SAN FRANCISCO -- I’m sitting on the dock of the bay, watching the tide roll away, watching a chance at a championship roll in, then watching it roll away again.
San Francisco is equal parts scenic and forgettable, and truth be told, I don’t want to come back here after I leave tomorrow. I’ve had my fill.
I assume the Celtics have as well. Jayson Tatum bemoaned the “long-ass flight” he had to get on after the Game 4 loss, promising all of us in attendance that the team wasn’t purposely trying to flitter away control of the series.
This has been a long, trying season for this team, and it would be a shame to bookend it with questions about the team’s focus and execution. We moved past that a long time ago. No one wants to go back there.
So many questions in yesterday’s practice focused on Steph Curry’s scoring outburst, but the fact is, Ime Udoka doesn’t seem to care a lot about that. Obviously, he’d prefer Curry not score 43, but the Warriors have scored 108, 107, 100, and 107 points in the four games. It doesn’t matter if Curry scored 100 and the rest of the team scored seven, the Celtics are going to live with point totals in that range.
The Celtics have put up 120 and 116 in this series, but also 88 and 97, which is the beginning and end of where Boston’s issues lie. No one should tell you any differently. Flip a few live-ball turnovers into actual good offense, and Boston could take between six and nine points off the Warriors' total and maybe add two or four to theirs.
There isn’t much left to say about this series. There are no secrets anymore. Any deeper analysis of the situation is just some compilation of numbers to justify a subscription to a stats site.
Boston ceded control of the series in terms of wins and loses by dropping Game 4, but let’s not mince words here: This series is 100% in Boston’s control. What they do and how they play is the determining factor in how these games go.
The Warriors haven't found some secret sauce when it comes to beating Boston. Andrew Wiggins had a fine game and is playing well defensively, but he’s also no stranger to blow-bys in this series. The Warriors' defense is making the Celtics work, for sure, but it’s also not impervious. There are weak spots to attack and even the good defenders have their flaws.
Boston’s mistakes are self-inflicted. Their turnovers aren’t the result of some stifling defense. They're almost entirely questionable decisions. Lazy, telegraphed passes are being deflected or thrown right into Warriors' hands. This isn’t about jumping passing lanes, it’s about accepting the gifts and running the other way with it.
This game tonight, and either one or two more, will simply come down to poise and execution. These final two or three games will come down to what I wrote in the series preview:
“My biggest fear at this point is the experience. The Warriors know what they're doing. They know what to expect. They have no fear.
Boston might not have fear either, but the weight of the NBA Finals will just hit different. There will be jitters and brain farts. There will be over-exuberance. There will be some hero ball.”
Payton Pritchard was asked about this very thing and said, “I think that's something we can learn from, us being a younger team. Their championship experience shows when they don't get rattled. I think that's something we can take from them. These next couple games will be a big growth step for us, to see how we handle it.”
Like I wrote yesterday, this will come down to who does what they do better; who can keep their wits about them when the turbulence hits.
Throw everything else in the trash. Who can run their stuff? Who can bounce back from a mistake? Who can keep focus and poise longer?
Pritchard said it all when he said the Warriors not getting rattled is something the Celtics can learn. How fast can they learn that lesson? Can they put it together to win two more games?
Preferably two straight games. I don’t want to come back here. That's a long-ass flight.