The Golden State Warriors take on the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals and both teams will be aiming to put a seal on what has been an exciting postseason.
Stephen Curry leads the Warriors against two of the league’s best young wings, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Even if they’ve never met in the playoffs, there’s already little bit of history between these teams. Boston is the only team in the NBA with a record above .500 against the Warriors under Steve Kerr at 9-7.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics lost Game 1 against the Heat and they also lost Game 1 against the Bucks. They were also very close to losing game 1 against the Nets. The Celtics are historically slow starters and that’s a problem against a Warriors team whose style takes a while to adjust to. The Warriors are 4-1 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals under Kerr, and they’re undefeated in Game 1 this postseason. For the Celtics to really grab this game by the throat, they need to assert themselves early. A victory in game one will be crucial for Ime Udoka and his men.
Jayson Tatum will be absolutely vital in everything the Celtics do. His ability to space the floor, make jumpers and finish at the rim is vital to winning. He also has the ability to defend when he needs to. Tatum has the tendency to go from a quite spectacular game to a really poor one so he must maintain consistency here.
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Golden State
The Warriors faced an undermanned Nuggets team in the first round and made light work of it. They came up against a Grizzlies team with little playoff experience and no Ja Morant for half the series. Finally, they faced a Dallas team that nobody expected to make it that far in the third. There’s no such thing as an easy run to the Finals, but the Warriors haven’t really been strongly tested yet. Boston has been the NBA’s best team since January, and their defense is built perfectly to contain Golden State’s offense. How do the Warriors adjust to finally facing an extremely difficult opponent?
It will be interesting to see how game 1 pans out. Golden State should have a slight advantage as they open the series on home court.
