Draymond with the 2/5/4 line. I expect a dirty play from him leading to a possible injury to a Celtics player in the next game.
nerves were probably somewhat of a factor, but it was also GS not wanting Tatum to go off and therefore forcing him to make plays. He missed a lot of shots he usually makes but he also made a ton of plays for others with the attention he was getting all night.
I did not catch the entire game. Did Donkey kick, crotch punch, or undercut anyone? I wouldn't count on his "Code" compliance!
The switch-heavy Celtics defense is very similar to the 2018 Rockets' defense that did quite well against GS, with the exception that Boston has Marcus Smart instead of Chris Paul. Smart is 3 inches taller and plays like PJ Tucker. This Warriors team also lacks a top-tier post player who can punish switches. Wiggins can do this a bit but he's no Durant. GS will probably try to hunt switches that bring Robert Williams or Horford onto Curry or Poole instead. Williams and Horford are more mobile than Capela was, but whether they are truly up to the challenge will be one of the key questions for the series.
Defensively boston is bigger, longer, more athletic and younger than the 18' rockets. They're bigger than GS, so punishing switches in the paint isn't really going to be a factor
Curry.... shot 5/17 after starting the game 7/8 failed to score a single point after the Celtics tied the game
The 4th is basically a microcosm for things to come. The Warriors can and will score but what happens when they have to actually, y'know, play defense against 3-4 players? It's easy to neutralize one legitimate threat like Harden or Luka but when you got gamers like Brown, Smart, White, Horford that have made deep runs in the playoffs before it's another story. The Warriors would have felt pretty good about themselves if they won last night because Tatum had a pretty bad game but now they gotta see "well, ****, if we're letting Horford drop 25+ on us then we deserve to lose" Horford is going to force Golden State to pretty much sit Looney at this point and go small ball pretty much the rest of the way. If that's the case then the Warriors are in trouble: Green Wiggins Thompson Poole Curry Horford Tatum Brown Smart White
The game of chess. what will come out on top in the end GS getting enough offense to overcome the lack of defense with poole/curry or will boston make enough shots like last night, while keeping their elite defensive lineups on the floor When you look at their small ball lineups, it's pretty clear Boston has the better defensive lineup
For sure and I'm all for the Warriors having to think and work in order to win. There's no Durant to tilt the board for them anymore and Iguodala is no longer an all-world swiss army knife.
Yes, and '22 GS is easier to gameplan against than '18 GS. They've basically replaced Durant and Livingston with Wiggins and Poole. Durant and Livingston were valuable post options that could reliably hurt the Rockets switch scheme, but the current GS team is less versatile. On offense, I think the '18 Rockets were overall better than the current Celtics, but what we lacked was players with physical advantages like Tatum and Brown who are capable of busting even top defenses by sheer size and strength.
Nope. The Celtics play better defense. Have more size and have enough wing defenders to deal with the Warriors only strength which is their perimeter shooting. They are just better overall. You don’t beat the bucks and heat by accident
early in the season, while i was still watching games, sengun showed me a lot of promise defensively, i saw sengun many times staying with the smallest guards all the way from perimeter to the rim and blocking them at the rim while others failed to secure the rebound and the opponents scored on putbacks... and i also saw sengun being punished for playing a tenacious defense by being withdrawn playing time by silas and nitpicked by the refs and called for plethora of tick tack fouls when making awesome defensive plays... you really think the refs would nitpick sengun the way they did if he were a teamate of draymond? you really expect from a 19 year old to keep playing great defense when his confidence and play is being punished and deincentivized by his own coach? you watch the nba for so many years, including the rockets for last 2 years, and you really think silas is a good coach that optimizes play of his players?! you also thinks lucas can teach players to shoot ?! LOL
Warriors be like - "They trying to beat up with clutch 3's? We wrote the book on that. Celtics - "Yeah, you should really re-read that book you wrote"
