(6/8/22)
Written by John Raley
After splitting the first two games of the series 1-1 with Golden State, the Boston Celtics will look to capitalize on their home court tonight to take a one game lead. Golden State was able to right the ship at home after dropping game one to level the series behind a massive third quarter where they outscored the Celtics by 21 points. The Warriors still look a little inconsistent on the offensive end with Klay Thompson's shooting woes continuing. Jordan Poole had a big bounce back game after a disappointing game one. He was able to put up 17 points with 5 three pointers in just 23 minutes of play. Boston shot an abysmal 4-16 (25%) in the third quarter while Golden State shot 11-23 (48%) which allowed them to pull away and make the lead insurmountable going into the fourth. Jayson Tatum was much more effective scoring the ball in game two putting up 28 points on 8-19 shooting, but his assists numbers took a huge hit from game one. In game one Tatum posted 13 assists with just two turnovers and the Celtics outscored the Warriors by 16 points when he was on the court. Game two was a completely different story. Tatum dished out just 3 assists along with 4 turnovers in the loss and the Celtics got outscored by 36 points when he was on the floor. This is the worst point differential an individual has ever had during the NBA Finals. It didn’t help the Celtics that Al Horford, who scored 26 points in their game one win, scored just 2 points in game two. Marcus Smart also struggled offensively only finding the bottom of the net once to tally 2 points the entire game.
Boston struggled the entire game to take care of the basketball with the team giving the ball away 18 times over the course of the game. Half of these came from Marcus Smart (5) and Jayson Tatum (4) who have the ball in their hands a significant amount. Tonight these two will have to be better and value the basketball more. They are the leaders of this team and everyone will follow their lead.
Boston needs to have a short memory tonight and get back to the team they were in game one. They moved the ball extremely well without turning it over, they found the best shot most of the time on offense, and they were not afraid when they got down double digits in the second half. In game two it seemed like Boston was over sharing the ball offensively. It almost seemed like guys did not want to take a shot because they felt they could create a better one off the pass. I think part of this reason is that Boston was extremely successful sharing the ball in game one so they likely tried to replicate their winning formula. I expect to see them calmed down tonight and more relaxed in front of their home fans.
Golden State needs to win at least one of the next two games at the Garden in order for them to take back home court advantage so I expect to see them playing with more of a sense of urgency than they did in game one much more similar to how they looked in game two. They not only pass the ball extremely well, Steph Curry also makes it miserable to guard him because of all the off ball movement he does to get open shots. There may not be anyone in basketball who works harder to get open than Steph Curry does. Part of that is teams try to deny him any looks from three because of his elite prowess from beyond the arc, but a much larger reason is because Steph seemingly just does not get tired. Most possessions you will see him go back and forth from one side of the court to the other running off of multiple screens which is so difficult and tiring to pursue as a defender. In the first two games of this series Curry is averaging 31.5 points so I will expect to see Boston change up something defensively tonight to possibly give him a look that he has not seen yet.
The key for Golden State will be their role players. If Poole can maintain his performance from game 2, Otto Porter Jr. can continue to knock down shots off the bench, and Klay can begin to find his shot, Golden State will be near impossible to beat. If Boston wants to win this series they need to value the basketball and take care of it, have their role players capitalize on open looks, and keep a man on Steph Curry when plays break down so he doesn’t get as many wide open looks from deep.
Prediction for Game 3:
Boston wins to go up 2-1, Horford and Smart have a bounce back game offensively