Warriors (1-2) at Celtics (2-1) Finals Game #4 6/10/22

[Indocelts]

This game is actually the best time to really destroy the Warriors’ hope for the championship, and for the first half I really didn’t see why we couldn’t win this game. But we melted, and we squandered this chance.
It’s disheartening to see the Cs chose the harder path to win the best of 3.

I do think we can still win the series, but to squander this big opportunity shows that we still lack the killer instinct. Maturity.

[jpotter33]

They have to work out how to defend Curry better. Drop coverage obviously doesn't work on him, but if you come up too much it invites a switch and he cooks bigger players, like he did with Timelord in the 4th. Horford defended him well on one occasion but even LeBron has found it hard to defend Steph one on one at the perimeter. Can't trap either because they have other good shooters. Ime has to figure that out.

The thing is, they don't have to commit fully to the switch, but they're playing a full on, deep drop coverage that just makes no sense. It's like Ime has just granted them to shoot that shot willingly so they don't penetrate, but its' simply not working.

All they have to do is take one more step up. Don't fully commit to the switch and covering them, but be close enough to make them think.

[RJ87]

What scares me about this series is I don't think the Jay's are ready to ascend to superstar level yet, while GS has the best player on either team - and he's on a roll.

Brown is doing what he should be doing for the most part. Tatum the best SCORER on the team hasn't had one EXPLOSIVE game since Game 6 in Milwaukee. Whatever he scores on offense is deluted because he turns the ball too much to go along with it.

Tatum needs to be a playmaker.  We've been better when Jaylen has big scoring games; he was the primary initiator in the last two first quarters.  Tatum's capable - he had 13 assists in game one.  I'm somewhat concerned that he gunned tonight just to outscore Jaylen.

He had 6 assists tonight and could've had more if guys hit shots. Jayson only had four more shot attempts than Brown. Let's not start this narrative.

[hpantazo]

They have to work out how to defend Curry better. Drop coverage obviously doesn't work on him, but if you come up too much it invites a switch and he cooks bigger players, like he did with Timelord in the 4th. Horford defended him well on one occasion but even LeBron has found it hard to defend Steph one on one at the perimeter. Can't trap either because they have other good shooters. Ime has to figure that out.

The thing is, they don't have to commit fully to the switch, but they're playing a full on, deep drop coverage that just makes no sense. It's like Ime has just granted them to shoot that shot willingly so they don't penetrate, but its' simply not working.

All they have to do is take one more step up. Don't fully commit to the switch and covering them, but be close enough to make them think.

Our defense was good enough tonight. Our offense lost the game.

[celticinorlando]

Saw this tweet….smart again playing hero ball in crunch time

Celtics after going up 91-85 wit 7:32 to go

Tatum 22' miss
Tatum layup miss
Smart layup miss
Smart 3 (94-90, 5:18)
Brown 12' miss
Brown 25' miss
Tatum 27' miss
Smart 25' miss
Smart 27' miss
Horford 27' miss
Horford 3 (100-97, 1:32)
Brown TO
White 25' miss

6 points. 7:32. Woof.

[libermaniac]

https://twitter.com/ChrisForsberg_/status/1535464171537682432?s=20&t=KOgTxgnGZuq8kN_yDA2hRA

Bruh!

So, only one turnover in the last 7 minutes. They just went cold. Looks were good and effort was there. No need to bag on the team or Tatum. Despite the sloppy play most of the game they put themselves in a position to win but just went cold.

[Kuberski33]

Love you Tatum but if you’re going to be this inconsistent then you’re probably not a superstar yet. I mean I don’t even think Doncic has nights like this often but Tatum unfortunately does

There are the games that separate the superstars from the next level down.

Yup. Are Tatum and Brown Kobe & Shaq, MJ & Pippen, or are they Stockton & Malone or Barkley & KJ?

It also may not be their time yet.

[jpotter33]

They have to work out how to defend Curry better. Drop coverage obviously doesn't work on him, but if you come up too much it invites a switch and he cooks bigger players, like he did with Timelord in the 4th. Horford defended him well on one occasion but even LeBron has found it hard to defend Steph one on one at the perimeter. Can't trap either because they have other good shooters. Ime has to figure that out.

The thing is, they don't have to commit fully to the switch, but they're playing a full on, deep drop coverage that just makes no sense. It's like Ime has just granted them to shoot that shot willingly so they don't penetrate, but its' simply not working.

All they have to do is take one more step up. Don't fully commit to the switch and covering them, but be close enough to make them think.

Our defense was good enough tonight. Our offense lost the game.

It's not quite as simple as that, though, because the defense feeds the offense and the same goes for GS. It's hard to get easy, fastbreak looks when you're taking it out of bounds every time.

[Phantom255x]

Curry went for 43 but tbh I thought our defense overall was fine tonight. If you take away those icing FTs late, they basically held GSW to around 102 points.

The offense though was just putrid the final 6 minutes. Literally got outscored 17-3 in that stretch

Think about it. Final 6 minutes of a FINALS game… and they scored 3 total points

[86MaxwellSmart]

I blame Smart more than Tatum---cause he dribbled the air out of the ball most of the night--allowing GS to set their defense. ZERO sense of urgency until he started chucking brick 3 point attempts when it was TOO late.

[ozgod]

We have to give the Dubs some credit too. It's easy to focus on our own team's failings but there's 2 teams playing for this championship and this was a must-win for GS. They knew they couldn't go back to SF with a 3-1 deficit and they delivered. Now it's our turn to respond. Part of the experience of following a team is seeing if they are capable of doing that. I'm excited to see if this team is ready to take that next step. Will they be the 1985 Celtics? Or the 1986 version? We'll find out.

[tarheelsxxiii]

What scares me about this series is I don't think the Jay's are ready to ascend to superstar level yet, while GS has the best player on either team - and he's on a roll.

Brown is doing what he should be doing for the most part. Tatum the best SCORER on the team hasn't had one EXPLOSIVE game since Game 6 in Milwaukee. Whatever he scores on offense is deluted because he turns the ball too much to go along with it.

Tatum needs to be a playmaker.  We've been better when Jaylen has big scoring games; he was the primary initiator in the last two first quarters.  Tatum's capable - he had 13 assists in game one.  I'm somewhat concerned that he gunned tonight just to outscore Jaylen.

He had 6 assists tonight and could've had more if guys hit shots. Jayson only had four more shot attempts than Brown. Let's not start this narrative.

GSW are throwing everything they have at Tatum.  We win when Tatum becomes a playmaker and Brown carries the offense at times.  And Tatum took a lot of terrible shots tonight while Brown is leading us in scoring this series and last.  That's not a narrative, it's reality.

[hpantazo]

In a 2-2 series, the winner of game 5 usually wins it all. Monday night is our moment.

[RJ87]

https://twitter.com/ChrisForsberg_/status/1535464171537682432?s=20&t=KOgTxgnGZuq8kN_yDA2hRA

Bruh!

So, only one turnover in the last 7 minutes. They just went cold. Looks were good and effort was there. No need to bag on the team or Tatum. Despite the sloppy play most of the game they put themselves in a position to win but just went cold.

Exactly. Those 3 wide open 3 point attempts we missed with a chance to tie were killer. But it wasn't bad offense, we got open looks.

[ozgod]

Curry went for 43 but tbh I thought our defense overall was fine tonight. If you take away those icing FTs late, they basically held GSW to around 102 points.

The offense though was just putrid the final 6 minutes. Literally got outscored 17-3 in that stretch

Think about it. Final 6 minutes of a FINALS game… and they scored 3 total points

Yes they missed some open shots. They lost the game in the last 5 mins. Failure of execution. They'd played a decent game to that point. Not that you would know it from following the game thread - but we all know that Celtics fans get nervous if the team isn't constantly leading by 20