Celtics execute clutch back-to-back blocks (arguably the coolest thing ever)

If you had a vote to decide how the Celtics clutched out a close game, what would you choose?

Would you want a Jayson Tatum buzzer beater? Perhaps a powerful Jaylen Brown drive leading to a foul and some clutch free throws?

Or maybe you’re the guy sitting next to me tonight who had Kristaps Porzingis under 18.5 points in a parlay and just wanted to make sure he didn’t score any more points. Taking the under on a guy heroically returning from injury when you’re GOING to the game is pretty lame, but whatever floats your boat, I guess.

If I had a vote, I’d want Celtics-Pacers V to end exactly like it did: with back-to-back blocks.

Say that out loud. “Back to back blocks” is a collection of words that sounds sick no matter how you say it, regardless of context. Imagine you are in a loud coffee shop, eavesdropping on that couple the next table over but can only catch a few words at a time. Imagine one of them says “blah, blah blah blah-blah BACK TO BACK BLOCKS blah blah, blah.” It doesn’t matter what the rest of the sentence was, you know that dude is awesome.

Before we get any more ahead of ourselves, here’s the first of our back-to-back blocks, executed by the ever-admirable Derrick White:

Regardless of if it’s back-to-back or not, blocking a three is another play that is objectively always cool. It’s actually a really rare play, with Matisse Thybulle perennially leading the league with about 20 per year. White is now tied for fourth this year with Tyrese Haliburton of all people.

It’s certainly a very impactful play, potentially saving three points and usually resulting in either a turnover or a very sketchy shot clock situation, which is what happened here. But if the play is so rare and hard to execute, why does Thybulle lead the category every year? And why are White and Haliburton—polar opposites in terms of defensive impact—tied for fourth most?

I’d argue that blocking jump shots is something you either get or you don’t. If it was easy, it would happen a lot more, and the very act of contesting a shot is a stressful situation. Nobody wants to be the guy that fouled a three-point shooter, as that will usually earn you the dumbest-guy-on-the-floor award for at least a few minutes.

It’s also just really hard to get a hand on the ball when almost all modern NBA players are specialists at getting shots up quick and through weak contests. As spacing and shooting has made their way all the way to youth basketball,…