is the only wing that can defend him and spent a lot of energy on defense
tatum on washington, wing defending a wing.
porzingis on gafford

[sam_I_am]

If Cs not doubling Luka then JB should be the primary defender.

Against OKC, Dort was doing a good job defending Luka.

Luka will feast on lighter players, like McDaniels.

Girth over length when it comes to defending Luka.

I agree. JB’s strength as a defender is one on one. He is weaker as a help defender. Let Tatum, White and Jrue roam as help defenders and keep JB locked on Luka.

[Celts17Pride]

Honestly it's more important staying glued to the other guys then who is guarding Luka. Make Luka have to score 50 points every night.

[keevsnick1]

The answer to this question is all three of brown, Tatum and jrue will get turns on Tatum while the Celtics scheme to try and keep him off the Horford/KP and White.

I imagine Brown gets the first shot. You typically just don't want your primary offensive initiator guarding a guy who wears people down the way Luka does, and Tatum is more valuable as a help guy then he is on ball. But he'll probably get him for some possessions just to mix up the looks.