{"id":701920,"date":"2026-04-06T19:37:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701920\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T19:37:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T19:37:29","slug":"neemias-quetas-night-and-day-growth-screening-to-create-shots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701920\/","title":{"rendered":"Neemias Queta’s ‘Night and Day’ Growth Screening To Create Shots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting Out of Screens Quickly<\/a>Holding Screens<\/a>Slipping Screens<\/a><\/p>\n

Neemias Queta is on a roll.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

His production has been consistently good for the Boston Celtics<\/a> this season, averaging a solid 10.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game. But in his last four games, Queta is putting up some monster numbers: 17.5 points, 9 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.8 blocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNeemi\u2019s been great,\u201d Jaylen Brown<\/a> said after the Celtics beat the Toronto Raptors<\/a>. \u201cHe’s been just consistently getting better, protecting the rim, finishing, making those little shots, rebounding. He’s been great. In my opinion, he\u2019s probably one of the most improved players this year, and I don’t know if he’s up for the award, but he should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not to bust people\u2019s bubbles with Queta, because I also think he\u2019s the most improved<\/a> player, but bigger names like Jalen Duren who became an All-Star this year, and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who went from averaging 9.4 points to 20.6, are probably getting most of the votes. Still, Queta\u2019s growth from third or fourth string center to starter and essential to Boston\u2019s playoff hopes has been amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarly in the season it just felt like when you would have a conversation, it just wasn’t connecting,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt just seems like everything is connecting with him. He’s just got a good feel for the game, and he sees where he needs to be, and it’s been really great for our team this year. It’s been a privilege to watch the growth from the start of the season to where he’s at now. It’s like night and day almost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown hits on perhaps the most impressive element of Queta\u2019s ascent. Who he is now isn\u2019t just a far cry from who he was last year, it\u2019s better than who he was<\/a> in November. What he\u2019s become is an incredibly effective part of Boston\u2019s second-ranked offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Synergy Sports, Queta is seventh among high-volume pick-and-roll bigs (75 possessions as the roll man) at 1.34 points per possession. Incidentally, Luka Garza is fifth at 1.373. Queta does a lot of things that make him a 30-plus minute per game guy while Garza fights for minutes and gets DNP-CDs, but it does raise a question of how much the system and Joe Mazzulla\u2019s coaching also plays a role in Queta\u2019s development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As is usually the case in basketball, and sports in general, everything plays a role. The player improving, the coaching maximizing him, and teammates accentuating each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like on this play:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting Out of Screens Quickly<\/p>\n

One of Queta\u2019s great strengths has become understanding when to get in and out of screens. On this play, the Raptors are showing on screens, which means Jakob Poeltl is trying to get in Brown\u2019s way long enough for Scottie Barnes to recover. Poeltl is essentially showing Brown his jersey number, but then trying to retreat and still cover Queta. It\u2019s not a full blitz and it\u2019s not a full switch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So Queta busts out of the screen quickly, which puts a ton of pressure on the Raptors defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Neemias<\/p>\n

Broadcast screen capture<\/p>\n

Brown delivers the ball on target, and Queta is given an easy path to the rim because Sam Hauser<\/a> and Jayson Tatum<\/a> are holding their defenders in the corners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Neemias<\/p>\n

Broadcast screen capture<\/p>\n

If either of those defenders pinched in to help, Queta would spray the ball to the corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes Queta needs to hold the screen instead of bailing on it in a hurry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holding Screens<\/p>\n

In this instance, Poeltl is in drop coverage, so two things happen: First, the pick is set super high by the logo.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Neemias<\/p>\n

Broadcast screen capture<\/p>\n

This gives Tatum space to attack. Second, Queta holds the screen. It\u2019s almost a sacrifice of sorts, taking himself out of the play to also get a defender out of Tatum\u2019s way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Hauser, Brown, and Derrick White<\/a> on the floor, their gravity pulls defenders away from the rim, allowing Tatum to waltz to the rim. All that was missing was a red carpet, which I added to accentuate how bad the Raptors were here.<\/p>\n

\"Neemias<\/p>\n

Broadcast screen capture<\/p>\n

Queta is also getting very good at understanding when to slip the screen entirely. That’s an effective way to attack switching defenses to catch them just being a little too lazy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Slipping Screens<\/p>\n

This is a great read because Queta (a) understands that they\u2019ve been switching, (b) sees Tatum\u2019s defender (soon to be his defender) square to Tatum and standing up pretty tall, and (c) sees just enough space between the two defenders to slip through and go straight to the basket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Neemias<\/p>\n

Broadcast screen capture<\/p>\n

One trick that he didn\u2019t use, but can incorporate here is to screen his own man. That’s something to keep in mind later when the defense gets wise to them slipping the screen and Tatum\u2019s defender anticipates it by getting lower. If Queta sees that, he could screen his own man, because that would effectively shield Tatum from both and Tatum could turn the corner into a wide-open three-pointer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Queta has gotten quite good at understanding when to get in and out of screens or slip them entirely. By becoming the threat he\u2019s become, defenses are going to have to start accounting for him in their defensive gameplan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is going be critical for the Celtics in the playoffs, because if a team has to worry about Queta at all, that takes focus away from ball handlers, Tatum and Brown especially. Any attention Queta draws means more openings for the offense to exploit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt opens it up for our team, because we’re able to execute vs. different coverages,\u201d Joe Mazzulla<\/a> said. \u201cIt opens it up for everybody. I mean, Payton’s pick-and-rolls with Neemi when he catches it high, and you get handoffs downhill, Derrick making reads. So I think just his ability, his screening and his reads opens it up for all of us, because we can run our actions. We can see the 2-on-1s, we can make the right play, and he’s just been doing a great job of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getting Out of Screens QuicklyHolding ScreensSlipping Screens Neemias Queta is on a roll.\u00a0 His production has been consistently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3766],"tags":[7,45,75,3798,46,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-701920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-celtics","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-bostonceltics","12":"tag-celtics","13":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116359454422828118","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}