Three things to watch for against the Golden State Warriors

Early within the season when the Boston Celtics have been nonetheless discovering their identification, the Golden State Warriors have been placing the league on discover. Steve Kerr’s crew shortly jumped out to an 18-2 report and commanded the perfect protection within the league, together with the perfect internet ranking.

The Warriors continued their resurgence by way of the closing months of 2021, however then, Draymond Inexperienced suffered an harm, and all the things modified. Struggling to re-integrate Klay Thompson, and lacking their area normal in Inexperienced, the Warriors started to slide, and have been treading water ever since.

Likewise, Boston is a completely totally different unit to the one which misplaced to that fell to the Warriors 107-111 in December. The Warriors’ Large Three will all be suiting up for simply the second time this season, which suggests we’re in for a aggressive sport between two very distinct manufacturers of basketball.

Photograph by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE by way of Getty Pictures

1. The rebounding battle

The Celtics rank fourth in rebounds for the season, averaging 46.3 per sport, whereas the Warriors sit seventh. Apparently, whenever you peel a layer off and search for which groups have a better rebounding share, the Warriors fall to eight, however the Celtics drop all the way down to eleventh.

We’ve all seen Boston have some struggles controlling the glass in opposition to bodily groups, so maybe that’s a part of the rationale why their rebounding share is decrease than their game-to-game common. Nonetheless, whenever you take a look at the 2 rosters heading into the sport, you shortly discover the dearth of measurement the Warriors have in the course of the ground. After all, James Wiseman would supply a robust presence down the middle of the courtroom, however he’s nonetheless working his method again after a protracted harm absence and gained’t function within the contest.

So, the Warriors are pressured to rebound by committee – a time period Celtics followers are all too aware of. Nonetheless, we’ve seen Boston achieve success with a team-centric rebounding philosophy in recent times, so we will’t count on the Celtics to dominate the glass simply because they’ve Al Horford and Robert Williams.

Each groups prefer to push the tempo in transition, so whichever crew controls the defensive glass may have a higher probability of implementing their will all through the competition.

2. Can the Celtics cling with, or restrict, Golden State’s capturing

The Celtics’ lack of elite shooters has been a difficulty all season, and the crew ranks twenty third in three-point share consequently. So, we have now a two-fold query heading into tonight’s sport: can the Celtics restrict Golden States’ seems to be from deep, or can they maintain going shot-for-shot with one of many higher three-point capturing groups within the league?

Stephen Curry is the apparent risk when discussing perimeter scoring, however Klay Thompson has been again within the Warriors rotation for some time now, and the Splash Brothers are solely a very good run away from being again to their dominant greatest. Fortunately, the Celtics boast the perfect protection within the league and have quite a few point-of-attack defenders that may change onto Curry, Thompson, and Co.

The slight silver lining is that Andrew Wiggins, who leads the Warriors in three-point share this season, is listed as questionable on right this moment’s harm report.

For the reason that flip of the yr, the Celtics have ensured there aren’t any straightforward shot makes an attempt, and are blissful to change Horford and Williams onto the perimeter in the event that they assume it’s vital. Working Williams as a free security in tonight’s sport won’t pay as many dividends as traditional, as working that scheme is primarily to offer assist protection across the rim when opposing gamers are profitable with their dribble-drive penetration. However, the Warriors are twenty seventh in drives per sport, so it could be extra helpful to have Williams switching onto the perimeter, reasonably than guarding the worst shooter on the ground to offer him license to roam.

3. Secondary scoring

To paraphrase Marcus Sensible, “groups know we’re making an attempt to move the ball to Jayson Tatum.” And the Warriors will undoubtedly look to entice the All-Star wing as excessive up the ground as potential, forcing the remainder of the Celtics roster to beat them.

In opposition to the Dallas Mavericks, Boston’s lack of capturing was uncovered after they pressured the ball out of Tatum’s palms early and sometimes. Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams have each been slumping in current video games, however might want to snap out of it tonight. Over his final three video games, Williams has hit simply 9% of his threes, whereas Brown is hitting 17.2%.

Inefficient scoring isn’t going to chop it for Boston tonight, so that they’re going to have to search out methods to get their secondary scorers going. We’ve additionally seen some regression from Brown in his dribbling and passing, so working him as a play finisher tonight may very well be a good way of constructing his confidence and asking him to play to his strengths as a slasher and athletic rim finisher.

Whatever the final result, tonight’s sport tasks to be a memorable one if each groups play to their full potential, however make no mistake, the Celtics may have their work reduce out in the event that they need to get again to profitable methods on the first time of asking.