The Warriors are well aware that only one team in history has overcome the 3-1 deficit to win the Final. This was the Cavs in 2016. This is not going to happen in this series. It’s already a fairly steep climb as Golden State have to win three of their next four games against a Celtics team that looks increasingly superior as the series progresses. That said, a win in game 4 changes the equation considerably. It would give the home side the lead back to Golden State in what would be a series of three games. Here are three things that would help the Warriors do it on Friday night.
1. Appreciate each possession
The team that won the battle of the round has won each of the first three games of this series. Both teams have a way of shooting on foot with careless twists, but the Warriors have less room for error. They do not have the defense that the Celtics have to give up and they do not have many All-Star creators like Boston. What the Warriors have is Stephen Curry, who scores 49 percent of the 3 in a row in more than 12 attempts per game. Every time the Warriors flip the ball, in addition to leading to a transitional attack for a more athletic Boston team, it simply takes another chance away from Curry to launch and the Golden State needs every bit of Curry magic it can. to gather. keeps pace with the Celtics. This type of high risk card should be left on the shelf. Golden State always follows a good risk-reward line and it is understandable that it would like to push its fortunes by easily looking for baskets against a Boston defense that becomes a monster when it is set up. But these passes just do not have enough ups. Green tries to pass a very tight thread through a needle in both cases. The Warriors score 97.2 points per 100 half-court holdings in this series, per Cleaning the Glass. This is almost identical to their mark in the regular season. It’s not that they failed to score, especially when Carrie is on the pitch, when they pull it back and run their attack. Pushing the pace and playing free is great, but the Warriors have to appreciate every possession, as the league is on the line, because it is.
2. Draymond must appear
Green was completely bad in two of the three games. For the series, it has more turnovers (6) than made baskets (5). He was aggressive in scoring in the first game, finishing 2 or 12. He lost a shot in a short roll in color, lay-ups and four three-pointers, as the Celtics basically ignored him on the perimeter to throw an extra defender in the paint. driving lanes. In Game 3, Green conceded two points, three assists and four rebounds before committing a foul. After the game, he said he played “like sh-t”, and there really is no other way to put it. With Stephen Curry running a lot of pick-and-rolls, Green would normally make a lot of rolls from the short roll, but the Celtics do not fully beat Curry, so these 4-on-3 opportunities have not been there nearly as long. Green is used to it. When Green does not facilitate the attack, his inability to shoot or really pose any kind of threat to the score becomes a much bigger issue, as he becomes virtually non-distance, trying to wander around the gray areas without blocking much, which is very important. problematic when Kevon Looney, another non-shooter, is also out there. These are two types that Boston can ditch to deal with more impending threats. Without much room in the half for an offensive impact, Green playing excellent defense becomes even more necessary to justify his minutes, which, let’s be honest, are not going to be cut no matter how badly he plays. The problem is that the defense was not so good. Offensive defense is a major problem for Golden State in this series. The Warriors do not stand in front of the creators of Boston, something that starts the domino that leads to all kinds of open shots, as the Golden State is not equipped to protect the rim without sending many defenders in the lane, and thus, out of shooters. This is not a problem of effort. The Warriors just do not have the perimeter defenders they used to have. Klay Thompson is a shell of himself defensively. Jordan Poole is a target for walking. Carrie is a solid defender in a fair fight, but he is small and the Celtics took full advantage of this at the breakers many times in the 3rd game with the post-ups of Al Horford and Marcus Smart. Looney can be pulled out and attacked. Nemanja Bjelica has endured relatively well, but he does not play big minutes and he is definitely not going to be anything more than a neutral defender at best. All of this means that if Green, one of Golden State’s few truly credible defenders, also wins, the Warriors really have no chance. Brown scored any shot he wanted in the first quarter of Game 3, and many of it was against Green. Again, this was a terrible series for Green for the most part. But he has time to turn the script. Just as Curry must bring an attack that really has nowhere else to turn for consistent production, Green must do the same for the defense. His supposed ability to do so is a big reason why Golden State was favored at the beginning of this series (not in my eyes, but at least in Vegas) and the fact that he has not fulfilled that responsibility is an equally big reason that has turned into an underdog. Select the checkbox to confirm that you want to sign up.
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3. Poole or Payton game
Unlike the Celtics, who can play in teams in which neither attack nor defense is at stake, the Warriors must choose. If they play Looney for defense and rebounds, their distance suffers. If they play Bjelica for his shot, they lose the defense. If they go young to score, they are killed in the glass. If they play big, they are collectively slow. There are no two players who better reflect this exchange dilemma than Jordan Poole and Gary Payton II, who jumped Poole in rotation in Game 2 and looked great, but then only played 11 minutes in Game 3. This is a fluid situation. . If Poole wants it, he is very valuable as the lone side creator next to Carrie, and obviously as the only one when Carrie sits down, so as not to be left without. But defending it is a major issue. For Payton, it’s the opposite. As one of the few guys who can hold back the penetration and upset the creators of Boston, his defense is vital, but he is not a sniper that Boston is going to think twice to watch, so he reduces the distance. When Payton is at play, he takes advantage of defensive carelessness by cutting for lay and dunk and is always great on the open floor. It would be best if these guys had a big game that night. They can reflect each other’s minutes and support each other with their opposite skill sets. But at least one of them has to play Good Friday. Poole warming up or Payton stepping up the defense makes the Warriors a different team. One of the things that happens is that Warriors depend less on Curry deleting all those matchup deficiencies on a nuclear trip – something that could happen, but it’s not something you want to rely on.
