If you could invent a team, piece by piece, to give the Warriors very specific problems at very significant times, it would look a lot like this version of the Boston Celtics. It could almost look exactly like these Celtics.
Of course, you’ll need someone to defend Stephen Curry physically and tenaciously, and Boston has Marcus Smart, the Defensive Player of the Year 2021-22 and described as the guard version of Draymond Green no more and no less than Steve Kerr.
You’d want a great overall defensive mindset to obstruct and frustrate the pace of the Warriors ’moving attack, and Boston has a defensive postage of £ 105.1 in the postseason (compared to the Warriors’ 111.0), which comes later. of the D of the Celtics. led the league in that key stats in the regular season.
You’d like a transcendent wing player to take charge of games during stretches, and Boston has Jayson Tatum, who made his NBA first team debut this season and was named the first Larry Bird Award winner as a Conference from the East. MVP of the final.
Would you like a secondary goal scorer to force Curry, Klay Thompson or Jordan Poole into strenuous defensive minutes that can disrupt the game, or keep Draymond away from safe play, and Boston has Jaylen Brown, who has averaged 22.9 points per game . this postseason, including a crucial 24.1 for the Celtics’ seven-game winning streak against Miami.
You’d like athleticism and toughness defending the edge, and Boston has Al Horford and Robert Williams (though Williams is battling a knee injury), who have combined an average of 3.5 blocked shots per game in the postseason.
You’d want a team full of intensity, and that quality was hard to miss both in that emotional 7th game win in Miami and during the Boston Finals mid-day appearances at the Chase Center on Wednesday, starting with their head coach. first year focused on Ime laser. Udoka goes through Smart and everyone else is green.
That’s not to say the Celtics are a perfect team. As they have shown relatively often in their tough trip to the Eastern Conference, they can hit some offensive drops, they are a little loose with the ball (does it sound familiar?), They are not very deep and they “I had some potential problems fatigue after playing 18 games so far in the postseason (The Warriors have played 16).
Meanwhile, the Warriors have looked better in each round of these playoffs, which, let’s remember, began with Curry’s return after a 12-game absence to close out the regular season. But Boston is not the same kind of problem the Warriors faced against Denver, Memphis and Dallas. The Celtics have more talent. The Celtics are more versatile. Like the Warriors, the Celtics are built to be successful in the playoffs. And the Warriors know it.
“We’ve been seeing them for months; their defense is absolutely amazing, they have a good offense and, most importantly, in attack, they have a guy who is one of them,” Draymond Green said earlier this week. . “Jaylen Brown is an absolutely good player, but Jayson Tatum is one of them. And when you have that you always have a chance to win.
“You look at them and say, ‘Wow, they really have what it takes.’
Draymond made this point primarily to explain why (correctly) he predicted on TNT last week that Boston would beat Miami in the previous round, an opinion that inflamed the Heat enough for several players to sing it after expanding the series winning the game. 6. But then the Celtics won Game 7 in Miami; if Draymond was responsible for driving the Heat to extend that series and burn more energy from the Celtics, I don’t think it would bother him.
So the Warriors’ respect for the Celtics is well earned. Boston has had more regular season hits against the Warriors than anyone in the Steve Kerr era; in fact, the Celtics are the only team to have a record of wins over the Warriors (9-7) in that period. That means something. It doesn’t mean everything to the outcome of this finale, but it does mean something.
“They present us with unique challenges,” Klay said Wednesday.
On the other hand, the Warriors (No. 1 in the offensive playoff rankings) are a more dangerous two-way team than anyone facing the Celtics in the Eastern Conference playoffs, more proven than anyone in the league. from home. advantage in this series and they are 9-0 at home this postseason.
Both teams are very good. Neither of them surpassed the regular season, but both always had the pieces in place to move forward. And now the two have arrived for Game 1 on Thursday in Chase. I think it will be a long and fierce series. But you don’t want generalities, you want specific ones.
So here are some predictions of the final …
Taking advantage at home is immense for the Warriors
How important was the Warriors ’streak of five straight wins to close out the season (after going 1-6 in the first half of Curry’s absence)? Very, very, very important.
On the one hand, he pushed them to the third seed ahead of Dallas, which was the Warriors’ final goal. That set up a comfortable first-round meeting with Denver, six seed. After the Warriors outscored Memphis, two seeded, the Warriors took the lead on the local court over Dallas in the conference finals. For this streak of victories.
Oh, and also: the streak led the Warriors to 53-29 when they looked destined for a maximum of 50 or 51 wins. And guess who finished with 51 wins – yes, those would be the Celtics. The Warriors have a home advantage in this series because of the way they played at the end of the regular season without Curry. Just think about it. I guarantee you the Warriors have it.
Also, I think Jonathan Kuminga or Moses Moody should have a few minutes to match up with the Celtics athletes, and it’s much easier for rookies to feel comfortable at home than on the road to the playoffs.
But before we take too much advantage of this, let’s remember the Celtics have a stunning 7-2 on the road in these playoffs so far. They can absolutely win a game or two for Chase in this series. But the better you are at home, the better your chances of winning home games, and the Warriors are great at home.
Stats: In the five playoff games that were in doubt for Chase’s final period this year, the Warriors have outscored their opponent by 44 points in those five quarters. The Warriors have shown that they can outrun their opponent in almost every bell turn in Chase if things are close. It’s pretty powerful information.
Additional statistic: The Warriors are 21-2 in the first game of the Kerr era, including 3-0 so far this year.
The Warriors ’playoff experience will be a tangible factor, especially as the series deepens
I’m not ridiculing Udoka, Tatum, Smart and the other Celtics, who have shown great value in surviving seven straight games against Milwaukee and Miami. That they are not sticking equipment. This core group of players has also attended several Eastern Finals before finally overcoming this season.
But none of them have ever been in a final before, and none of them have faced this kind of crucible against Curry, Draymond, Klay and Curry, who are living these moments and they have faced quite remarkable teams and players. of all time. . Warriors of this era have never abandoned a series. Not even close. Draymond and Curry would surely never leave them. They have only lost two sets and one was in seven games and the other in six.
If Boston wins the Warriors, it will take a lot of energy and a lot of games.
Klay and Jordan Poole will at least have a huge game each (and they won’t be too exploitable on defense)
Maybe at some point, because the two defenses and the two superstars are so good, they will cancel each other out. This is what usually happened in the Boston-Miami series, when Tatum and Jimmy Butler sometimes went shot by shot and then reduced to a secondary goal scorer who was let go. Or not.
Once Tyler Herro of the Heat was injured, Miami’s attack stopped. He can’t just connect an offensive against a defense like Boston’s. So what team will get the top scorers in this series?
It could really be reduced to how much Poole and Klay can score, when they do, and how well they can hold up defensively against Brown and the Celtics’ non-premium scorers. Reduced: Poole and Klay will likely have to carry the offensive load at least once each in this series. And neither can be destroyed in defense.
What is your role in this series, Klay?
“I just do what I always do,” Klay said. “Shoot my shot. Playing hard on defense. They obviously have great offensive players, guys who have been scoring the ball at will. So I have to move my feet.
“And then just be physical. I mean, I’ve been through a lot of battles at the highest level, so I just have to rely on that experience and play very smoothly.”
Andrew Wiggins will need help defending Tatum, and maybe Gary Payton II can provide it
I don’t think GP2, if he returns to this series after fracturing a bone in his left elbow (shooting), will score a lot, as he hasn’t even tried to shoot with his left hand when they saw him in training. recently, including Wednesday. But maybe Payton can offer four- or five-minute stays just by playing Tatum and giving Wiggins a break here or there.
Iguodala could do the same, but I’m less sure he’ll be back. Moody or Kuminga could too, but I doubt Kerr is willing to rely on any of them to defend Tatum for more than a possession or two.
Fatigue could be a real factor at the beginning and end of this series
The Warriors reached the West last Thursday. Since then, Boston has lost its 6th home game against Miami, had to fly to Miami to win the 7th game, then fly home to Boston and then fly to San Francisco for this series. All…