Game 1 was a weird start to the series. Both teams looked good and bad, missing shots they normally make and making shots they normally miss.
Let’s run through a few quick takeaways:
— The Celtics started with drop coverage against Steph Curry. That has never been a good idea in the history of basketball. Curry made six threes in the first quarter.
— The Warriors kept up their offense over the next two quarters, too, even when Curry wasn’t lighting up the gym. Boston only sporadically switched, so they gave up a little too much to Curry and Klay Thompson. They over-helped, relying on a help defender (often Al Horford or Robert Williams III) to shut down looks at the rim instead of staying on shooters. The Warriors punished that defense with kickouts, swing passes, and knockdown shooting.
The decision to stick Williams III on Wiggins didn’t pay off. It makes sense in theory, as Williams often guards wings so he can help off of them and wreak havoc elsewhere. But Wiggins is a good catch-and-shoot guy from anywhere on the court, and can also put the ball on the floor. He finished with 20 points on 8-15 from the field.
When the Celtics went smaller and switched, they got punished for that, too:
But the Celtics got better once they accepted plays like the one above. They entered the game too obsessed with the conventional thinking that you have to help off the perimeter to stop layups at all costs. That’s what they did against the Heat and Bucks, two teams with stars who don’t like to shoot from the perimeter. The Warriors are a different animal. When they iso, you have to let them iso. Don’t give them any passing sequences.
Remember the 2018 Western Conference Finals, when the James Harden-Chris Paul Rockets nearly eliminated the Durant Warriors? A big reason why they came so close was that they switched everything with a cast of strong defenders and drew the Warriors into dribble-dribble isolations. That more than anything is the key to beating Golden State: take away the obvious stuff that they get when they run their array of screens and handoffs, and trust your entire team to guard one-on-one.
That will sometimes result in a bucket like the above, or maybe a Curry crossover and stepback three, or a Thompson fadeaway midrange shot. The Celtics should be happy with that, if it means they don’t let the Warriors initiate Warriors mode.
The Mavericks in the conference finals took away Curry’s looks from three only to get punished at the rim by Kevon Looney. The Celtics, in winning the fourth quarter 40-16, showed they can lock in on defense and cover everything.
They switched everything with a smaller lineup, and stuck on their men instead of helping too far off. You have to take what the Warriors give you. They want to open the court and make sure that you don’t have anyone protecting the rim. The Celtics accepted that and trusted their guys to do the job. It worked.
— Marcus Smart only played a couple of minutes in the fourth quarter, while Payton Pritchard and White played a majority of the quarter. I have no idea why that happened. (Smart only had one foul in the game.) White and Pritchard looked good, and gave them a little bit more offensive burst.
— Jayson Tatum struggled offensively, shooting 3-17, but got plenty of looks that might normally have gone down. The Warriors weren’t always sharp defensively throughout the game, and they got punished in the fourth quarter. Tatum also finished with 13 assists, a product of his dribble penetration.
Big credit goes to Jaylen Brown, who was excellent in the fourth quarter.
— The Warriors treated White, Smart, Horford, and Daniel Theis as complete non-shooters. They made 16 threes combined. They will have to defend them with a little bit more effort.
With that said, I don’t think Golden State’s approach of giving up looks to those players is flawed. Horford isn’t making 6-8 threes again any time soon.
— It’s tough for the Warriors to lose after getting that kind of Steph performance. They’ll be fine, though. The Celtics won’t shoot that well again. Both teams will play better, and it will be a fascinating series.