Getty Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics
After a promising start to the NBA Finals, the Boston Celtics have found themselves struggling to generate easy scoring opportunities over the last two games.
The Golden State Warriors look like they’ve figured out the code to limit the Celtics interior scoring, notably at the rim, which given their lack of rim protection, is impressive. Sure, Brown has found success on offense, but very little has come around the basket, instead, he’s hitting catch-and-shoot jumpers or pulling up from mid-range.
On a recent episode of Keyshawn, JWill, and Max, Jay Williams spoke about how the Warriors are making life so difficult for Boston’s two star players, noting how Golden State’s defense is so simple and is exposing a major weakness in the young duo’s offensive game.
“Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are getting exposed. Do you know how? In games four and games five, the Golden State Warriors have been shading the right-hand drives or Tatum and Brown. Because when they go right, they get in their bag, they’re so much more comfortable. Tatum goes to hit patent spin move, he’s able to go to work. Jaylen Brown bulldozes his way to the basket. But, when they go left, that’s when they have them in the phone booth,” Williams said when discussing Boston’s subpar offense.
Udoka Wants Boston to be Stronger on Their Drives
Outside of Kevon Looney and Draymond Green, Golden State doesn’t possess big bodies that can alter shot trajectories or force players into bailing out of their drives. Yet, somehow, the Warriors have forced the Celtics into stagnant perimeter play, often highlighted by single-action pick-and-rolls with no off-ball cutting or decoy actions being run.
During his June 15 press conference, Boston head coach Ime Udoka credited the Warriors with keeping his team off-balance noting that it’s limited their effectiveness as a unit on the offensive end of the court.
“I’ve mentioned hunting, looking for fouls instead of going up to finish. Their rotations are pretty direct every time. The guy is going to be there. It’s just about making the read. Credit to Green and what he did, keeping guys off-balance, faking and falling, taking away some lobs. For us, it’s really the physicality of our finishes. I think we’ve been off-balance, not going up the strongest. Point-blank we missed some that we usually would make,” Udoka said.
While the entire Celtics team has struggled to find their rhythm throughout the first five games of the NBA Finals, it has been Tatum who has suffered the most. In his first five games against Golden State, he’s shooting 50% at the rim, 28% from short mid-range, and 21% from long mid-range – his lowest conversion rate of the post-season. If the Celtics are to have any chance of raising the Larry O’Brien trophy in the coming days, they’re going to need their superstar wing to figure out how to attack the Warriors’ defense and generate some easy scoring opportunities for himself.
Udoka Remaining Positive
The Celtics find themselves in a tough spot heading into June 16. In order to be crowned champions, they need to win their next two consecutive games – a single loss would end their season and see Golden State hoisting another banner.
However, the Celtics have been here before. During the second round of the playoffs, Boston was in almost the exact same position against the Milwaukee Bucks, with the sole difference being that game seven took place at the TD Garden – they won that game seven and progressed onto the Eastern Conference Finals.
Ime Udoka and the Celtics are not afraid of Game 6 Klay. 🤷🏾♂️
“We’ve fought off three elimination games, won some Game 7s. But you can’t just rely on that, that we’ve been there. You have to do things well to start the game, not put ourselves behind the eight ball like we did last game. As confident as we are in the situations we’ve been in, we understand Golden State is a high-IQ, well-coached team that’s not going to beat themselves.
You have to go out there and take it. For us, confidence is always because we’ve been through it. But we can help ourselves and play better offense overall and not aid them with the turnovers. All the same little things we talked about throughout the series,” Udoka told reporters on June 15.
Boston will need to harness the same energy it took to defeat the Bucks if they wish to repeat history against a Warriors’ team that will go down in history as one of the greatest dynasties of all time – however, given the improvements we’ve seen from Udoka’s team, if anybody could do it, it’s the Celtics.