It’s possible an all-time classic NBA Finals will get underway Thursday night when the Golden State Warriors host the Boston Celtics in Game 1.
The “chess match” cliché is overplayed when it comes to sports, but Golden State head coach Steve Kerr and Boston bench boss Ime Udoka are about to engage in a strategic battle the likes of which we haven’t seen in a while.
Kerr’s Warriors built a dynasty on a sharp-shooting, offensive brand of basketball. Let down your guard for an instant, and you’re on the wrong side of a 12-0 run. They have two of the best shooters ever in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. The roster has changed and evolved, and after a couple of injury-plagued down years, the Warriors obviously are back. Golden State finished third in the NBA this season in ESPN’s effective field-goal percentage and fourth in true shooting percentage.
Standing between the Warriors and a fourth title since 2015 are Udoka’s Celtics. Boston offers a unique blend of size, talent and commitment to defense that has been building for years under the Danny Ainge and Brad Stevens regime. It has gone to another level with Stevens upstairs calling the shots and Udoka in his first season as head coach. The Celtics’ physical, hard-nosed brand of basketball combines toughness and grit with smarts amplified by a roster of interchangeable pieces. The versatility allows Udoka to maximize matchup leverage, and it also gives Boston the ability to switch on screens and rarely get caught in a mismatch.
Whether the Celtics are ready for the bright lights against a veteran-laden Warriors team is one of the series’ great unknowns. But Boston comes in with all the confidence in the world because of how well it feels it matches up with the Warriors.
“We do have the size and versatility on the wings,” Udoka explained in a media session earlier this week.
“With who we are defensively against a really good offensive team, the benefit is obviously having Marcus (Smart), Jayson (Tatum) and Jaylen (Brown) on the perimeter, but as well, you have bigs that they can’t just pick on — Al (Horford), Rob (Williams), Grant (Williams) and everyone else we do use, it’s kind of a perfect storm as far as the matchup with all the offense they have (and) the defensive talent we have. I think our size and versatility bode well with that. I feel confident with a lot of guys guarding different players for them as opposed to other teams. Whether you look at the Dallas series or others, they were trying to pick on certain people. So, we feel comfortable as far as that, and we feel that benefits us defensively.”
That doesn’t mean it will be easy, though, especially given Golden State’s often-overlooked offensive wrinkle.
“What they do well is shoot the ball, but I think teams can overdose on that at times, and it’s a lot of little things that get them going,” Udoka said Wednesday at media day. “Basket cuts, slips to the basket — you’re so concerned about their 3-point shooting that they get a lot of other things.”
Don’t discount any lessons learned in the Eastern Conference finals. Miami’s offensive system is similar to Golden State’s in terms of its off-ball movement and how that opens up looks for shooters.
“There are some similarities with the shooters, obviously, in their off-ball actions,” Udoka said. “A lot of initiating through their bigs. These guys are flying off all over the place. The thing you have to be even more sharp and precise about is getting to their shooters.”
The results do seem to reinforce Udoka’s confidence. The Celtics are the only team in the NBA with a winning record against Kerr’s Warriors, and they have played them tough even in defeat. The two teams split their meetings this season, with Golden State’s win — a four-point squeaker — coming in December before the Celtics found their way. Boston went to San Francisco in March and promptly rolled the Warriors by 22.
This certainly is a different beast. There at least three Hall of Famers on the other side, and they know how to win in June. But it’s a series the Celtics can win, and they know it.
