What To Expect From Celtics-Warriors 2022 NBA Finals Matchup?
Entering the 2021-22 season, many were calling this year’s race to get to the NBA Finals “wide open” given all of the talent spread across the league.
The defending champions in the Milwaukee Bucks, along with the runner-ups in the Phoenix Suns, were popular picks to get back to the NBA Finals, as were the Brooklyn Nets, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers.
Well, here we are about to enter June and begin the 2022 NBA Finals with none of these teams playing for a championship! Instead, two of the league’s most historic franchises in the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors will fight it out in the NBA Finals during the league’s 75th Anniversary season.
The Boston Celtics, the No. 2 defensive team during the regular season, are hunting championship No. 18 this year, as the Golden State Warriors, the No. 1 defensive team during the regular season, are looking to claim their fourth title in the last eight seasons and their seventh title overall.
To get to the NBA Finals this season is a massive accomplishment for the Celtics, especially given that they were 23-24 nearing the end of January. With just 35 games left in the regular season, this team looked like a group that would barely make the Play-In Tournament and would be heading into the offseason with a ton of question marks on how to build for the future.
From that point on, including the playoffs, the Celtics have gone 40-13 and have completely flipped the narrative about themselves by winning the East for the first-time since 2010.
Led by All-NBA First Team forward Jayson Tatum and All-Star Jaylen Brown on the wing, the Celtics have everything they need to bring the Larry O’Brien Trophy back to Boston.
However, they will face the "Golden Dynasty" that still reigns supreme atop of the rest of the league.
The Golden State Warriors started the year off hot and they are ending it hot, as the Warriors have won 17 of their last 21 games dating back to the regular season. They have not lost a home game since March 30 against the Phoenix Suns, a game in which Stephen Curry did not play in due to a foot injury at the time.
Since the 2014-15 season, the Warriors have been one of the most dominant franchises in the NBA and making their sixth NBA Finals appearance in the last eight seasons, they join Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics, Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers and Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls as the only other teams in NBA history to achieve such a feat.
That's a pretty decent group to be apart of if I do say so myself!
Given all of the injuries they have had to deal with through the years and the adversity they faced the last two seasons missing the playoffs, Golden State is looking to send a clear message that they are still the team to beat in the NBA.
The Celtics and Warriors will begin the 2022 NBA Finals on Thursday night in San Francisco, a series that will surely be one for the ages!
Here are some key details to keep tabs on in this series and a preview as to what we should expect to see.
Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown Will Look To Set Pace Early On
Stars show out in the NBA Finals and for the Boston Celtics, they will need their two All-Stars to be elite-level players in order for them to potentially win a title.
Jayson Tatum has been one of the most dominant offensive players all year long in the NBA and he has found quite a bit of success in the postseason.
Not only has Tatum averaged 27.0 points per game on 44.6% shooting from the floor in these playoffs, but he has recorded 11 games with at least 27 points. Perhaps the most important aspect of his game in these playoffs though has been his rebounding, as Tatum has averaged 6.7 rebounds per game and has had 7 games with at least eight rebounds.
Rebounding is going to be a huge factor in this series between the Celtics and Warriors, especially since the Warriors have been a terrific rebounding team given their lack of size. Jayson Tatum will have to continue being a two-way factor on the wing for Boston and Jaylen Brown will also have to continue to step up and find ways to play off of Tatum.
Alleviating pressure from one another will go a long way in Boston potentially winning this series and Brown’s ability to be a star-level player must show in this series.
Tatum can only do so much for the Celtics, much like Stephen Curry can only do so much for the Warriors.
As much as this series will be about the stars and All-NBA performers each team has, those secondary stars like Jaylen Brown, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole will really have to step up for their respective teams.
Jaylen Brown proved against Miami that he is more than capable of being a primary scorer and high-level rebounder, something he will once again have to prove in this series against Golden State.
Setting the pace early on not only puts the Celtics and their defense in the driver’s seat for this series, but it will allow them to take early leads on the Warriors. We have seen the Warriors come back from massive deficits in these playoffs, but Boston is a high-level defense team, something Golden State has not necessarily run into yet in the playoffs.
Controlling the pace of play and being able to play through their two star players is exactly the kind of mindset Boston will have to enter the NBA Finals with, especially with the first two games being on the road for them.
Golden State Must Stay Out Of Foul Trouble On Interior
The Celtics are not that strong of an offensive team outside of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, but one thing they are good at is attacking the lane and getting to the free-throw line.
So far in these playoffs, the Boston Celtics have gone to the free-throw line 437 different times, the most out of any team, and they are converting on 81.0% of their chances this postseason, ranking them fourth behind the Philadelphia 76ers, Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns.
Not only can Tatum and Brown attack the paint, but Marcus Smart is physical on the drive and their two big guys in Al Horford and Robert Williams III are more than capable of playing above the rim.
Boston will look to attack the Warriors early on in this series not only to try and outscore them in the paint, but to try and get Golden State in foul trouble, something that cannot occur for head coach Steve Kerr and his group.
The Warriors do tend to foul a lot, as they averaged the fourth-most personal fouls per game during the regular season, and this could be very troublesome against a lengthier and bigger Boston Celtics team.
Having just Kevon Looney and Draymond Green as their big men in the frontcourt, Golden State is small on the interior and if they get in foul trouble, the Warriors will be even smaller going up against the Celtics, a strong interior and rebounding team.
It is imperative that the Warriors do not constantly foul in the paint not only because Boston will pull ahead at the free-throw line, but because the last thing the Warriors want is to have Kevon Looney and Draymond Green on their bench while both Al Horford and Robert Williams III are on the floor for the Celtics.
Keep an eye out on how the Warriors defend early on in this series, as they may very well look to utilize both their 3-2 zone and box-and-1 zone to neutralize Boston’s attempts on the interior.
Derrick White Is Instrumental To Boston’s Success
He proved to be key against the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals and he will very likely prove to be key once again for the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.
Going out and trading for Derrick White at the trade deadline is looking like a home run acquisition for Brad Stevens and the Celtics, as White has been nothing short of spectacular in the playoffs.
Being able to defend out on the perimeter as well as becoming more and more of a scoring threat as he gets comfortable offensively, White has stepped up into a key sixth-man-like role for the Celtics over the last few weeks.
After not doing much in Game 1 against the Heat and then missing Game 2 due to the birth of his first child, Derrick White really stepped up the rest of the Eastern Conference Finals for Boston, averaging 14.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and shooting 35% from deep the last four games.
His contributions on defense though is what makes White more than capable of being a factor in this series against the Golden State Warriors.
Given that they will most likely have to down-size at times to match the Warriors skill and speed on the perimeter, the Celtics will turn to Derrick White early on, especially with Robert Williams III still being banged up and Al Horford having to move from power-forward to center most of the time.
Being able to defend Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and/or Jordan Poole is essential for the Celtics and with Marcus Smart already being preoccupied with one of these guys, White’s presence off-the-bench proves to be big just based on first-glance.
White is more than capable of keeping any of these three guys in front of him and with Jordan Poole’s ability to drive downhill towards the rim, this may prove to be “the matchup” off-the-bench for both teams.
Poole has found a ton of success scoring at the rim off-the-bench in the playoffs and for White, he has found a lot of success stopping his opponents from attacking the paint.
The winner of this matchup could very well give their team the boost they need to win the NBA Finals this year.
Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney Are Keys To Success For Golden State
At the end of the day, talent wins out in the postseason and in the NBA Finals.
Matchup-wise, these two teams are very evenly balanced, which is why someone is going to have to step up on either side for the Celtics or Warriors to ultimately come away with a title.
For Golden State, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Jordan Poole have stepped up to be the focal points for them, but their two most important players throughout these playoffs have been Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney.
Starting with Wiggins, his emergence as a two-way All-Star in this league has been remarkable and the 2021-22 season has been the best of his young career. Being able to guard multiple positions, as well as be a factor aiding the Warriors in rebounding, Wiggins has been the picture-perfect wing in an offense led by guards like Curry, Thompson and Poole.
Not only will his scoring be essential on the wing and from the perimeter, but his defense on either Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown is key. Neither of these guys can get going if you are the Warriors and with the success Andrew Wiggins had against Luka Doncic in the previous series, he will once again be the Warriors’ No. 1 guy when it comes to defense on the perimeter.
His matchup is extremely important for Golden State entering this series, especially if they do in fact settle into a zone a lot of times defensively.
As for Kevon Looney, his importance checks off multiple boxes. Looney will not only be relied upon defensively when guarding Al Horford and Robert Williams III in the low-post, but he will really need to dig deep to keep these two guys out of the paint and off the offensive glass.
The duo of Horford and Williams is averaging 3.9 offensive rebounds per game in the postseason and they are combining to average 15.1 total rebounds per game. Overall, the Celtics are a really strong rebounding team on both ends of the floor.
Kevon Looney has emerged as one of the best rebounding big men in the playoffs this year and he is coming off a series against the Dallas Mavericks in which he had some of his best individual performances of his career.
Averaging 10.6 points, 10.6 rebounds and shooting 68.4% from the floor in five games against the Mavericks, Looney recorded two double-doubles and had three games with double-digit rebounds.
In Game 2 against Dallas, Kevon Looney had a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds. In Game 5 to close out the series, Looney had 10 points and 18 rebounds, 7 of which came on the offensive-end of the floor.
If you go back to the Warriors’ previous series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Looney had a career-high 22 rebounds, 11 of which came on the offensive-end of the floor, to help the Warriors close out the Grizzlies in Game 6.
These two players for Golden State may not put up the dazzling numbers that Curry, Poole and Thompson do, but they are extremely important to the success of this team. Both of them hold two completely different roles for the Warriors and when they play well, the Golden State Warriors look unstoppable.
It is going to be very interesting to watch not only if the Celtics can stop and expose both Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney, but if their offense can find success against the league’s top defensive team during the regular season in the Warriors.
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- What We Learned From Mavericks-Warriors Western Conference Finals Series: The Golden State Warriors defeated the Dallas Mavericks 120-110 on Thursday night, winning the Western Conference Finals in five games and advancing to the 2022 NBA Finals. CLICK HERE.
