I’ll start with a mea culpa: I didn’t think that the Warriors needed to shift Draymond Green onto Jaylen Brown. They did and, while I think the specific impact of that move has been overstated in my view, it revitalized the Warriors’ defense. They held the Celtics to 82 points per 100 possessions (Orlando’s league-worst offense managed 104.7 in the regular season), carrying Golden State to a blowout victory despite the Warriors scoring 1 point less than they did in Game 1. Here are four quick observations coming out of Game 2.
Fewer wide open looks for Boston
As much as the Celtics benefited from fluky three point shooting in Game 1, the Warriors’ rotations weren’t tight enough. That changed in Game 2. After attempting 41 non-garbage time threes in Game 1, Boston only attempted 27 non garbage-time threes in Game 2. The key thing to note: while 26 of those Game 1 threes were wide open, only 13 of the Game 2 threes were. Golden State didn’t just allow fewer threes, they made sure to deter the right kinds of threes. Another relevant number here: The Warriors contested a nearly identical number of three pointers across the two games. The difference in Game 2 was that the Warriors prevented fires rather than having to put them out. Good thing too, since the Celtics shot nearly 45% from three in Game 2. Watch Draymond Green stay closer to Al Horford drifting up the arc here; in Game 1, he may have been tempted to rove off him and much things up in the paint.
Force later, tougher decisions
Note how close to the rim Marcus Smart gets in the clip above. Despite Boston shooting historically badly from two-point range, they seemed to get into the paint at will. Golden State stayed home on shooters, walled off the rim, and dared Boston to attempt short mid-rangers, or pass out through a maze of arms.
The Warriors’ gamble paid off, to the tune of 6 more Boston turnovers in Game 2, all of which were live ball and led to transition opportunities going the other way.
Look how deep the Celtics’ drivers get on each of these, all of which ended in turnovers:
The other thing to notice there is how the Warriors form a shell around the driver in each case, seemingly sucking him into a vortex. At that point, Golden State’s defenders were willing to sink in a bit off of shooters, given how much time the Celtics had burned. Per NBA Advanced Stats, the average Boston possession lasted a full second and a half longer in Game 2 than in Game 1. Later, tougher decisions leading to live ball turnovers is a recipe for defensive success. I expect Boston to initiate offensive possessions earlier in Game 3, rolling out more set actions and plays.
Deny, deny, deny
Per NBA Advanced Stats, Jayson Tatum had 57 front court touches in Game 1; that number dipped to 42 in Game 2. Golden State did a terrific job denying Tatum easy catches, or forcing them later in the clock. It wasn’t just one defender. Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, and Gary Payton II (welcome back!) all played their part. On the second clip in particular, watch Draymond Green aggressively switch out onto Tatum in order to deter a pass from Derrick White.
You often hear that a good player will “get his”. Preventing them from even having a chance to try is one counter. Again, Boston has myriad ways of getting their stars the ball on the move and I expect to see a lot of them in Game 3.
Lady luck is undefeated
While the knock-on effects may have mattered, I’m not sure how much difference Draymond Green directly made on Jaylen Brown. Here is Brown’s Game 1 shot chart:
And here is his Game 2 shot chart:
Brown took six fewer shots in Game 2, but he played 10 fewer minutes (with Coach Udoka pulling the plug on his starters early in the fourth). Two things stick out for me otherwise: Brown missed the mid-range shots that he made in Game 1. And he had no rim attempts.
I’m not sure if there is much there beyond Brown missing the contested looks in Game 2 that he made in Game 1 (two of the three rim attempts in the first game came in transition). Watching the film of Brown’s shot attempts, it isn’t apparent to me that his looks got harder. Sometimes the story is as simple as a player’s shot making ebbing and flowing. Brown’s malaise reflected a general pattern across the Celtics roster. Pure variance might dictate a better showing there from Boston.
Final note…
The Steph Curry high PNR remains undefeated: