SAN FRANCISCO —The Celtics are about to go through a serious change in opponent’s style.
After surviving three bruising rounds of physical basketball, going the full seven-game distance against two of the league’s toughest teams in Milwaukee and Miami, the Celtics are about to adapt for a precise, explosively efficient Golden State team. The Warriors lead the playoff field with a 116.1 offensive rating.
The teams are nearly identical in terms of made 3-pointers — the Warriors average 13.5 and the Celtics 13.4 — though Golden State shoots from downtown at a slightly higher percentage, 37.9% to 36.2%. The C’s, by virtue of their second-rated defense (Milwaukee went down leading in defensive rating) top the field with a 6.7 net rating. Golden State, naturally, is second at 5.1.
But the Celtics will have to be at their quickest and most versatile to guard the Warriors’ eternal wave of shooters.
“It’s a little bit of a change of mindset as far as that,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka said Tuesday of Golden State’s reputation for precision more than physicality.
“We’re the bigger team, but they are a really good defensive team as well. They do a lot of great things, it’s just in a different manner,” Udoka said. “And so where we had size playing against Milwaukee, playing against (Bam) Adebayo, guys like that, they don’t technically have that same size but they always have (Draymond) Green back there who’s kind of their free safety linebacker kind of controlling the defense.
“Guys that have improved, (Klay) Thompson obviously being back, (Andrew) Wiggins is playing defense at a better level than he has in the past, and even (Steph) Curry has bought in some. So depending on injuries with (Gary) Payton (II) and certain other guys, they do have some defensive minded guys out there, but it’s gonna be different. What they do is different and the other piece is how they try to keep you off balance. Steve (Kerr), who I worked with, obviously, at USA Basketball, is very open minded, and he’ll go to box-and-one, triangle-and-two, and everything else in between to try to keep you off balance.”
Lower minutes pay off for Rob Williams
Robert Williams only played 15 minutes in Game 7 against Miami — the matchups favored a bigger role for Grant Williams down the stretch — and overall averaged 22.5 minutes in the conference finals.
That appears to be having a good effect on his surgically-repaired left knee.
“Rob’s all right. He’s good. He felt good. His minutes were low, only played 14 in that game,” Udoka said. “We tried to keep him in the lower portion if we could. Obviously, that’s beneficial for him going forward, but the days off as well. So he should feel better in general. Getting looked at today and will continue to get his treatment and rehab and in order to get swelling down and some of the pain and mobility back.
“And so it’s going to be an ongoing thing like I mentioned. He’s day-to-day pretty much throughout the playoffs,” he said. “Should feel better with time in between, especially with these two days off in between games, as opposed to playing every other day. And I think going back to the Milwaukee series we had played 17 days straight every other day, and so that’s going to take a toll on you coming off a surgery. We keep his minutes down and get him back to feeling better, obviously that will benefit us going forward.”
Marcus Smart, despite averaging 36.4 minutes over five conference finals games, including three games north of 40 minutes, and also despite three injuries (deep quad bruise, sprained foot, sprained ankle) on his right leg in various stages of pain and swelling, also appears to be as good as can be expected.
“There’s no concern about that,” Udoka said. “The swelling is what it is and that will dissipate as time goes by, and the pain-tolerance thing, he can obviously play through a lot, and he did that and played heavy minutes.”
Finals experience?
Golden State coach Steve Kerr listed his team’s rare Finals experience, including three NBA titles in five Finals appearances since 2015, as being a distinct advantage for the Warriors in this series.
But now that Jayson Tatum has made three conference finals appearances, in addition to four each by Jaylen Brown and Smart, they have been everywhere BUT the Finals. It also helps that Udoka has a ring from Sam Antonio’s 2014 championship run.
“I can say, being there, I know what’s going on and we’ve already shared some of those stories as well as some of the other coaches on my staff that have been there and won championships,” he said. “So from that standpoint, it is what it is. We’ll have some meetings with the group and talk about those things. But I think, in general, we have a very mature group, especially with our younger guys.
“Al (Horford) and Marcus and our veterans are always very level-headed and keeping us in line as far as that,” Udoka said. “And then I’m not really worried about Jayson, Jaylen and the younger guys that haven’t been on this stage. Like I said, they got to the Eastern Conference finals multiple times and took that step, so we know what’s in front of us.
“We know what we’re here to play for and I don’t think any of our guys are awed or intimidated by the moment at all. We understand what it is. We know the opponent in front of us. And for us, as always, this year it’s been business as usual. Going on the road, not fazed by that at all. We’re really looking forward to it. Not a lot of anxiousness or nervousness. We have this time that we’ll take advantage of as far as rest and preparation and be ready to go by Game 1.”
