3 Things We Learned From Celtics-Warriors NBA Finals Game 2 On Sunday
Following a shocking Game 1 loss, the Golden State Warriors faced a near “must-win” situation entering Game 2 against the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
Going down 2-0 in this series, losing both games at home, would have spelled massive trouble for the Warriors, but the good thing for them is that they responded in a big way following their devastating loss in the fourth quarter of Game 1.
While they started out slow, going down 13-5 early on to Boston, the Warriors fought hard in the opening quarter of play on Sunday night and they were able to take a one-point 31-30 lead heading into the second.
At halftime, the Warriors held just a two-point lead over the Celtics, but the third quarter of this game once again belonged to Golden State, as they began the second-half on a 14-6 run and they outscored the Celtics 35-14 in the quarter alone, capped off by a ridiculous near halfcourt shot by Jordan Poole as the time in the quarter expired.
Leading by 23 points entering the fourth quarter, the Warriors were dominating Boston on both ends of the floor and Celtics’ head coach Ime Udoka decided that he had seen enough. The Celtics pulled their starters and the Warriors coasted to a 107-88 victory after outscoring Boston 55-38 in the second-half of Game 2.
With this series all even at 1-1, it seems like the momentum has shifted back in favor of the Warriors, even though they will have some work to do in Boston over the course of the next two games.
The Celtics did their job by taking one of the first two games on the road and breaking home court early on in this series, but if it was not for a miraculous fourth quarter performance in Game 1, Boston could easily be trailing 2-0 in this series and left scrambling for answers.
Looking back on Game 2 from Sunday night, there is a lot to talk about as we prepare for the most important games of this NBA Finals series in Boston. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the Warriors’ Game 2 victory.
Golden State Picked Boston’s Defense Apart With Pick-And-Roll Sets
In Game 1, the Warriors were not “bad” offensively, but they did make a lot of mistakes in the second-half, primarily because of the fact that they looked to play one-on-one and try to get mismatches in isolation sets. Golden State paid the ultimate price for this, as Boston outscored them 40-16 in the fourth quarter en route to winning the first game of this series.
In Game 2 on Sunday night though, the Warriors looked to expose the Celtics at the top of the arc and around the free-throw line defensively, as all night long, they ran successful pick-and-roll sets.
Stephen Curry, Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins and others all found success coming off screens and attacking Boston downhill. Even Draymond Green got involved in the pick-and-roll by doing his patented fake dribble-hand-off move, resulting in an easy basket in the first-half!
Normally, teams will set pick-and-rolls up with their big guys, possibly getting looks at the rim as a result. For the Warriors though, it was Draymond Green and Gary Payton II clearing space on the screen for Stephen Curry, resulting in plenty of open three-point looks and allowing Curry to really dissect the Celtics’ defense.
There were a handful of plays in which Green or Payton would tie up Curry’s primary defender out on the perimeter with a ball-screen, forcing someone else on Boston to come up and help on Curry. This would leave Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins or someone else wide-open out on the perimeter for an easy shot or an easy path to the rim for a layup opportunity.
"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it," and head coach Steve Kerr stuck with this philosophy mostly the entire second-half, as Curry and others continued to just pick apart the Celtics’ defense with these high pick-and-roll sets on offense. All Steph Curry needs is a little bit of space from three-point range to get going and once the shots started to fall for him, it was all over for Boston in this game.
Attacking the Celtics off of pick-and-roll sets has opened up the Warriors’ offense tremendously and heading into Game 3, it will be very interesting to see what adjustments Ime Udoka and Boston make because what happened in Game 2 cannot happen again or else this series could wind up being over in favor of the Warriors in five games.
Celtics Were A 2-Man Team In Game 2
The Boston Celtics did not play well at all in Game 2.
However, they held their own pretty well in the first-half thanks to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. These two All-Stars combined for 26 of the team’s 30 points in the first quarter and they combined for 36 of the team’s total 50 points at halftime.
Tatum was on fire from beyond-the-arc in the first-half and both he and Brown found success on the interior as well, as they went to the free-throw line quite a bit in this game.
The Warriors though made some great adjustments at halftime, limiting the effectiveness of Tatum and Brown in the second-half. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum only scored a combined 9 points in the second-half on Sunday night, but this was not the reason their offense failed.
Sure, you need production from your stars all game long to win in the NBA Finals, but after scoring 26 points on 9-12 shooting from the floor, 6-8 from three-point range in Game 1, Al Horford had just 2 points on 1-4 shooting, 0-0 from three-point range, in Game 2.
Not to mention, Marcus Smart had just 2 points on 1-6 shooting after scoring 18 points on 7-11 shooting in Game 1 and Robert Williams III had just 2 points. Derrick White had a decent game off-the-bench with 12 points on 2-4 shooting from three, but overall, nobody on Boston’s roster stepped up around Tatum and Brown.
In order for Boston to sustain success in this series, Al Horford, Marcus Smart and Robert Williams III must make an impact for them offensively because Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown can only do so much. If these three guys are not producing offensively, the only way the Celtics can win games is if the duo of Tatum/Brown combine for 70-plus points OR Boston holds Golden State under 90 points, something that is very rare.
Even then, there is no guarantee the Celtics will win against the Warriors if they are not getting secondary production offensively.
Boston won a game in this series already and they deserved to win given their fourth quarter heroics, but Sunday’s loss is definitely concerning given that their offense was non-existent and the fact that Golden State picked them apart on both ends of the floor.
Physicality wise, the Celtics got beat up in a fight after school in Game 2.
Klay Thompson’s Struggles Holding Golden State Back
Through two games in the 2022 NBA Finals, Klay Thompson has failed to eclipse 15 points in a game and he is really struggling shooting the basketball. Thompson is only averaging 13.0 points on 32% shooting from the floor, 27.7% from three-point range, in about 34.5 minutes per game.
Maybe fatigue is really starting to catch up to Thompson given that he sat out the entire 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, but in order to elevate themselves past Boston in this series, the Warriors really need Klay Thompson to find his shot.
Stephen Curry can only do so much in this series and when you break things down based on matchups, Thompson’s production means so much to the Warriors. When he is hitting shots, especially from the perimeter, opposing teams really have to zone in on trying to not only stop Curry, but Thompson as well given that they are two of the best shooters of all-time.
In doing so, teams spread the floor defensively, opening up plenty of space, especially in pick-and-roll sets, for cutters and slashers like Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Jordan Poole playing off-the-ball.
Given how strong of a defensive team the Boston Celtics are, this little extra bit of production Klay Thompson can give the Warriors could suddenly stretch their 7-0 runs to 12-0 runs and over the course of a game, his extra two or three made three-pointers really go a long way in helping the Warriors pull away from their opponents.
Looking back to Game 1, if Thompson was able to hit some extra shots over the course of the game, maybe the Celtics’ massive fourth quarter run does not happen, as a lot of the Celtics’ open looks were because they ran out in transition due to missed shots on the other end of the floor.
The Warriors are going to have to win at least one game in Boston to keep this series in their hands and there is a very real possibility that they could win both Games 3 and 4 if Klay Thompson gets going in the next game of this series.
The key to winning this series for Golden State lies in the hands of Klay Thompson and his ability to be one of the best pure scorers in this NBA Finals series.
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