Warriors Overwhelm Celtics, Win Fourth NBA Title in Eight Seasons
Stephen Curry scored a game-high 34 points on 12-21 field goal shooting and won his first Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP after leading his Golden State Warriors to their fourth title in eight years. The Warriors hit the Boston Celtics with a 21-0 first half run--the longest such run in the NBA Finals in 50 years--to take a lead they never relinquished en route to a 103-90 win. In the popular imagination and in many media narratives the Warriors are associated with three point shooting, but they won this game and this series because of their stout defense. The Celtics scored at least 116 points in two of the first three games of this series, but in games four through six the Warriors held the Celtics to 97, 94, and 90 points.
Curry was the best player in this game and in this series, but the Warriors are far from a one man show. In the game six series clincher, Curry had the team's fourth best plus/minus number (+8). Plus/minus numbers in a small sample size are not a definitive measure of greatness or impact, but in this instance the numbers at least indicate that Curry had a lot of help. Andrew Wiggins contributed 18 points, six rebounds, five assists, four steals, and three blocked shots, winning his head to head matchup with All-NBA First Team member Jayson Tatum (13 points, seven rebounds, five turnovers). Jordan Poole poured in 15 points in 18 minutes with a +11 plus/minus number, and he played a major role in Golden State's huge first half run. Draymond Green had his best overall game of the series (12 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, +16 plus/minus number) as he orchestrated both the offense and the defense. Green's skill set strengths mesh perfectly with what the Warriors need from him, and the skill set strengths of his teammates mask his skill set limitations. Gary Payton II scored just six points in 20 minutes but he had a game-best +18 plus/minus number as his defense and energy provided a major boost.
Klay Thompson struggled with his shot, scoring just 12 points on 5-20 field goal shooting, but his comeback after missing more than two years due to two serious leg injuries is inspirational--and he is not on the court just as a feel good story: Thompson can still play at a high level, albeit less consistently than he did pre-injury.
Jaylen Brown tied Curry for game-high scoring honors while shooting 12-23 from the field, and he had a +1 plus/minus number even though the Celtics lost by double digits. Al Horford (19 points on 6-8 field goal shooting, game-high 14 rebounds, +2 plus/minus number) played very well, and Marcus Smart (nine points, game-high nine assists, six rebounds) had a team-high +7 plus/minus number, but the other Celtics did not show up. Tatum was below average in the first half before completely disappearing in the second half, and the reserves shot a combined 2-11 from the field.
After the Celtics opened game six with a 14-2 run in less than four minutes, it seemed as if the Celtics would force the Warriors to play game seven back in California--but by the end of the stanza the Warriors were up, 27-22. The Celtics were only down by five points, but they never led again the rest of the way. It would not be fair to say that they quit, but it would be fair to suggest that the rapid turn of events in the latter part of the first quarter extending into the second quarter broke their collective spirit: the Celtics understood that winning game six would be very difficult, and perhaps they sensed that winning game seven on the road would take more energy than they could muster. The Celtics have the bigger and more athletic team, but in game six they were outrebounded 44-41, they committed 23 turnovers compared to 17 turnovers committed by the Warriors, and they only won the points in the paint battle by six (38-32). The Celtics forced mismatches via switches (such as Curry guarding Horford one on one in the post), but then they either did not feed the ball to the player who enjoyed the matchup advantage, or the player who had the matchup advantage did not exploit that advantage after receiving the ball.
From the Celtics' perspective, this series is about blown opportunities: they won game one on the road, they took a 2-1 series lead, they led 54-49 at halftime of game four with a real chance to take a commanding 3-1 series lead, and they jumped out to an early 12 point advantage in game six at home, but in the end they lost three straight games and watched the Warriors celebrate a championship on their court.
History is written from the winners' perspective, though, so this series will be remembered for how the Warriors won, and what that win means. The Warriors won with Curry being the best player in the series while leading a talented ensemble cast that is known for offense but vanquished Boston with gritty defense. The vaunted Warriors' offense did not exceed the 108 point mark in six games, and anyone who knew before the series that this would happen would have picked the Celtics to win easily. I picked the Celtics to win the series based on the expectation that the Celtics could hold the Warriors to 105-110 ppg overall, AND that the Celtics would average more than 105-110 ppg. I was correct about my first expectation but wrong about my second expectation: I did not foresee how many layups the Celtics would miss, nor did I foresee that the Celtics would continue to turn the ball over at such a high clip. The Warriors deserve credit for putting enough pressure on the Celtics to wear them down, but the Celtics also made a lot of unforced errors.
The Warriors became just the fifth NBA franchise to win at least four titles in an eight year span, joining Mikan's Lakers, Russell's Celtics, Magic's Lakers, and Jordan's Bulls. Do the Warriors' four titles elevate Curry to Pantheon status? Many will say yes, but I still say no. Mikan, Russell, Magic, and Jordan were almost always the best player on the court whenever they played, and that was even more the case during the NBA Finals. In contrast, this is the first time in six NBA Finals appearances that Curry was clearly the best player on the court. During two of the Warriors' three previous championship runs, Kevin Durant was without question the best player on the team and the best performer in the NBA Finals. As I wrote in my NBA Finals preview, "Nothing that happens in the 2022 Finals changes or invalidates what
Durant accomplished in the 2017 and 2018 NBA Finals. If Curry has an
epic performance in the 2022 NBA Finals--30-plus ppg with efficient
shooting numbers--that adds to his already impressive resume but it does
not retroactively make him the Warriors' best player in 2017 and 2018,
nor does it make him a better player than Durant."
Curry and the Warriors deserve a lot of credit for bouncing back from
injuries and other forms of adversity to win another title. Curry is a great player, and he played great in the 2022 NBA Finals. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging those facts while also refusing to give in to the recency bias that insists that whoever just won the Finals MVP must be considered a top 10 player of all-time.
Labels: Boston Celtics, Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry
posted by David Friedman @ 2:15 AM
Andrew Wiggins Leads the Way as Warriors Beat Celtics to Take 3-2 NBA Finals Lead
The Golden State Warriors squandered a 16 point first half lead before dominating the fourth quarter en route to a 104-94 game five win over the Boston Celtics. The Warriors lead the NBA Finals 3-2, and can clinch their fourth title in the past eight seasons with a victory on Thursday night in Boston. During the fourth quarter, ABC's Mike Breen praised Golden State's "championship DNA," but Jeff Van Gundy correctly responded that Golden State's best player by far in game five was Andrew Wiggins, who has no championship experience and little playoff experience. Wiggins scored a team-high 26 points on 12-23 field goal shooting, and he grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds while also playing excellent defense against Boston's All-NBA First Team forward Jayson Tatum. Wiggins had 10 points on 5-6 field goal shooting plus five rebounds in the fourth quarter alone.
Klay Thompson added 21 points on 7-14 field goal shooting. As has often been the case during Golden State's NBA Finals appearances, Stephen Curry was not the best (or second best) player on the court. Curry finished with 16 points on 7-22 field goal shooting. He had a game-high eight assists and just one turnover, but Curry did not make a three pointer for the first time in his playoff career, and if commentators are going to wax poetic about Curry's all-time greatness based on his excellent game four performance then they also have to note that Curry's game five performance was reminiscent of James Harden's frequent meltdowns in crucial playoff games.
It is indisputable that Curry is a great player. Nothing that I have seen in
this series convinces me that Curry is even close to top 15 all-time
status, but you can be sure that if the Warriors win this series that
narrative will dominate the post-series conversations in many quarters.
Without Wiggins leading the way and without Thompson performing well, the Warriors would be facing elimination in game six--and please don't talk about Curry's "gravity" being the reason for Wiggins' great performance: Wiggins created his own offense with strong drives, superior athleticism, and excellent shooting touch.
Gary Payton II (15 points on 6-8 field goal shooting, five rebounds, three steals) and Jordan Poole (14 points on 4-8 field goal shooting in just 14 minutes) made key contributions off of the bench. Payton is primarily a defensive player, but he provided timely scoring in this game; Poole is primarily a scorer who has been relentlessly "hunted" by the Celtics because of his subpar defense--which is why his minutes have been slashed--but his point per minute production in limited playing time was much needed.
Draymond Green had his usual "triple single": eight points, eight rebounds, six assists. He fouled out in 35 minutes, and he had more complaints to the officials than made field goals (three) by a wide margin. Green contributed to Golden State's excellent defensive performance, but he is the quintessential example of a good player who is along for the ride while superior players do most of the work as opposed to being an all-time great future Hall of Famer.
Jayson Tatum led the Celtics in scoring (27 points on 10-20 field goal shooting), rebounds (10), and assists (four, tied with Jaylen Brown) in 44 minutes. It cannot be said that Tatum played poorly, but if you watched the game then you also felt like somehow a player with his skill set, size, and athletic ability should have done even more. Maybe that is not fair because he did not get much help from his teammates, but if Tatum's goal is to be a perennial All-NBA First Team member--let alone an MVP and a champion--then that is the standard: if your team did not win then you did not do enough.
Marcus Smart scored 20 points on 7-15 field goal shooting, but has there ever been a Defensive Player of the Year who flops more often and gets beat more often by falling asleep on inbound plays/backdoor cuts? He is a very good player, but he is also frustrating to watch at times. Jaylen Brown is usually consistent if not always spectacular, but he had just 18 points on 5-18 field goal shooting. His nine rebounds and four assists were somewhat offset by his game-high five turnovers, a number that nearly matched Golden State's team total (seven turnovers). Al Horford has had some big moments in the 2022 playoffs, but he had a game-worst -19 plus/minus number after scoring nine points and grabbing nine rebounds.
The only Boston starter who had a positive plus/minus number was Robert Williams II (+11), who had 10 points and eight rebounds in 30 minutes. His energy and athleticism are very impactful. One suspects that if he were fully healthy then he would be playing closer to 40 minutes.
The Warriors played excellent defense, outscored the bigger Celtics in the paint 50-36, and were only outrebounded 47-39. Golden State deserves credit to some extent for putting
pressure on Boston, but the Celtics made a lot of unforced errors, throwing away a winnable game by missing too many free throws (21-31, .667), missing too many layups, and committing too many turnovers (18).
The overreliance on high variance three point shooting inevitably results in play that lacks rhythm and flow. The Celtics missed 12 straight three pointers before later making eight straight three pointers and finishing 11-32 (.344) from beyond the arc. The Warriors shot 9-40 (.225) from three point range, but they survived their horrific outside shooting by--as noted above--winning the possession battle (rebounds, turnovers) and by scoring prolifically in the paint. Commentators love to focus on the Warriors' three point shooting, but this game was a classic example of the extent to which the Warriors have mastered other, more fundamentally important aspects of the game. The difference between the Curry-led Warriors and the Harden-led Rockets is that the Warriors are a complete team that plays defense, rebounds, and scores in the paint, while the Rockets were a team that chucked up a ton of three pointers, hoped for the best, and had no backup plan.
This game had a weird flow. Golden State jumped out to a 24-8 lead, and Boston looked like a team deflated by the game four loss at home. Curry was cold from the start--he had four points on 2-6 field goal shooting in the first quarter--but the Warriors have more talent and depth than Curry's supporters prefer to admit. The Celtics played much better in the second quarter, but still trailed 51-39 at halftime, an ominous position to be in versus a team that is renowned for third quarter scoring explosions. However, in game five the teams switched identities, with the Celtics dominating the third quarter before the Warriors dominated the fourth quarter.
Boston opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run before tying the score at 55 on a Smart three pointer at the 6:55 mark and then taking a 58-55 lead on a Horford three pointer with 6:28 remaining in the period. Neither team led by more than five points for the rest of the third quarter. Poole heaved in a three pointer just before the buzzer ending the third quarter to give Golden State a 75-74 lead heading into the final stanza.
You would not expect a team as resilient as Boston to be demoralized by one last second shot, but the Celtics looked shell-shocked during the fourth quarter as the Warriors scored 10 straight points in just 2:55. The Celtics never found their bearings, scoring 20 points on just 4-15 field goal shooting while committing four turnovers--yes, the Celtics had as many turnovers as field goals made in the most important 12 minutes of the season!
The Celtics have matchup advantages, but their unforced errors plus the Warriors' energy and effort are negating those matchup advantages. Less than a month ago, the Celtics beat the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks in games six and seven, so it is not impossible for the Celtics to win two straight games to take this series, but they have no margin for error now not just on a game to game basis but also on a play to play basis: each squandered possession pushes them closer to the brink of elimination.
Labels: Andrew Wiggins, Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Klay Thompson, Stephen Curry
posted by David Friedman @ 1:21 AM
