Breaking down the Boston Celtics-Golden State Warriors NBA Finals with Warriors Wire’s Tommy Call III

The 2022 NBA Finals are less than a day away from starting on Thursday, June 2 with the Boston Celtics set to take on the Golden State Warriors in a reprisal of their historic battles of the 1960s that pits one of the most transformative takes on offense in NBA history against the defense designed to stop it.

With so much to soak in ahead of a rapidly-approaching tipoff, we recruited the editor of our sister site Warriors Wire Tommy Call III to help us make sense of the series, giving our takes on some of more important wrinkles in the series in tandem with a perspective more amenable to many a fan in the Bay.

Let’s take a look at what we need to know heading into the 2022 NBA Finals.

Let's start with the contexts leading to each series; how did each team get here, and how might that affect how the finals play out?

Call: While it may sound cliche, the Warriors’ championship DNA built by the core of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green has shined during the postseason. Flat out, this team has just found different ways to win.

Whether it’s being picked up by a barrage of triples from Klay Thompson, Draymond Green’s playmaking, or the arrival of unsung heroes like Kevon Looney, the Warriors have cruised through the playoffs with potentially another gear to shift to during the Finals.

Quinn: I’d be lying if I said the path was an easy one for Boston, but this is who they are — a team that was forged in the crucible of adversity, pushed nearly to its breaking point to discover the profound resiliency this group actually had in them, maybe hidden even from themselves.

The words of reserve guard Derrick White may have summed up the team’s historic midseason turnaround and rise to contender status with the simplest of phrases, “if it was easy, it wouldn’t be us.”

Health is clearly a major concern this deep in the postseason -- how is each team doing?

Call: The depth and health of the Warriors are unique concerns. The Warriors have missed three key players during their postseason run with the absence of Andre Iguodala, Gary Payton II, and Otto Porter Jr. While all three players could be trending towards a return for the Finals, how Steve Kerr integrates the trio will be something to watch.

Without the three, Kerr has stretched the Warriors’ bench deep during the postseason, giving playing time to rookies Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody along with veteran reserves like Nemanja Bjelica and Damion Lee. In the Finals, the Warriors will likely compress their rotation, but with three key players potentially being mixed back into the lineup, how Kerr disburses different roles off the bench is still a mystery.

Quinn: The Celtics have also had considerable injury issues to contend with, with two starters trying to stay healthy enough to play. Throughout the whole of the last two series for veteran point guard Marcus Smart has dealt with a foot AND ankle sprain on top of a quad injury.

Since before Boston’s postseason even began, big man Robert Williams III has been managing pain and swelling in the knee he had a meniscus tear repaired that was exacerbated by a collision with Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Both of those players will be critical to Boston’s hopes against the Dubs, and while we think the extra days of rest before and during the series will be a big help, this is a key element to monitor for both clubs.

What can we take from each team's regular season? What should we ignore?

Call: If I’m being honest, we should really take away little to nothing. In the first matchup, Curry buried five triples on the way to a victory over a .500 Celtics squad. There was no Klay Thompson, no Jordan Poole, no Al Horford, and no Grant Williams – four players that will likely play key roles in deciding the Finals.

In their second matchup, the Warriors were welcoming Draymond Green back from injury but quickly lost Steph Curry to a foot injury. After Curry left the contest from appearing to injure his foot on a scramble for the ball with Marcus Smart, the Celtics went on to blow the Warriors out at Chase Center. Along with Curry’s exit, the Warriors were also missing Andrew Wiggins, Iguodala, and Payton II. Both teams are just at completely different places at this point in their run to the Finals.

Quinn: I couldn’t agree more with Tommy’s take in terms of what we ought to expect on the court in this series.

With only two matchups in the regular season by virtue of their opposing conferences and the usual scheduling patterns for those teams coupled with considerable injuries and roster moves since, the only thing I think we can take away from the regular season is that these are two of the most resilient teams we have seen in a very long time.

And given both have fought their way through their respective conference playoffs, that should not come as a surprise.

Any x-factors or important matchups we ought to be thinking about?

Call: I think it’s Draymond Green. The Celtics’ defense is as advertised great, especially when it comes to holding down the perimeter. The Warriors will need to knock down 3-pointers to take home their fourth championship under Kerr and company.

The Celtics are going to provide problems in that category. The Warriors will need Green to crack the Celtics’ stingy defense to give Curry, Thompson, and Poole time to come off screens and get open in Kerr’s motion offense. The Warriors will need to lean on an aggressive Green as a playmaker and field general to find the open shooter and easy bucket.

Even if he’s not scoring, Green is the table-setter for Golden State’s offense. When he’s switched on, the Warriors just flow at a different level of smooth. Green will already bring a tenacious level of defense to the table, but when he’s active and aggressive on the offensive side of the floor, the Warriors’ arsenal of shooters could overwhelm the Celtics’ defense.

Quinn: For Boston, I suspect in a wider lens it comes down to whether the adversity the Celtics fought through by effectively electing the path through the Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Miami Heat has prepared them uniquely to adapt their core approach on both ends of the court — or run them into the ground.

And while I think this series will be far more amenable to a number of players who have not seen the floor much over the last two rounds (Payton Pritchard, Daniel Theis, and to a lesser extent Derrick White), I think this is going to be a series whose teams are personified by their point guards with Stephen Curry’s offense and Marcus Smart’s defense a microcosm of the wider battle on the court. As goes Smart, goes the series, I think.

Caveat: We still have not seen Jayson Tatum go absolutely ballistic — this could be the moment he seizes the biggest stage to establish himself, but part of what has made Boston good of late has been the St. Louis native looking to make his teammates better.

What else should we know before this series starts?

Call: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green are well known, and rightfully so, but Jordan Poole has helped the Warriors at every step during the regular season and playoffs. There’s no doubt he will play a factor in the 2022 edition of the Finals.

Similar to Curry and Thompson, Poole has the ability to enter flamethrower mode at any point. He’s one of the few players in the league that mirror Curry and Thompson’s power to heat up in a matter of seconds. Along with fearless shooting, Poole possesses an underrated crafty handle that allows him to penetrate defenses and create opportunities at the bucket.

If Boston turns all their attention on defense to the Splash Bros, Kerr could confidently hand the keys to Poole on offense. A red-hot performance in the Finals could be a fitting final act in a breakout campaign for the 22-year-old.

Quinn: Boston has changed in several regards since the last time that the Warriors won the NBA Finals, with several departures and reunions transforming not only the roster but the front office as well. One thing has been relatively constant in that this team was designed in many ways to emulate aspects of the Warriors, but more importantly, to stop it.

After many a twist and turn since the 2018 playoffs that seemed destined to pair the two historic franchises in a championship battle, that matchup has finally come to fruition, and we get to see whether the team that has handled Golden State better than any other team in the regular season can do the same in the 16-win season.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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