NBA Finals Notebook: Celtics looking for better spacing, decision-making in Game 3
The Celtics are looking to get back on track as Game 3 of the Finals in Boston nears.
• Complete coverage: 2022 NBA Finals
BOSTON — The much bigger difference between Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals was on the Boston Celtics’ end of the floor. In their Game 1 victory, the Celtics scored 120 points on just 93 possessions. And in their Game 2 defeat, they scored just 88 on 98.
With the exception of their free throw rate, the Celtics’ offensive numbers were worse across the board in Game 2. They turned the ball over more (with 15 of their 19 turnovers being live balls), grabbed fewer offensive boards, shot worse from the outside, and shot worse inside.
Credit the Golden State Warriors’ defense, which was much better in Game 2. But the Celtics believe they can make better decisions with the ball. Several of them were asked about their offensive issues (mostly about the turnovers) at practice on Tuesday afternoon.
“Majority is over-penetrating, playing in the crowd,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said. “Just not keeping it simple. You look at Game 1 where we had 33 assists on 43 baskets, crisp and sharp with our ball movements, not in the crowd. Led to a lot of wide-open threes against a team that packs the paint.”
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“When you drive, you can’t take an extra dribble when you should be passing the ball,” Marcus Smart added, “and you might have to take that extra dribble instead of passing the ball sometimes. You’ve just got to make that read and you’ve got to trust and understand and believe in your teammates and in the game plan.”
Both Al Horford and Jaylen Brown talked more about spacing from guys around the ball-handler than the decisions of the ball-handler himself.
“The one thing that we all felt,” Horford said, “is just us being able to be in the right positions when guys are making plays and making sure that we’re giving some of our guys outlets. We just have better ball movement.”
“For the most part it’s usually the same things,” Brown added. “Spacing, we get on top of each other, or we don’t move with purposeful actions all the time, don’t set screens the way we need to, get jumbled up together, which allows them to guard us a lot better or a lot easier than they should be.”
Game 3 on Wednesday (9 ET, ABC) feels big. And the biggest thing in Game 3 may be how cleanly the Celtics can execute offensively.
Home-court … advantage?
With their split of the first two games of the series, the Celtics are an impressive 8-3 on the road in these playoffs, one victory from the record for most road wins in a single postseason. With the split, they have home-court advantage and can win a championship without needing that additional road win.
And now the series comes to Boston and one of the loudest arenas in the NBA.
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“There’s nothing like it,” Grant Williams said of the TD Garden atmosphere. “So we’re just excited to get these fans in this building for tomorrow really because, as you know, it’s been what, 12 years since they’ve been in the Finals and 14 years since they won it? I know they’re just as excited to be in here and celebrate this team as much as we are.”
But the other side of that 8-3 postseason record on the road is a not-so-spectacular 5-4 mark at home. The Celtics won their first two games of the first round and are just 3-4 at TD Garden since then.
Being in hostile environments, you get tested, you get pushed. … Obviously in this situation, it’s a must for us to win a championship. We got to be up for that task.”
— Warriors guard Stephen Curry
A non-standard home-road split isn’t new for the Celtics. Though they had five more home wins (28) than road wins (23) in the regular season, the Celtics were one of five teams with a better point differential per 100 possessions on the road (plus-7.7) than they did at home (plus-7.0).
The Warriors were the opposite. In fact, they had the league’s biggest home-road differential in regard to point differential per 100 possessions (plus-9.7 vs. plus-1.2). And in the playoffs, the Warriors are just 3-4 on the road, where they’ve lost three close-out games.
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But the Warriors have won their first road game in each of their three series thus far. And under coach Steve Kerr, they’ve won at least one road game in each of their 23 playoff series prior to this one.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with strategy,” Kerr admitted. “It just has to do with having a lot of talent, guys who are really competitive. That’s the combination it takes to win on the road in the playoffs.”
“Being in hostile environments, you get tested, you get pushed,” Warriors guard Stephen Curry said. “Our experience kind of shows at the right time. Obviously in this situation, it’s a must for us to win a championship. We got to be up for that task.”
Go small? Or go big?
In Game 1, the Celtics were a plus-28 in less than 26 minutes with either Horford or Robert Williams III on the floor without the other. Boston’s “small-ball” lineups were better than those of the Warriors, who were a minus-13 in a little less than 22 minutes with Draymond Green at the five.
Smaller, more mobile lineups for the Celtics should seemingly be better defensively against the Warriors’ ball and player movement. And as we saw in Game 1, having five capable shooters on the floor (with Horford at center) can make the Warriors pay for packing the paint like they’ve been doing.
But in Game 2, the Celtics’ one-big lineups didn’t work. They were outscored by 13 points in less than 19 minutes with either Horford or Williams on the floor without the other.
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The Warriors’ small-ball lineups didn’t work that great either. When they won Game 2 by 19 points, they were also a plus-0 (scoring less than a point per possession) in more than 22 minutes with Green at the five.
And it may be that the Warriors should play big. Kevon Looney has played just 47 minutes (11th most in the series), but has the best cumulative plus-minus over the two games, with the Warriors having outscored the Celtics by 22 points in those 47 minutes.
Over the entire postseason, the Warriors have been much better (especially defensively) in 186 minutes with Green and Looney on the floor together (plus-13.0 points per 100 possessions) than they’ve been in 373 minutes with Green on the floor without Looney (plus-5.3).
No time like the present
It’s still early in the series, but with how competitive both teams are, every game means so much. The Celtics have, statistically, been the better team, especially over the last few months. But they don’t always play their best. The Warriors are the more experienced team, but also have more questions regarding their rotation.
There’s no way anybody can know what’s going to happen over the next three-to-five games. And no matter how young or old these teams are, there’s no guarantee that either will be back on this stage (just ask the 1995 Orlando Magic or the 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder).
And that’s what makes this so fun.
“I think to have the golden opportunity right at your fingertips, just taking full advantage of it,” Jayson Tatum said. “You don’t want to have any regrets when it’s all said and done. Win or lose, you want to feel that you gave it your all. That’s all you can ask of anybody.”
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John Schuhmann is a senior stats analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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