‹‹‹‹ 2022 NBA Finals ›‹ Celtics vs Warriors ›‹ The ILH Bowl ››››

Dubs in six feels like the safest bet

celtics in 7, again

this

lose every home game, win every road game lol

lets do this lol sigh

Celts in 7 feels good home court not withstanding, so while it terrifies me to imagine the Dubs losing game 7 at home, gotta do it.

dubs are such a trick or treat team they give minutes to a lot of unreliable guys and even their stars are all high variance players

celtics match up with them well they have the guys to defend their guys not like youre going to stop steph and klay but theres no matchup where youre like oh theyre fucked, i think a lot of it will come down to if the dubs can deal with the celtics physicality and size and relatedly who can dictate style of play the warriors should want to make it into a smallball series where the celtics will want to play their usual big lineups, if rob can find some health that could swing things

That all sounds pretty otm

hell yeah

Six of the Warriors' seven leading postseason scorers (Steph, Klay, Poole, Draymond, Looney, Kuminga) were drafted by Golden State.

Six of the Celtics' seven leading postseason scorers (Tatum, Brown, Smart, Grant Williams, Rob Williams, Payton Pritchard) were drafted by Boston https://t.co/luVltdBH1A

— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) May 30, 2022

that fn rules

series should be hella fun. i'm taking C's in 7.

I have no idea how this will go. Agreed this will be a hella fun series.

i don’t see many match up advantages for the warriors in this series. i’m struggling to figure out how they get the guys they want on the floor (primarily in their backcourt) out there while being able to consistently guard tatum and brown. it feels like the both of them still have a roller coaster element to their play that isn’t necessarily dictated by the opponent but over the course of a series i think it’s a lot to ask of the warriors defenders. they’re gonna have to figure out ways to scheme team defense to stop those guys bcuz on a 1 on 1 level it’s hard to see it on paper.

the other thing that really worries me for the warriors is turnovers, if they have these games where they’re throwing the ball all over the place the celtics will just kill them in transition. the warriors need to be able to turn over the celtics and get out in transition where their shooters can get wide open threes but it can’t come with them also turning over the ball themselves. don’t know if this is possible

i do think the warriors can win on the strength of steph-draymond accumulated chemistry, basically, but ultimately do feel like steph is going to need to have an amazing series. i think kyrie showed in the one game that a small PG can find ways to break down boston a bit when they have a sort of bigger small line up out there but the celtics still have a lot of bodies to throw at him. put the team on your back in the finals is kinda the last missing piece of steph’s career and it’s hard for me to see how they win this one without him getting to that place

dubs in 6 obv.

otm re turnovers. that will make or break them

can the celtics score enough points to win 4/7 without homecourt? i dont think so

celtics can score, dunno if the warriors will be able to contain tatum/brown as well as bucks/heat did

yeah will be interesting to see what they do vs very good but less physical d, those last two series were rumbles

celtics were the best offensive team in the league over the final ~2 months of the reg season fwiw

How bout half court ?

they were really good ball movement was beautiful which has pretty much disappeared vs the good playoff defense unfortunately theyve def been replying more on running, so to some extent that regular season offense got exposed as not quite solid enough but they can still score it gets tough for everyone in the halfcourt in the playoffs

i think the series will kinda have to not make much sense for the warriors to win kinda like the ECF if the heat had won. it’s gonna require some lapses from the celtics and some major individual performances from the warriors. i think the aggregate scoring and stats will prob favor the celtics but can the warriors have a few of those tidal wave quarters like the heat did to swing a few games (absolutely possible), get a 40 point game or two from someone to carry them (possible), just kinda championship experience their way to another win in a game the celtics more or less controlled? i’m having a hard time envisioning a series where at the end we’re just like, yep the warriors whipped the celtics and if they didn’t win the series it would’ve been a miscarriage of justice. but i can definitely see that being the case in reverse

i think a lot will depend on if the dubs supporting cast can hold up under the celtics pressure, memphis is the closest theyve seen to it but the griz were just too green

you know the dubs top three are gonna show up and if they dont its over anyway but all they guys after that could go either way

it is weird how many people ive seen acting like the warriors are strong favorites do they think it is still the same team as 2015 just becasue the main 3 guys are still there

something like that

celtics a lil underrated too, tho tbh theyve prob played down to that so far

yeah. these celtics are the cardiac kids. they almost threw away game 7. i hate to say it but i’m not sure they can keep it on lock no matter how well they play otherwise. their d is good enough to keep them close but are they going to forget how to play basketball or not, ihibidtae

this warriors iteration has similar stretches where it looks like they forgot basketball

basketball is hard tbf

this warriors iteration has similar stretches where it looks like they forgot basketball

― ciderpress, Monday, May 30, 2022 11:12 AM (twenty-three seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

they've always been a highwire act tbf.

steph and klay's shooting #s have both dropped to where they don't quite bury you in points anymore they're just normal good 3pt shooters instead of transcendent

seems like poole would have to play transcendently and looney be a huge force for the dubs to take this series. could happen

Turnovers will indeed be key. Dubs did great keeping them in check against Dallas. Tatum also leads all players in the postseason with turnovers.

GP2 will be an X factor

if iggy can play, boston will have fewer perimeter dudes to target 1-on-1 but yeah like you say Jordan those perimeter guys are the guys who score for you so

JJJ hit tons of 3s vs the Dubs … wonder if the Celts try letting Horford bomb away and also pull Looney/Dray away from the hoop.

JJJ and morant left open to shoot threes was the plan. not sure they want horford shooting those same shots

yeah hes happy to hoist if they let him

theres gonna be so much switching in this series hah

seems to be where the playoffs always ends up

dubs need to figure out a way to play rob off the court cos he was causing havoc around the rim last time they played. negated a lot of poole drives, similar to how jjj did. guarding poole with length seems to work well. both teams have good small ball lineups so it will be cool to see who gets the edge there.

OTM, Rob can give them hell. They haven't faced a player like him this playoffs.
Kuminga has had decent success guarding Tatum this season (small sample size obv) but he's also foul-prone and sloppy with the ball, which they can't afford to be against Boston. It'll be interesting to see if Moody can continue to earn effective minutes.
Dubs in 7 with each team taking a road game.

moody and kuminga wont play much (or at all) unless gp2, iggy or otto miss time (or if they look bad on their return)

switching is OP

I have a hard time seeing GPII get his stroke back quickly or Iggy providing much value at this point, unless he shows more willingness and ability to shoot. Who knows, though, maybe Iggy's been saving it all up the last three seasons for this moment.

Andre Iguodala, Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr. worked out but did not participate in Warriors scrimmage today, per coach Steve Kerr. Availability for G1 Thursday still TBD.

— Monte Poole (@MontePooleNBCS) May 30, 2022

I'm going with dubs in 5. Probably wrong but they are pretty-much full-strength now and they want it so so bad. They have way more finals experience (including their coach, who has been to the finals a few times, vs a rookie), and while the Cs are good at defense, I don't think they've had a lot of experience having to guard 4 elite shooters at once. There will probably be one day where their shooting disappears and they can't make it up in the paint, but I can't see that happening 4 times.

did the dubs pick up another shooter lol

another two shooters

poole wiggins otto are all very capable

poole has been excellent this year afaict

theyre fine i mean theyre all fine wiggins is a career 35% shooter from three hes fine

you do have to guard him you have to guard all of them but are they going to totally roast you well probably not

there are two guys on the warriors who you say a little prayer whenever they get the smallest window to hoist

elite guys if you will

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i'm obligated to take c's in 7. this is going to be really interesting--the celtics have the best defensive backcourt in the nba yet have had to spend these playoffs gaming for durant, giannis, and butler. put up or shut up time against curry, klay, and poole. on the other hand the warriors have played against a defense remotely like this and it's worth filing away that memphis stressed them a little bit with some talent, but a lot more effort and energy. they're going to need to find a different gear to run their stuff against boston.

i'm very torn on what rob williams means to this series. he can definitely disrupt drives but still gets lost against teams that move the ball effectively. on offense if healthy he could really punish golden state with his verticality at the rim, they have no one who's going to do anything about that. the warriors swing guy is probably poole--definitely a player type that can give the celtics trouble but they could hunt him on the other end.

health will obviously be critical, i'm hoping marcus and rob are moving a bit better and while the warriors injuries are with their role players every little bit counts at this point. i don't see the return of iguodala or payton being meaningful--if they do come back they'll most likely be limited in one way or another.

i hope this is close and fun, everyone deserves that.

i hope its close and fun but the celtics winning easily would be fine too

Question from a baseball fan. I assume because of Nate Silver's involvement, the projections on 538 are analytics-based. They have the Celtics at 83% to win the series (they've been projecting the Celtics to win for many months), which I find really surprising. Is this the equivalent of an old-school/analytics argument in baseball, where the Warriors have so-called intangibles on their side (experience, history, comeback narrative), while the Celtics are the obvious favourite if you don't believe in that stuff?

i don't think the statistical case for the celtics is nearly as strong as that projection would claim. they've been the statistical best team in basketball for a while now but the warriors are right up there too. their offense has been lethal when they avoid turnovers.

the type of intangibles you're talking about also aren't really a thing at this point in the playoffs, both teams have been through a gauntlet to get here and i think most would agree that the celtics have had a harder path.

I think the reason why most ILHers have picked the Celtics is that in a seven game series the best team, or at least the best team in aggregate after injuries are taken into account, will win about 80% of the time. The need to win four reduces variance quite a bit. The margin between teams needs to be extremely thin to make a seven game series a total toss up. Going in, the C's look a bit stronger in their match-ups, but it should be a closely contested series, either 6 or 7 games. And hella fun!

well in general if you like the road team you should pick them in 6 but this particular celtics team seems to operate differently

celtics have tried more threes in the 2022 playoffs than GS have :o

a lot of that probably has to do with playing the bucks but still

538 likes the celtics prob cause they were by the numbers pretty clearly the best team for the second half of the regular season, the regular season can be deceiving in basketball tho, most close nba watchers had them as a contender in a crowded field of contenders which turned out to be more accurate than 538 seeing them as dominant, likewise 538 has them as big faves to win this series where its prob pretty much a toss up, tho i guess you do have to give 538 credit despite being a bizarre site by and for deranged weirdos for liking the celtics more than the average casual fan who didnt really see them as contenders at all

I would also say, Clemenza, relative to a sport like baseball, how teams match up against each other is a much, much bigger factor in basketball. Ergo much harder to use the data of previous performance against other teams to make those kinds of predictions. That said, the Celtics have famously played the Warriors well for the past several years. I believe I saw a tweet that they are the only team in the NBA with a winning record against them over the past 8 years or something(?!). On the other hand, they have of course never met in the playoffs and - again, different from other sports - the playoffs really are a whole different game. In a regular season matchup the Warriors aren't going to switch up their whole style of play from game to game, but in the playoffs you can (try to) mold your whole thing to take advantage of your opponent, as they do the same to you. That's why hoops are the best baby

yeah in the warriors famous 73-9 season the celtics had a win and an overtime loss vs them (with a different (much worse) team than the current one mind you)

their prioritization of perimeter defense has kept it a good matchup through roster turnover i guess

it kind of a classic matchup in the san francisco is the boston of the west coast

are you sure it isnt seattle

seattle is just idk what you even do with seattle

give them a basketball team back, for starters

they need to take it lets see something from the city of seattle

how much cooler would the durant-westbrook-harden thunder have been if they had been the seattle supersonics and not the oklahoma city thunder. would presti have gone into the tax to keep harden? would durant have stayed? we can only assume yes to both questions

oh yeah and also they wouldve learned to share the ball and keep harden happy as well, because of seattle chill vibes, another yes.

yeah i think ultimately that trio was just never going to work not enough basketballs

im sure ive posted about it on here before but i was actually a sonics fan as a kid and only switched back to the celtics in 08 when they were finally good at the same time as the sonics died. i am not a pure celtics fan despite living in MA my whole life

the initial celtics pitch when i was first old enough to watch & enjoy basketball was "their star player has died and they are going to be bad for a while" which was not compelling to child me

lmao yeah that was a rough time

awful

fact fans in this thread may want to note that the len bias pick belonged to.... the seattle supersonics before they traded it for gerald henderson and cash

well add to all that the mid90s Sonics were fun as hell, I definitely rocked a Kemp jersey even in a Celtics fan house

kemp was a phenomenon, he transcended team loyalties

oh yeah and also they wouldve learned to share the ball and keep harden happy as well, because of seattle chill vibes, another yes.

Got golden state in 6!

— Jayson Tatum (@jaytatum0) May 28, 2015

At least for the conference finals, 538 had the Mavs as the favorites (maybe even overwhelmingly so) to reach and even win the finals.

that vaguely makes sense to me that hthe same model would like the celtics and mavs

“Analytics darlings”

I'm rooting for the Warriors for an odd reason: when the Raptors won, I really admired that I never heard Curry or any of the Warriors blame or even mention losing Durant and Thompson for the series. Maybe the Raptors would have won anyway, but realistically, probably not. But no one on the Warriors tried to put any kind of a damper on that at all--they let us enjoy that moment 100%.

they are true mensches

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

the people have spoken. the series will be won on the road

15-11 is a pretty tight split!

Smh at all these GSW homers

heard that most of the warriors voters are casuals

15-11 seems about right.

Casual homer here for sure

same

smh you guys need to study up

🚨NEW WORDS ALERT🚨

Folks, the NBA Finals are (nearly) here! I did my best to get you prepared for the series.

-matchups you’ll see

-potential matchup counters

-plays to watch out for

-how Steph/Tatum will be defended

Aaaaand more. Enjoy my labor!https://t.co/Wx9S8cTKHE

— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) May 31, 2022

im rooting for all the players to have a fun time and the boston celtics to win

agreed

is it just because i started getting into basketball again over the last couple of years, or is it objectively true that ancillary NBA-related content on youtube, podcasts, twitter etc has absolutely gone supernova

not just NBA, basically any type of content that can be made at home went supernova due to pandemic

yeah makes sense

I’ve been told on good authority that it’s not yet Thursday. The waiting is the hardest part…

is it just because i started getting into basketball again over the last couple of years, or is it objectively true that ancillary NBA-related content on youtube, podcasts, twitter etc has absolutely gone supernova

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, June 1, 2022 11:35 AM (thirty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

few year ago basically only zach lowe and coach nick were doing Xs and Os type breakdowns and now theres tons of it, golden age of people explaining basketball to you

i love to have basketball explained to me

it is nice

the various youtubers i could really live without, stuff like this is very fun to me though

would enjoy a youtuber if they did this stuff

https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/ice-f9ea7d7d7d51

thinking basketball has good youtubes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN6ylx2b0bs

https://medium.com/the-basketball-dictionary/ice-f9ea7d7d7d51

kinda a disturbing read, basketball is just supposed to be hoisting and then running back (picked W's in 7)

thank you for the link lagoon i am going to just gorilla my way through the guy's explainer voice because i am thirsty for the content

lol his voice is so normal compared to most youtubers

maybe because hes more of a podcaster, obvs podcaster voice is very annoying but its nothing compared to youtubers most of whom sound like a 11 year old reading a book report and/or like theyve never spoken before

freakin love the democratization of media

yea ben taylor is good. i dig his pod too. pretty dry but a nice contrast to the normal take culture of big personalities.

nekias is good too.

kind of wild that the all-star center of one of the finals contenders has his own in-depth breakdown in advance of game 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUOHyNm6_nA

you know if dray plays bad and the warriors lose at least one of those tv guys is going to get on him about podcasting

the warriors fanbase is always mad @ him for doing them, he's not stopping.

lol salute

stephen a. called dray a pretender in the media business, and dray said that he's "new media" and that stephen a. won't know what hit him, "new media" is the way of the future etc, "you've even got a little new media in you, stephen"

dray obvs going to be a tv guy when he retires, hes pretty raw right now but hes putting in the work one would think by the time hes ready to do it full time hell be way ahead of most guys

yeah im sure hes got some coaching hes already gotten better but hes still too longwinded. i find myself jumping 15-30 seconds at a time quite often. works ok for freelancing on a pod but on tv you gotta get to the point real quick-like.

yeah he also doesnt really explain himself hell be like in the playoffs the schemes and preparation change but then doesnt tell you how, needs to lean into the basketball genius aspect of his personality and away from the being riled up

he stays pretty even on his pod i think. probably good he's not getting in the weeds before a finals matchup lol. he usually gets deeper after the fact.

i want to know the secrets

even on the pod hes still got a omg u guys this is so crazy sort of thing going on a lot of the time

hes def a bit rough and learning the ropes. but yeah by the time he retires he'll be a well oiled machine, for better or worse.

definitely gives the impression of someone who smokes an unholy amount of weed

i signed up to coach my kids basketball (ages 9/10) team and the first practice is tomorrow right at tip off smh. might just bring an ipad and tell the kids to gather 'round.

haha bummer. That’s awesome you’re doing that. you should start a thread??

With all due respect Spottie, I think the kids might learn more from the best two teams in the NBA ;)

that's what im thinking! parents might not like that idea tho. maybe i will start a thread xp.

teach the children to hoist

teach the children to hoist

first lesson: the ball must get higher than the rim before it can drop through

If a child sees an nba player make a layup with his dominant hand from the wrong side of the hoop, all of your hard work will be undone.

dray obvs going to be a tv guy when he retires, hes pretty raw right now but hes putting in the work one would think by the time hes ready to do it full time hell be way ahead of most guys

― lag∞n, Wednesday, June 1, 2022 1:21 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah im sure hes got some coaching hes already gotten better but hes still too longwinded. i find myself jumping 15-30 seconds at a time quite often. works ok for freelancing on a pod but on tv you gotta get to the point real quick-like.

― Spottie, Wednesday, June 1, 2022 1:24 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah he also doesnt really explain himself hell be like in the playoffs the schemes and preparation change but then doesnt tell you how, needs to lean into the basketball genius aspect of his personality and away from the being riled up

― lag∞n, Wednesday, June 1, 2022 1:28 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

have you guys watched the basketball “analysis” on TNT or ESPN?

Every successfully executed one-handed pass, a 3 month regression.

welp

NEWS: Jeff Van Gundy is out for the start of the NBA Finals with COVID, Mike Breen still needs to be cleared for tonight's game, while Woj also has COVID, The Post has learned.https://t.co/AyxnBQeVHn

— Andrew Marchand (@AndrewMarchand) June 2, 2022

he clearly had it in sunday's game

ffs

Maybe they can mike up Dray and he can do the color commentary during the game. New media.

dude was just straight up spewing covid onto the court in a game 7, gotta love it

i must say i'm getting some early victory lap vibes from the warriors coverage so far

Really? Everything I’m hearing seems to be pretty split

Oh great, does that mean we get Mark Jackson solo?

they shd just bring in stan

one van gundys as good as the next

i like em both but prefer jeff for his contrary cranky shit, i love it. he'll always have a place in my heart for coaching the pat ewing knicks obv. hangin off mourning's leg, things of that nature

lol, here is the broadcast partner of the guy out with the rona, and he sounds terrible, but we're just going to completely ignore the obvious conclusion.

i prefer stan as a color guy

i must say i'm getting some early victory lap vibes from the warriors coverage so far

― call all destroyer, Thursday, June 2, 2022 11:26 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

still seeing a lot of people who seem to think the warriors are way better and a lot of people who think its even. only people who think the celtics are way better are the models, and those arent people

rude

heard a few people say "getting pistons vs lakers vibes"

look just because i am incredibly good looking doesn’t mean i’m not a person

might become a celtics are way better guy and change my prediction to celtics in 5

celtics (posters) need bulletin board material

heard a few people say "getting pistons vs lakers vibes"

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 2, 2022 10:54 AM (thirty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

haha what! that may have been true for the 19 warriors but not this team.

I truly don’t understand why JVG called that game

At the time I assumed they had him isolated in an offsite booth. He was actually in the arena?

what the shit i thought this game started at 830

Dubs home game. the hoopla starts at 6 pm Pacific time. the hoops start some time after that.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/1986NBAFinals.png/158px-1986NBAFinals.png

old finals logos were so good this is what i am doing waiting for the game to start btw

they brought back the script this year

lol magic finally showed up to work at espn

ban guitar star spangled banners

that was so bad lol also he was dressed insanely

when will a DJ get the nod

come out and just put on an old scratchy 78 of the anthem and let it play

That anthem will get the kids jacked for ball.

cute

https://twitter.com/sreekyshooter/status/1532529622058934286

Just remembered when I saw Jaylen Brown at game 7 of the 2016 finals at Oracle before he was in the league. Now he’s playing in the finals, the Warriors are still here, and Dragan Bender hasn’t played an NBA game in two years https://t.co/ITcoztt9BQ

— sreekar (@sreekyshooter) June 3, 2022

Isn't Mark Jackson doing a GSW game a conflict of interest?

does mark jackson have covid too

That Curry assist holy shit

he's got 18 already in the 1st? god damn

close game but not sure that leaving steph open is a good strategy

lebron james kid voice steph curry

Looks like Dennis Duffy is in the crowd.

lmao

very interesting to watch a good competitive basketball game through an entire first half any idea whose idea this was

its nice im in favor of it

celtics already going small, and its working

lmao poole hit the top of the backboard

celtics played some pretty sick defense down the stretch in the 2nd

1st quarter was obvs a mess as far as defending the three but they made a bunch of great stops in transition to stay attached

udoka already messing with lineups they went small with only horf, we saw the tatum plus bench unit with theis, grant got the early hook

this is very interesting

Smart on Draymond is a really nice move by Udoka. Gets him involved switching onto whichever guard is trying to interact with Draymond. Don't recall a team ever doing that with a great guard defender before.

— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) June 3, 2022

in all seriousness i freakin love playoff adjustments

whoa

JUST LOOK AT THE DEFENSE FROM THE BOSTON CELTICS. pic.twitter.com/4DJfKeVl9g

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) June 3, 2022

espn really playing for the youth with this panel huh

xp that was an epic defensive possession.

and yeah, playoff adjustment are amazing. the 7-game series is an awesome format when both teams are strong enough to trade punches.

its so good

did I just see an ad for uh the Johnny Depp domestic abuse case

Nah, I think it was an Elvis ad

I am watching this while doing something else and every time I see Otto Porter my brain registers it as Lonel Ritchie

tatum's jump shot is looking very weird to my eye--just a slight concern if he suddenly can't shoot

Hello? Is it threes you're looking for?

is his shoulder still fucked

It would be so nice if he made some shots

I guess everyone else can score instead, I'm good with that

hes hesitating even before shooting open 3s warriors d has him confused or something

dare I say the Cs are making a run

the ball is going in the circle

Holy shit

dis game is wild

derrick white on fire

Utterly insane comeback

And all without much of anything from Tatum

yeah the Celtics FG% is like 85% when they don't involve him at all

relentless

derrick white is having an unbelievable game

i have no idea what makes him tick but may this continue for 6 more games

Jaylen Brown not too shabby either

Celtics getting Horford back was like the greatest front office move of the 21st century

amazing it was seen, from the outside at least, as purely dumping kembas contract at the time

Man this has the making of a tremendous choke job.

Horford first player in history to sink 6 threes in a Finals debut

Insurrection!

lol

the peoples comeback

Unbelievable

30 point swing

i knew they still had a shot when they were down but was not expecting this

series narratives are mostly nonsense in this high-variance era but this game should put people on notice. the celtics coming back from multiple double-digit deficits is a really important takeaway.

Draymond's face right now is like "I'm seein' double here! Four Fergies!!"

Respect to the Celtics. Their passing this quarter has been phenomenal. Defense and shooting, too, but the passing is just beautiful.

Maybe the worst draymond playoff game I’ve ever witnessed

he had the best +/- on the team though!

the passing is just beautiful.

― Chyiv Kyiv (Fetchboy), Thursday, June 2, 2022 11:25 PM (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

theyve been playing a ton of switchy paint packing defenses so far this playoffs but with the way the warriors play they might be able to get them in rotation and get back to the high level ball movement that made them the best offense for the ~second half of the season

dubs choked rip

C's aren't the Mavs.

grinders

https://i.imgur.com/7VoKxEN.png

Turns out shooting like 90% on threes and playing great d for the final quarter is a good strategy for winning

hell yea

they should just keep shooting 90% imo the rest will take care of itself

40-16 4th quarter

if the celtics can play pritchard without the warriors victimizing him like they did tonight thats good for them

The Boston Celtics are the first team in NBA history to win a Finals game by double digits after trailing by double digits entering the 4th quarter.

Their win probability fell as low as 4 percent when they were down 15 near the end of the 3rd quarter. pic.twitter.com/ce28lV5lsI

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 3, 2022

hard to account for that shooting but if you take a step back the fourth quarter was way harder for the warriors than it was the celtics, putting the shooting aside. the warriors had a really hard time generating offense where as the celtics did not really. even if they miss half those threes they still win. the gap in athleticism was pretty stark in the fourth esp when the warriors had the ball.

steph gave the dubs 34-5-5, might be his best game of the playoffs and he might have to be that good 3-4 more times if the dubs are gonna win the series. if you look at the celtics losses in the last 2 rounds almost all of them featured a herculean effort by someone on the other team. in five of their six losses jimmy had 40 twice, giannis had 40 twice, and bam played the best game of his life. game one vs the bucks they just kinda played like crap. dubs might need one of those

clearly the warriors are gonna need way more from poole bcuz klay is only going to be a standstill shooter in this series and they need someone else who can get buckets in one on one situations. idk if steph has it in him to do be the only one. that’s asking a lot of any player vs boston’s D, which has been borne out in the previous series

Starting the 4th with two non shooters and no Steph isn’t gonna work against this team.

omg @ horf doing draymond’s “muscle man” bicep pose after his and-1 in garbage time.

incredible comeback even more incredible that they did it without tatum scoring. i always thought the c’s best chance of winning this series was to steal game 1 in california, before the warriors had a chance to get used to their physicality.

first quarter the c’s offense felt v stagnant. how many times did we see tatum drive into a wall and kick to smart for a 3? that can’t be plan A.

one interesting thing for the rest of the series is the celtics played much better in this game with only one big, the dubs were finding too many holes in their d with two bigs trying to navigate all that movement, they had a good run with just horf in the first half then played small the whole 4th starting with rob then subbing horf, only problem is they dont have enough perimeter players to play that way all game unless they want to play nesmith who is not very good but can play some d idk, just might not be grants series its asking a lot of him to be chasing the dubs guys around screens

conversely idk if the dubs draymond at center lineups can play enough defense to be viable, they ran with him there almost the whole 4th and the celtics were getting whatever they wanted, the thing that made their old death lineups so great was that they could really defend theyd turn you over then hit a three two seconds later, now theyre putting iggy porter poole and post injury klay out there none of whom are great defenders and theyre small playing a physical team that still has good size even when theyre small, think they might need to look at some kuminga minutes or smthn

you cant run kuminga with draymond, youd have two offensive zeroes in a death lineup it just doesnt work. warriors might be out of options here

Looney plays alongside Draymond a lot though. Then again, Looney is also an MVP.

Yah but Steph plays with them.

JJJ and morant left open to shoot threes was the plan. not sure they want horford shooting those same shots

Dubs lost cuz I posted a prediction.

Warriors defense seemed really bad at times, like they were doing a drive and kick drill

yeah. i’m sure the response would be that letting horford, white, and pritchard shoot a bunch of threes is an acceptable defensive strategy vs the celtics, and the shooting will surely flip back in other direction to some degree. but like i posted last night boston just didn’t seem bothered really at all… 56 points in the first half and 40 points in the fourth quarter.

and also the warriors shot nearly as well as boston from three, their makes were just more concentrated in the first half

idk i try not to take too much away from game 1s but that one left me pretty pessimistic about the warriors chances

Boston shut off a lot of the easy buckets in paint the Warriors generally get from all their movement. My impression was most of their buckets in the paint were from offensive rebounds rather than drives or cuts. Capt obvious says if the dubs can't figure out how to generate points in the paint they really are going to have to win as a jump shooting team - not a likely path to success.

Gotta get Williams in foul trouble if they want to get into the paint.

yeah. i’m sure the response would be that letting horford, white, and pritchard shoot a bunch of threes is an acceptable defensive strategy vs the celtics

― J0rdan S., Friday, June 3, 2022 12:32 PM (forty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah i mean white sure but the other two youre drawing dead, maybe if you get a late quasi contest but idk both of them have good shot selection and will just swing it

rob still only looks about 70-80% - he’s not making passes like he can - but he got a few great blocks and his presence alone is a difference maker

i dunno about the dubs pessimism, seems to me like they were leading most of the game and got burned on some unsustainable shooting

the thing i would worry about if i were the dubs is the celtics figuring out which defensive scheme doesnt give up wide open steph threes

i mean the celtics did get hot in the 4th but they also straight cooked the dubs, celtics were getting perfect looks and the dubs were getting none

dubs shooting before the 4th was also hot fwiw

that is true. and tatum was missing absolutely wide open looks. he’s usually hitting 4 or 5 more of those, that’s 10 points right there

yeah if history is any guide hell bounce back next game

pumped to see what the adjustments are from both sides. kerr needs to play the guys 40 minutes and unload the clip. they have 2 days off between games now and this may be their best/last shot at this. wiggins only 35 minutes makes no sense hes been leading the team in minutes all year.

yeah true they need him in there and i almost wrote to be more aggressive but this is wigdawg were talking about hes gonna be himself its just crazy when you see guys who can shoot not hunting threes in this day and age

celtics shot really well in the 2nd half but i dont think steph is going to get as many open looks again as he did in the 1st either

feel like those ought to balance each other out

—Boston made 68.2 percent of their baskets in the period (15-of-22 from the field.

—The Celtics shot 75 percent from 3-point range (9-of-12) with four different players hitting multiple 3s in the period.

—Boston had just one turnover in the entire period, giving them a five shot advantage over Golden State by getting a shot up on almost every possession.

—Ime Udoka stuck with Payton Pritchard for eight minutes over Marcus Smart, rolling with the reserve guard as the team was in the midst of a frantic comeback featuring him and White in the backcourt.

—Boston scored 10 points on four Warriors turnovers.

—The Celtics assisted 12 of their 15 made field goals. Tatum and Brown combined for nine of the team’s 12 assists.

Celtics on defense

—The Warriors scored just 16 points in the period on 7-of-17 shooting from the field as well as 25 percent shooting from 3-point range


—Golden State failed to make a free throw attempt for the entire period with Draymond Green missing his only two attempts.

—Boston committed just one foul in the entire fourth quarter.

—After grabbing 11 offensive rebounds in the first three quarters, the Warriors were limited to just one offensive rebound in the final frame.

pretty good quarter for them

id say it was perfect

a few more bits and pieces i’ve seen

- stephen a., at the arena, said that the dubs looked v tired by the end of the 1st. “hands on their hips”.

- the refs look like they’re letting them play. colin cowherd says that’s an edge for boston if it continues and it’s hard to disagree

- poole will normally get a team’s third or fourth best defender on him. boston’s third or fourth best defender is going to be elite and physical

boston the best at being corporeal

Game 4 vs. the Bucks they had a 4th quarter like that - iirc they only missed 2 shots, hitting 89% or something stupid, which I’m sure was all sorts of records

boston the best at being corporeal

― Herby Dutch Baby (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, June 3, 2022 8:19 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

its true they even wore the bucks down who were ostensibly the bigger team

lmao

Warriors up 2 podcasts to 0 on the Celtics pic.twitter.com/4lnXKGsg9q

— Kevin Huo (@KevinMHuo) June 3, 2022

Maybe the worst draymond playoff game I’ve ever witnessed

― Spottie, Thursday, June 2, 2022 11:26 PM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

gotta agree, been consuming recaps and breakdowns and seen a lot of draymond standing in no mans land watching celtics take open threes, a very un draymond behavior

The league has averaged about 3.3 corner 3s (per team) per game this season. The Warriors have allowed 23 in their last three games.

Overall, the Warriors have allowed 123.8 points per 100 possessions over those three games, the most they’ve allowed in any three-game stretch with Green in the lineup this season.

Dray has to build content for his podcasts. He’s on the hero’s journey… gotta play poorly and get desperate before the triumphant return to glory.

Problem is Boston might have different script

i dont care about the pod thing but people are really mad about it. i think its cool we hear from the players right after games but they def need to be careful not to give the opponent any bulletin board material.

havent really been nervous about any game this year until this one. so hard not to overreact to one game but... i have doubts. the margin for error is completely gone vs this celtics defense. they just cant waste possessions.

i can certainly see why for most fans of the team the optics of podding right after a loss are…not great.

yeah i would not like it if it were my team

imo podcasting is harmless and the whole backlash to it is pretty funny its a perfect absurd story, but dray should prob just not do it anyway its just not worth sticking your neck out like that does he really want to have to hear people bitch about his podcast forever if they lose

tho yeah tbh marcus smart podding throughout the playoffs does not sound great to me

there was story about how horf is keeping everyone dialed in throughout the offs telling them its a business trip no partying no doing dumb shit and im just imagining him saying no podcasting

personally if i find out anyone's castin it's over for them

*punching my hand into my fist* dont make me check your luggage for usb mics

ha, which celtic would be the most likely to podcast? would it be marcus? i don’t have a great sense of all the personalities

yeah prob marcus, maybe jaylen would have one that wasnt about basketball

actually wait its grant definitely grant

Yes 100% grant. Yea the podcasting backlash is funny he’s in his hotel talking about hoops I see no harm. If they get swept and he plays every game like game 1 then I might say give it a rest but he’s been doing it through the playoffs and he’s been fine. Kinda cool to get real time reactions beyond the post game platitudes and cliches from someone playing imo. Dubs fans (mainly the curry stan brigade) have been weird about Dray ever since he signed with klutch and started gassing lebron tho.

Off the court Dubs are all business for the most part even Poole they say is like a hoop eat sleep and in the gym at all times guy.

lol i can remember taking the bus home after my junior varsity hoops team lost its first road game and thinking, well, i have to feel really bad now because that's how sports work and i'd totally bought into it

obviously it's a job and successful athletes do so much work that fans know nothing of, and i don't think 'casting is gonna make draymond less prepared for game 2. but puncturing fans' illusions is never worth the blowback

Horford telling you to not party and to praise god before eating the blandest meal at 5 pm when you have 50 million dollars if you win or lose.

It's not all about the money. There's an elation about winning a chip that almost all the best players seek. If you do that, the money follows of its own accord.

Goodnight to Celtics fans only ☘️ pic.twitter.com/FY4VeijVu7

— 𝙍𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙮 ☘️ (@CelticsRiley) June 4, 2022

lmao

Andre Iguodala is out. Per Kerr, Andre’s knee swelled up and he’s “day to day.”

— Kerith Burke (@KerithBurke) June 5, 2022

Robert Williams has been upgraded to available for Game 2, per the Celtics.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 5, 2022

Steve Kerr said that Gary Payton II has improved health-wise the last couple of days and Kerr anticipates Payton playing in Game 2.

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 5, 2022

love to improve health-wise

it is nice to know which people will play in the game and which will not

the game is all about who plays i always say

I was hoping GP2 had added a stepback :(

dray made a contested layup

draymond is out of control

needs to save that energy for his podcast

Trying to fire himself up but now another tech gets him booted.

theres no such thing as another tech, he can kick the refs in the nuts now if he wants they won't call it

He’ll have a long leash for sure but you never know

this game was nice and propulsive for the first 6 minutes but now the refs have slowed it to a crawl

Speeding up again

One 3 after another

unfortunately for the warriors anytime they get hot from three the celtics match it

lotta turnovers

Doesn't seem so unfortunate to me

Goaltending possible calls should be reviewed automatically at tv timeouts

thats nice the refs stopped a celtics fast break for nothing

Ten minutes for a play on call yuck

Warriors should make their layups imo

xxp tbf White asked for it

warriors are fighting uphill tonight

i know no one wants to say it but klay is cooked

so cooked

what is going on with this Trae/Jonquel/Boban commercial?? it's like the least natural interaction I've seen in my life

Let's get it under control

the payton minutes are a lot better than the igoudala minutes

Wiggins gonna need 25+ with klay and Poole being booty

the payton minutes are a lot better than the igoudala minutes

Wiggins is Tatum but present for this finals

I meant to post that last game

re: cooked klay

GS Warriors tonight
Klay Thompson ON: -13
Klay Thompson OFF: +18

— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) June 6, 2022

Tatum seems to be doing ok this game

celtics shooting way better from 3 than in the paint

This is why choking game 1 was so bad cos tatum won’t play that bad again

Getting emotional out there

uh oh

theres no such thing as another tech, he can kick the refs in the nuts now if he wants they won't call it

― ciderpress, Sunday, June 5, 2022 8:35 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Brown really swept the leg

tbf i dont want dray ejected but his antics are exhausting

ugly game lots of careless turnovers

both teams swarming (the best kind of defense)

lol at jvg making no sense

celtics have made an insane number of great transition d plays so far this series

Klay Poole 2/13 we ain’t winning Jack without one of those guys making some shots

scenes from the applebee's bar woven seamlessly into shots of tom cruise rippin' sky in a fighter jet

Man the shit ppl say to justify draymond’s behavior

dinner at Applebees then a screening of the new Top Gun movie is like @DadBoner heaven

What a shitshow

celtics continuing to shoot like 50% from 3 and 20% in the paint

oh nooo a 12 point deficit how will the Celtics ever come back

That was some gross ball there for a couple minutes everyone was cooked

Extremely sloppy

no one on the celtics has even been able to make shot attempts thsi game except tatum and brown

Huge by tatum

warriors calling a post up for wiggins out of a timeout

Can they come back from 23?

WHAAAAT

Can they come back from 23?

― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Sunday, June 5, 2022 10:04 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

objectively yes, since they were +24 in the 4th last game

yeah and it only took the greatest 4th quarter in Finals history :)

Tatum is -36

yeah rough game for him hes played the most minutes is most of why its higehr than the other celtics though

i do think he is very injured tbh. guess we'll find out at the end of the series

My dad just blamed dray for his ambivalence toward professional basketball

your dad is kevin durant?

irl lol

lol

Man the shit ppl say to justify draymond’s behavior

fwiw, dubs fans in my group chats were pissed off about his antics all game and calling for him to get ejected/benched.

yeah i think everyone thought he was gonna get booted

ahh the return of the bad celtics. like the changing of the seasons.

The thing about Draymond is there’s a separate set of rules. I don’t mind antics and tomfoolery but it’s really flagrantly unfair to the other crazy players in the league.

agree that the refs have painted themselves into a corner, but the restraint they've shown is still impressive. draymond is out there *bragging* about how he can do whatever he wants! 90% of MLB umpires would toss him for even *looking* at them after that

so either NBA refs are significantly more professional or adam silver has snipers posted outside their houses

hes like a mix of rasheed and garnett

inventing a time machine so i can also invent podcasts and make ~2001 rasheed have a podcast. not gonna do anything else with my time machine, sorry, that's all i'm interested in

its a shame he didnt trademark 'ball dont lie'

Wrong thread, but while we're speaking of Rasheed:

Sources: Four-time NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace has agreed on a deal to be an assistant coach for the Lakers under new head coach Darvin Ham. Both were teammates in Detroit and part of the 2004 title team. Memphis‘ Penny Hardaway hinted today Wallace may join Ham in LA.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 6, 2022

love sheed obviously but that does not increase my confidence in the lakers getting their shit together

which is just fine by me

Still out there, feeding his family

CTC

the unexistence of Both Teams Played Hardcast is breaking my heart tonight

ahh perfect haha

darvin ham

damn i thought there was ball tonight smh

yeah not good for fans but good for the teams

is time lord ok?

havent seen anything official but hes been injured since hes been back from being injured idk sometimes hes like 75% sometimes 25, as they say it is what it is

sucks

whatre u gonna do

it seems like he can give them 5-10 good minutes early in the game and that’s really it

Scott Foster tonight baby.

after they announce the starting line ups scott foster should enter the arena to stone cold steve austin's music. imo

looooooool exactly

Lmao

celtics will win by 100

it’s getting to the point where every time golden state makes a shot it feels like the end of the world to me, i am far too invested. i’m watching colin cowherd youtubes ffs

i will pray for you

after they announce the starting line ups scott foster should enter the arena to stone cold steve austin's music. imo

― J0rdan S., Wednesday, June 8, 2022 11:47 AM (twenty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

then eject draymond before the game starts

i definitely thought were were overdue some VAR disputes and right on cue

i’m watching colin cowherd youtubes ffs

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, June 8, 2022 9:16 AM (twenty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

youve fallen too far im afraid

Welcome to the Gahden pic.twitter.com/YqulUYK54y

— Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (@winningtimehbo) April 18, 2022

cuet

the celtics surely arent going to continue to cover curry the same way, they gotta blitz him at some point.. right?

imo the bigger issue is lineups they have to go to a single big with jt at the 4 more which will allow them to get up on steph, tho mixing in some blitzing particularly when theyre big is def worth a try

yeh grant better be ready to contribute

grant seems bad in this series

yah but should be better at home. warriors will need klay to make shots to win this game/series.

cld try some grant at center, hes part of the problem at the 4, not out of the question he just plays better tho

huh! seems rough this is starting at 9pm local time, that's bad!

They want the ca people to be able to watch it live I guess? Even 30 minutes earlier makes sense to me tho.

yeah obv they want west coast folks to be off work but seems rude either way

had to look it up and we haven't had a truly bi-coastal finals since lakers-celtics 2010 (19 raptors don't count for obvious canadian reasons)

agree that chip didnt count otm

lol

the rockets chips dont count either the league should have politely waited for jordan to unretire

otm

in the end no rings count except for jordans

the pistons in 03 also counts but only in that it is a negative ring for the lakers

oh good call also 11 mavs. i know youre thinking 16 cavs but no sorry denied before request.

that team had lebron james on it

lfg celtics!

Some of the Dubs complained about the height of the basket and they were right. pic.twitter.com/YoDytYt7uW

— Tim Roye (@warriorsvox) June 8, 2022

lmao

Is this the new deflategate?

l,ol

Wait til people hear about the green monster

welcome to tha garden eat some chowder park a car

kid hey kid your mothers in the wastepaper basket... down cellar

lot of people out there tonight who seemingly dont know that the teams switch sides at halftime

i went to a game once with a guy i sorta knew who early in the first claimed that the teams changed sides after every quarter and i was like "hmm, i think it's at the half" and he was VERY sure he was right and said he'd prove it when they changed sides at the start of the second quarter. he sure never brought it up when they didn't!

that guy had more nipples than brains!

celtics go with a one big lineup three minutes into the game, im an honorary assistant coach now

Too bad you don’t get paid for it

i get paid in honor bucks

Celtics look comfy

Nelly sitting court side. Ready to cheer for the other guy from St. Lou!

— Abby Chin (@tvabby) June 9, 2022

Rob Williams limping around and playing great, really impressive stuff

the fans aren't having Green's antics

not sure they can play bjelica.....

Yah he’s an at home only guy but they want spacers out there

I like Paul Pierce's jacket

i think its one of the ones the nba gave the top 75 guys

this is an absolutely awful defensive lineup for the warriors

Paul Pierce is definitely in the top 75 of guys

top 75 in our hearts baby

thats the truth baby

Why did Steph curry guard Tatum on like 6 straight possessions

Two of those three curry fouls uhhhhh

third one was def a con

that was a nice resilient quarter by the warriors. even if the celtics stay smoking and this one doesn’t get particular close they at least were able to get pretty good offense with steph sitting and their shooting has more or less traveled. it felt like that one was headed for a 25 point deficit but the dubs role players held up much better than i expected

Yah down 12 feels like a miracle

why are these teams playing on saran wrap

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2022%2F0609%2Fr1022914_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&w=628&h=353&scale=crop&cquality=80&location=center&format=jpg

thats the famous garden parquet (saran wrap) baby

see if the dubs can do something about these celtics drives

The Celtics scored 120.8 points per 100 plays in the halfcourt during the first half, according to @cleantheglass. Just a huge number.

— Jay King (@ByJayKing) June 9, 2022

that was very, very crafty by smart

idk what steph was thinking there

honestly he's always taken his share of dub fouls

*dumb

look at this absolute icon

Me showing up to my high school drama club’s musical rehearsal after my first semester of college. pic.twitter.com/eZB6Oqge59

— Josh Gondelman (@joshgondelman) June 9, 2022

look they put lil patches for his other teams on the celtics jacket lol

would be a shame to forget his run with the clips

celtics missing some good looks here

omg fuck off jeff

he literally jumped and landed

I don't know what he could have done there, but it seems like the right call

If they call a flagrant on that I'm moving to Stockholm to design currency for dogs and cats.

— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) June 9, 2022

Jesus

not sure i've seen a 7 pt possession before??????

the warriors aren't missing anything here

they need to go at curry while he's in the game

Kerr stole those minutes sitting curry there.

Pritchard is a solid backup

the fact that the celtics didn't get utterly buried in the 3rd bodes well

gettin pretty loosey goosey out there

some funny sequences there

gotta slow things down, be more patient

Curry just threw it away three times ina row

Pritchard is a solid backup

― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, June 8, 2022 11:03 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's nothing mind-blowing but he plays with a *lot* of composure for a second-year point guard who's in the finals

that's a cool jacket!

dubs looking pretty gassed

they can't challenge with all the fouls

someone should ask draymond green when he's planning on having a good game in this series

Last game?

eh it was fine

the fans aren't having Green's antics

― Muad'Doob (Moodles), Wednesday, June 8, 2022 6:44 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

See non-Boston people aren't surprised

Cs playing really nice defense this quarter

feel like I'm watching a wrestling match

sit down Draymond

rip dubs

rob was absolutely massive tonight, 4 blocks 3 steals best plus/minus on the team and the warriors are terrified of him

yeah amazing game from rob particularly considering he was dragging one of his legs around

Def the X factor dude for the game.

They prob needed to find more minutes for looney cos they got crushed on the boards

xp it's weird to say about a fast twitch guy like him but his timing is so good that he can be effective at half speed

tuff stuff from the celtics tonight really let their size and physicality show exactly how they have to play to win this series

yeah they took some blows from steph/klay but played a really composed game for the most part, controlled the turnovers, got the job done

i believe they can even win a third quarter at some point

Timeline nothing but moaning about refs after every game.

cant let the ref get inside yr head!

second time in three games the warriors got their butts kicked in the fourth quarter primarily on the offensive end. poole being completely ineffective is killing them in those moments, steph and klay have to work so hard to get shots it really isn’t a blueprint for winning. and then draymond was pretty invisible for most of the game, the celtics size is clearly neutering him & if the warriors can’t punish the celtics for playing big i don’t see how they can win the series

didn't feel like this was an erratic ref game to me

there were some real bad ones in the ecf but the finals has been ok

i keep returning to the thought that we’re gonna need to see a butler game 6 esque performance from steph in one of these road games if the warriors are gonna be able to flip this in their favor. they played pretty well overall as a team tonight but the celtics have too much depth especially at home, the warriors are gonna need at least one game where steph completely puts them on his back. thought maybe we’d get it tonight but they clamped down on him in the fourth. i don’t know where else the offense is coming from

Jaylen Brown scored 27 points and 9 rebounds in tonight’s 116-100 win over Golden State.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 9, 2022

rare miss from magic, you don't "score" rebounds

Tatum made some nice finger rolls and tough angled layups. van gundy was otm about him just shooting with confidence in the lane vs the last couple games hunting for the contact. Celts did a great job ignoring Dray all night too and not letting him get in their heads. Another real stinker for him, he can’t have another. They also shut down all the gsw offensive glass they’ve been getting and kept the TOs down just enough. Smart seemed to hit a lot of run killing shots. Feels like rob altered at least 15 shots.

Poole is playing timid. Just gotta hoist and be himself let it fly. Dubs gotta stop digging themselves such big holes to start games, been a theme for them.

Smarts banked three was a real back breaker

oof

Steph Curry: "I'll be all right. Got caught underneath Al." Said he's in pain. Same foot sprain that he suffered against Boston earlier this season, but "not as bad". Said he doesn't believe he will miss Game 4.

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) June 9, 2022

Draymond this Finals:

15 PTS
26.3 FG%
0-7 3P
5-10 FT

He has more turnovers than made baskets. pic.twitter.com/o6MY3TmcFk

— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 9, 2022

i still think he was pretty great in game 2 but only took a few shots. im more worried about him getting punked on the glass and throwing the ball away.

i don’t think kerr would ever sit draymond in crunch time or anything but if they’re gonna get shredded defensively with him out there while also having other offensive zeros (poole, klay depending on the game) on the floor with him i wonder if they should strongly consider going even smaller and trying to get as much shooting out there as possible. if dray is really bringing it on defense and the team is holding up on that end fine, but if not (like tonight) they might’ve just been better off cutting the rotation down to steph, klay, poole, wiggins, porter, GP and trying to bomb boston out of the building like the way the mavs won some of these games

i also find it baffling that they’re screaming out for some size and athleticism help vs this team and won’t let kuminga even sniff meaningful minutes. but that’s a whole separate discussion

hes too mistake prone. but i would def throw him out for a few minutes and see what happens, give him the first bjelica stint why not. i think moody should be getting all of iggys minutes but its really hard to trust rookies idk.

game 4 gonna be tough. they wont get desperate unless they lose that one. thought the warriors had the momentum shifting and then kerr sat curry and he never got his rhythm back. kerr got cute on that one. sitting steph when hes cooking should be a crime. immediately threw three TOs to start the 4th and that was that.

curry needs his rest - he played 38 minutes in game 1 and was gassed by the end of it. he played 37 minutes today despite sitting for the last 2

celtics were going at him too making him work on both ends etc, its tough because the dubs dont have enough playmaking without him, they need dray and poole to play better

the podcast is about the podcast now, hes right but also hes wrong, lmao

DRAYMOND: "Sorry this podcast is probably doing better numbers than yours...Y'all going to get this podcast. Win, lose, draw, hoisting the trophy, putting my ring on my finger, you name it. Y'all getting this podcast." pic.twitter.com/4M2KKKZsNY

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) June 9, 2022

podcastislife

Tatum made some nice finger rolls and tough angled layups. van gundy was otm about him just shooting with confidence in the lane vs the last couple games hunting for the contact. Celts did a great job ignoring Dray all night too and not letting him get in their heads. Another real stinker for him, he can’t have another. They also shut down all the gsw offensive glass they’ve been getting and kept the TOs down just enough. Smart seemed to hit a lot of run killing shots. Feels like rob altered at least 15 shots.

Poole is playing timid. Just gotta hoist and be himself let it fly. Dubs gotta stop digging themselves such big holes to start games, been a theme for them.

yeh for sure, memphis got him flustered too but they arent as solid defensively

he had a crazy year but hes also a season removed from the g league and now a loaded defense is putting him in spots that he prob not ready for

wild thing about the celtics defense is theyre all good individual defenders even most top defenses have a few weak or mediocre guys but they make it work via scheming and playing together but the celtics do that and dont really have any weak points with the possible exception of pritchard whos their 8th man and who actually plays good d but is just small

poole has had the opportunity to pick on teams lesser defenders all year but the celtics dont really have those

yeah for sure. its tough for everyone out there. high quality ball and adjustments so far.

he had a crazy year but hes also a season removed from the g league and now a loaded defense is putting him in spots that he prob not ready for

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 9, 2022 8:48 AM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah his sporadic play is to be expected. gonna be near impossible to win if 2/3 of dray/klay/poole dont string together a run of consistent good games from here on out.

warriors need to find a way to get back to the swarming d they had in game two, celtics outran the swarm last night by playing fast making early reads repeated drive and kicks, not sure what the adjustment is for the dubs other than playing harder

maybe draymond should stop podcasting? haha

problem is this is the exact kind of team that nullifies his strengths a bit.

yeah hes better when hes the most physical energetic guy out there but repeatedly crashing into other very physical players all game will make it tough

maybe draymond should stop podcasting? haha

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 9, 2022 9:01 AM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

maybe he should be partying a bit and loosening up lol. actually get his mind OFF hoops for a couple hours.

draymond doesn’t have any advantages against a team whose small line up is actually big. he is getting killed on the glass and can’t shoot, his 2 man game with steph isn’t being utilized in this series, just not sure what he’s bringing to the table. the only time he’s really looked useful to me is when he’s basically been playing the 3 on defense guarding tatum & brown. this is why i posted last night that they should consider going even smaller by taking him off the floor and amping up the shooting. if they need a big in there play looney who can actually maybe rebound against this team

maybe, i just dont see it happening. drays too smart and good not to be able to have impact on a game/series consistently. game 4 is huge for him.

i don’t think they should outright bench him, they gotta see what he has in any given game. but if he’s playing like he did last night they have to try other things bcuz he simply wasn’t providing anything

jaylen was straight up isoing him up last night, blood in the water

you know hes gonna come out in full psycho mode for game 4, well see how the refs feel about that behavior on the road

everyone cooked everyone last night. it was a layup line

drays gotta hold up tho thats what hes there for

he was trying to get tossed after he fouled out last night just staring down the ref from three feet away after yelling in his face lol god bless

Draymond Green picks up his 6th and final foul and stares down referee Courtney Kirkland 👀 pic.twitter.com/byxpw5LFkx

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) June 9, 2022

draymond's two huge strengths as a player are 1. his two man chemistry w/ steph on offense 2. his help/roving style of defense. if this match up dictates that the warriors need to attack in traditional PNR and play iso defense then what exactly is draymond bringing to the table on either end of the floor

i dont disagree but if they go super small the warriors d just falls apart completely prob, like maybe you can try playing looney with four shooters but i dont think is a great series for him either, and the warriors secondary shooters have been so passive anyway like maybe theyll hit a catch and shoot but theyre not putting much pressure on the d, and of course boston has so many ways to match up with their various lineups

feel like the warriors just need that most basic of adjustments, play better

I’d say pushing the pace is up there for him too. And usually he’s good one on one they all just sucked last night

i think they tried steph/klay/poole/wiggins/looney last night and the celtics were just living at the rim

its interesting the celtics have totally refused to trap steph theyd rather live with giving him some good looks coming off screens than activate the draymond halfcourt fastbreak

this was a cool play

I'll let Mark Jackson give you the zone-beater breakdown.

If there's one thing I'll add, Jaylen Brown is in *that* corner for a reason. Look at the strain it places on Andrew Wiggins, and where things go from there. pic.twitter.com/vDjwLl2JO2

— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) June 9, 2022

feel like the warriors just need that most basic of adjustments, play better

xp i dunno. seems like the obvious solution there is to just let derrick white take an above the break three. i know he's been hot but just strikes me as bad defense. did the warriors play a lot of zone in the regular season? it's hard to just start randomly playing zone in the finals

so good how white drew two with barely a fake then casually passes it back to al, must have been so satisfying for him

celtics used to have a lot of trouble with the zone now they shred it, pretty big deal for them

i dont think you can just give white that perfect look but sending two is prob not the way

feel like the warriors just need that most basic of adjustments, play better

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 9, 2022 1:05 PM (twenty minutes ago)

i think this is true but the thing is they actually have been playing pretty well. steph is having his best series of the playoffs, wiggins/porter/payton have been as solid as you'd need, klay has played near the top of what you could expect for him these days. so it really comes down to draymond and poole and on paper i don't really see the route for them playing better except for them to ummmmmm play better? so that's where i come back to kerr -- who is on the rigid side of the coaching spectrum -- needing to figure out ways to try and tweak the series strategically, in some fashion. i thought in the heat-celtics series there was a lot of "just play better" level changes from game to game -- the one bam game for instance -- but also thought each coach was noticeably adjusting strategically each night out. what does kerr have in his bag?

all this crying about celtics fans is so weak man lol

I’ve chatted with multiple Warriors staffers (who work in various diff roles in the org) and their experience here in Boston has been crazy.

One told me “I had to take off my Dubs shirt Wed morning because I kept getting cursed out.”

Another: “I’ve been flipped off 17 times.”

— Jason Dumas (@JDumasReports) June 9, 2022

[pullin The Bird out of my pocket] it’s 18 times now, bucko

so good how white drew two with barely a fake then casually passes it back to al, must have been so satisfying for him

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 9, 2022 1:28 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

love a good zone beater

*hands warriors staffer a box of kleenex but then my middle finger pops out of it*

did the warriors play a lot of zone in the regular season? it's hard to just start randomly playing zone in the finals

― J0rdan S., Thursday, June 9, 2022 10:25 AM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

they did some zone. they go in and out of it. worked really well against mem/dallas. but... these guys have only played together 19 games together this season, all of them playoff games.

blessed news

There is optimism today on Warriors star Stephen Curry’s status for Game 4 of the NBA Finals vs. Boston on Friday, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. It appears Curry won't need MRI, has avoided major issue with his left foot, and will attend Golden State's afternoon practice.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 9, 2022

ah thats good didnt look too serious at the time but you never know

so that's where i come back to kerr -- who is on the rigid side of the coaching spectrum -- needing to figure out ways to try and tweak the series strategically, in some fashion.

yeah it feels anathema to what kerr is about to do so, but might have to play the rooks just to throw something at the celtics that they haven't seen and throw a wrench in the way things are headed. i get that you don't want kuminga out there getting lost and making mistakes, but let's be honest the front line dubs are not exactly holding the fort either, so.

an act of desperation that probably backfires but sometimes you have to take the big swings. call it the uh sarah palin option

Warriors offensive rating this Finals:

116.8 with Steph on the floor
(Would rank first this season)

91.5 with Steph on the bench
(Would rank worst in last 50 seasons) pic.twitter.com/7J9AzltBeL

— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 9, 2022

thats legit crazy

poole has gotta cook.

also steph needs to play 44 minutes even if he cant. just stand in the corner for about 6 posessions

every time ime talks it sounds like he’s holding in a toke

steph can't really take possessions off because he is getting targeted on defense, particularly in the 4th when the celtics know he is tired and are runnning their spread offense

yeah the celtics have gotten this far by in large part wearing teams down, except for the heat you cant wear the heat down because of heat culture

Except lowry

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FU6CkwzXwAE2JRc?format=jpg&name=large

the fellas

football with the guys.

lol it does look like football

hello I’m Marcus Smart and this is The Finals

lol nice

Horf has classic juicin spot atop his head

gotta say i love this matchup and hope the dubs extend it cos we need more games between these two teams. i like the guys on both teams. good characters, hard playin players and defenses, good coaching, sweet shotmaking... the nba finals baby need more of it.

weirdly another one of these series where we haven't had a great game yet. 12, 19, 16 point margins in the three games. have certainly had some great halves, great quarters tho

yaeh the endings havent been incredible but every game has had drama. games 1&3 were closer than their final scores and the first half of game 2 was shot for shot.

yeah not close at the end but they’ve all been thrilling. stunning 4th quarter comeback in game 1, stunning 3rd quarter comebacks in games 2 & 3. great ball movement on both sides, great d, very high intensity. nobody has really played “bad” imo, at least not for very long, they’ve just been taken out of their game by adjustments

still waiting for tatum or curry to erupt for 45. i thought maybe the defensive clamps on each guy would just be too much, force each of them to distribute more, but tatum got to the rim A LOT in game 3 and i still feel like boston are playing steph a little loose, letting him curl around the high screen just a little too easily. still very easy for me to imagine splash bros catching fire on the same night and putting the game way out of reach

playoff adjustment alert

Warriors starting Otto Porter over Kevon Looney in Game 4 of NBA Finals https://t.co/sgqwu5YLfl

— Kurt Helin (@basketballtalk) June 11, 2022

idgi, looney has been fine?

Need shooting spread the floor

if only there was another non-shooter who could come off the bench.....

?

That’s not an offensive foul ffs

Hah Poole shoving rob in the back blatantly

pretty cool quarter

rob has had that touch pass to get the corner 3 for grant since he was a rookie--such a wild skill for a center

Yah. Don’t think I’ve ever seen curry react like he did after that 2nd three.

challenging the whole crowd to a fight lol

otm

INCREDIBLE pass from Rob Williams. pic.twitter.com/xVsBNxLkJA

— Half Court Hoops (@HalfCourtHoops) June 11, 2022

Who wouldn’t want to fight the whole Boston crowd tbf

This lineup has to produce

Rob is so good man

hes really turned up his rebounding effort in the last couple games in a way i havent seen before

Dray so out of sorts

yeah few just awful drives

Jaylen Jordan

that was a ridiculous finish

Celtics hit so many timely threes

Dray is cooked man

hes not looking great out there

it's insane, he gets the ball on the baseline like 8 feet from the basket and no one even cares

i love jaylens face and hand sliding into the frame

Jaylen Brown was sooo close to touching that Derrick White “And 1” pic.twitter.com/ktzSU09xFi

— Andrew Jerell Jones, Luke 1:37 (IG:twdbk3) (@sluggahjells) June 11, 2022

Refs not giving anyone these continuation foul calls kinda weird

i'm very sorry to report that draymond is dead now

in lieu of flowers please send podcasts

He’s been so bad

Time to sub him oht

funeral brought to you by mail order mattress company

haha

Lmao that Otto draymond fast break

Celtics are just better, dubs gonna have to go lights out to win

it feels like steph vs the best team in the nba and he's down 3, amazing really

thing about this series is neither team is great theyre both just very good so anything can happen

It’s gonna come down to TOs like usual

it is interesting to see steph really have to be the man tho, sort of a new situation for him, and hes doing it

Klay and Dray sucking bad and only down 6 is a miracle

it is interesting to see steph really have to be the man tho, sort of a new situation for him, and hes doing it

Celtics shooting over 50% from three on the series right?

think they were at 43 before tonight

Happned int the 19 finals too he did good but Dray was rough
― Spottie, Friday, June 10, 2022 10:38 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

true that was kinda hopeless tho

it's incredible that mark jackson still doesn't understand that the celtics going under on curry is a conscious choice

seen a lot of people frustrated by the 3pt differential but celtics shooting way more open corner 3s than the dubs so its as expected

yup

steph is so good man what can you say how is he like this

kerrs in game interview when they asked him what steph was doing to get going and he said "hes just really good at basketball" i was like yes its true

He can’t be subbed out of this game just gotta ride him sorry Steph

it's cool he likes to play & it's his job

The illegal screen call is a a scourge

we got a basketball game on our hands here

dont mean to alarm anyone but its basketball time

Steph gonna have to score at least 15 in this quarter lol

Dray has to be -1 million. Sadly I don’t see Kerr sitting him for the 4th.

i can't really post about it rationally but hell of a game here guys

Lol yeah I’ve deleted ~20 posts so far