Trivia answer: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook (2012 and 2014 with Thunder) Axios

Bad match up for Green. He will be fine. He got them here.

oskidunker said:

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Bad match up for Green. He will be fine. He got them here.

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I agree. So many dragging on him, and I too get frustrated with him, but he sure did get them here. He is a special player and the glue of the team, but in a rarity just matches up poorly against the Celts. His antics are a distraction to many, but that's what you get with him, just like you get multiple maddening, stupid, lazy passes for unforced turnovers from Curry pretty much every game--its the baggage they come with.

concordtom said:

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Dray should retire and shift to media.
Either that, or start off season shooting practice immediately!

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I could see the Warrior's front office putting him on the trading block and paying Wiggins, Poole, and GP2 while grooming Kuminga and Wiseman for big minutes. - - - I would not be surprised if that is the long-term plan.

Last night was so weird because I really felt like we were down by 15 the ENTIRE GAME.
Lot's of sloppy play. Klay caught for a double-dribble. Are you kidding me???

And Bjelica couldnt even inbound the ball without it becoming a turnover.
Really?

I love Otto Porter, but I think the "experiment" of Kerr starting him is not gonna happen again.
We need LOONEY's presence from the get go!

sycasey said:

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Worth noting that Draymond Green was still quite good defensively down the stretch.

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Yes, he was.
4 steals, 8 assists, 9 board.
But it was yet another triple SINGLE for DRAY.

Speaking of rebounds, Wiggins had a career high 18 rebounds.

And Looney had 18.
Even Steph had 10.

We were able to outrebound Boston 55 - 42.

DiabloWags said:

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Last night was so weird because I really felt like we were down by 15 the ENTIRE GAME.
Lot's of sloppy play. Klay caught for a double-dribble. Are you kidding me???

And Bjelica couldnt even inbound the ball without it becoming a turnover.
Really?

I love Otto Porter, but I think the "experiment" of Kerr starting him is not gonna happen again.
We need LOONEY's presence from the get go!

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He used Porter to split the Green and Looney minutes, so he can balance scoring with defense and rebounding. When both of those guys are on the floor things can get gummed up. Pretty smart.

bearister said:

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Trivia answer: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook (2012 and 2014 with Thunder) Axios

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Yes, I looked it up.
Good one. And looks like they did it twice??two different seasons together?

oskidunker said:

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Bad match up for Green. He will be fine. He got them here.

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I'm not so sure about that.

DiabloWags said:

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concordtom said:

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Dray should retire and shift to media.
Either that, or start off season shooting practice immediately!

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I could see the Warrior's front office putting him on the trading block and paying Wiggins, Poole, and GP2 while grooming Kuminga and Wiseman for big minutes. - - - I would not be surprised if that is the long-term plan.

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Agree, except that nobody would want to trade FOR him, and the W's org doesn't want either of staph, Klay, Dray to play for any other team.
I would see him just be moved toward retirement sooner rather than later. How broken down does dray want to get? His pride won't let him be a bench voice the way Andre is now. And he's not diligent enough to put in the long hard work to reestablish his shot. He'd be more inclined to ride off into the broadcast boost, bravado intact.

DiabloWags said:

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Last night was so weird because I really felt like we were down by 15 the ENTIRE GAME.
Lot's of sloppy play. Klay caught for a double-dribble. Are you kidding me???

And Bjelica couldnt even inbound the ball without it becoming a turnover.
Really?

I love Otto Porter, but I think the "experiment" of Kerr starting him is not gonna happen again.
We need LOONEY's presence from the get go!

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Maybe it's like this:

Hard to play looney and Dray together - two non-threats allow the D to focus on Steph. So you have to alternate those two bigs.

Predictions for game 5? Hard to do. Really depends how well Boston plays and if Warriors play great defense. Should the warriors warriors win,I like their chances to win it all.If they lose, they are not out of it. Brown has the capacity to have-bad games.

oskidunker said:

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Predictions for game 5? Hard to do. Really depends how well Boston plays and if Warriors play great defense. Should the warriors warriors win,I like their chances to win it all.If they lose, they are not out of it. Brown has the capacity to have-bad games.

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This series is the most "take your pick" in years. Whoever you pick, you have a 50% chance of being right.

If Boston lost the last game because…

1. They were gassed in the 4th, then maybe Warriors have the edge because Kerr is more experienced in the 3 dimensional chess that substitution pattern can be; or

2. They tightened up and choked when taking the series was within their grasp, then because of experience, maybe Warriors are like Tiger draining a 10 foot putt on Sunday to win a Major and the Celtics are like Phil pinching out a turtle head in his jockeys and pulling that putt for a 2nd place finish.

* Warriors are 3.5 point favorites Monday.

I've given up an predicting anything in this series on a game to game basis.

Boston is absolutely annoying in their inconsistency. During their playoffs, in their wins their offensive rating is thru the roof and in their losses it's abysmal (warriors offensive rating has been relatively stable win or lose). It's impossible to know what they are. They are either the greatest team ever assembled or they look completely lost. There hasn't been much of a middle ground.

But this is the one stat I keep coming back to. They are shooting 42.4% from three during the finals. How astounding is that? The finals record for a series is Indiana at 42.2%. During Kerr's tenure, the warriors haven given up over 40% from 3 in a playoff series once (Portland 2016). Once! In this entire playoff run, once!!!

The dirty little secret is that Boston's three point shooting has absolutely been carrying their offense. But is it sustainable? History would suggest no. But if you talk to a Boston fan/media they seem to think anything less than this type of shooting would be an abberation.

The fact is that the main rotational players for Boston are all 35% or worse from 3 for the season. I get that the warriors are giving up open looks, but you have to think, at some point, there's going to be some sort of regression to the mean.

I want to know how effective Time Lord will be after leaving the game in the 4th quarter? He played 31 minutes, which is way more than he had been playing on his hobbled knee (usually 15-20 mins max). Without him in the game, Wiggs was able to get that huge putback.

Are the Celts getting tired? They don't have a good bench and I would have to think those two 7 game series had to take something out of them. They settled for outside shots in the 4th rather than trying to attack the paint like in game 3.

Let's see if either of these things play a factor in game 5.

When you get a little tense, the shooting mechanics can go 1/20th of an inch off. Watch for some Celtics to be a smidgen off when it comes time to close this deal.

Wiggins and Loon must continue to stay AGGRESSIVE!

And Kerr must continue to stay away from Zone D.
Use Wigs to continue to dog Tatum.

Just some very quick thoughts after re-watching game 4

- jaylen/Tatum didn't finish once when driving left

- belli played tremendous perimeter D. Should play him as much as possible with Poole, as Boston forgets to pick on Poole when belli is out there

- Boston 10/13 on open threes, warriors 3/14

- draymond doesn't need to score, but he at least needs to box out, crash offensive glass when his man leaves him, hustle and create havoc on D. Did very little of those last game

- how will Boston cover Steph. Continue to drop or start trapping. How will draymond react when he initiates 4 on 3. Timid or with force?

ducky23 said:

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- draymond doesn't need to score, but he at least needs to box out, crash offensive glass when his man leaves him, hustle and create havoc on D. Did very little of those last game

- how will Boston cover Steph. Continue to drop or start trapping. How will draymond react when he initiates 4 on 3. Timid or with force?

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Yeah, Draymond needs to prioritize being better on D. He can't be getting burned so often when Brown or Tatum drives into the lane. He has to make it difficult for the shooter.

On offense, he needs to just not let it bother him that the Celtics D is trying to disrupt him almost as much as they are trying to disrupt Steph. The Celtics have figured out that disrupting Draymond's role on offense can go a long way toward disrupting Steph's game.

And someone in addition to Steph has to be a high volume scorer on offense.

This video helped explain what's going on with Draymond on offense.



Most playoff teams try to spring traps and double teams on Steph. That allows him to hit Green on the short roll in a position to make a play with a numbers advantage. The Celtics are not doing much of that. They're just switching and guarding Curry straight-up. That means Draymond is left standing in the corner without much to do, but it also means Steph has way more space than usual and is going off for big point totals.

I tend to agree that if Boston keeps playing this way then Draymond can't just be passive. Crash the boards if they're going to leave you alone, try to win extra possessions. That's how you get back in their heads.

Bostons coach has been saying since game 4 ended that their strategy on Steph has been sound. That leads me to believe they may change it up next game, especially if Steph starts out hot.

During the end of last game, Boston finally started to given in and started trapping during the last couple of possessions.

I think Boston's strategy to drop is actually sound. They have the personnel to play Steph straight up and the dubs are usually death once you give them a 4 on 3.

BUT draymond has seemed to have lost all confidence on offense. Even last game, during that last 4 on 3, hiss drop off to looney was fairly timid.

If I'm Boston, I may try to force draymond to beat me depending on where draymond's head is at. I think it'll be very clear within the first quarter whether we're going to get good draymond or bad draymond.

sycasey said:

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I tend to agree that if Boston keeps playing this way then Draymond can't just be passive. Crash the boards if they're going to leave you alone, try to win extra possessions. That's how you get back in their heads.

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Agreed 100%

It doesnt seem like we are getting any extra attempts on the offensive end when someone shoots.
People have been standing around and watching the ball in the air, rather than crashing the boards.
This tends to happen "early" in our games and puts us in bad positions.

ducky23 said:

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Just some very quick thoughts after re-watching game 4

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Ducky, in reviewing video do you think that back issues are plaguing Dray again?
It's the only thing that would make any sense as to his poor play.

DiabloWags said:

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ducky23 said:

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Just some very quick thoughts after re-watching game 4

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Ducky, in reviewing video do you think that back issues are plaguing Dray again?
It's the only thing that would make any sense as to his poor play.

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Not Ducky, but I don't think his back is acting up. They are basically daring him to shoot outside and if he takes it inside their length is bothering his shot. Usually, he can get involved in the pnr game with Steph but with Smart guarding him, Smart just easily switches and there isn't the big mismatch there. And if Green gets ball as the roller, he can't really take advantage if he's not willing to take it inside against their bigs. Celts are in his head.

oskidunker said:

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Predictions for game 5? Hard to do. Really depends how well Boston plays and if Warriors play great defense. Should the warriors warriors win,I like their chances to win it all.If they lose, they are not out of it. Brown has the capacity to have-bad games.

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I feel like W's win tonight.
But I'm continually wrong in this postseason, so that means Boston will win.

philbert said:

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DiabloWags said:

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ducky23 said:

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Just some very quick thoughts after re-watching game 4

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Ducky, in reviewing video do you think that back issues are plaguing Dray again?
It's the only thing that would make any sense as to his poor play.

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Not Ducky, but I don't think his back is acting up. They are basically daring him to shoot outside and if he takes it inside their length is bothering his shot. Usually, he can get involved in the pnr game with Steph but with Smart guarding him, Smart just easily switches and there isn't the big mismatch there. And if Green gets ball as the roller, he can't really take advantage if he's not willing to take it inside against their bigs. Celts are in his head.

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Stop and shoot 15 footer. He can make that

Porter starts again!

Wiggins playing well early, 4 pts, 3 reb, 2 blocks. 1 assist.

Celtics vs. Warriors - Live Game - June 13, 2022 - ESPN


https://www.espn.com/nba/game/_/gameId/401442534

Jackson & Van Gundy had nothing to say when Boston was getting smoked. Celtics start closing the gap and they go full fanboy gushing for Boston. It's like listening to Dan Fouts doing color for a SD/Raiders game.

Celtics looked terrible offensively, turnovers, bricking threes, missing FTs

But at half Boston was 3-15 from 3 (20%) yet Warriors were worse at 3-17!

I don't think second half will resemble first half