More stories

  • in

    The Celtics Stopped Stephen Curry. Everyone Else Made Them Pay.

    For the first time in a long time, Golden State’s Curry couldn’t hit a single 3-pointer. His teammates had better luck with their shots.SAN FRANCISCO — Inside a gleaming arena experiencing its first N.B.A. finals run, fans stood and cheered as the game’s final minute approached, perhaps the last home send-off they would get to give before Golden State returned as champion.Stephen Curry sat on the bench for the last 1 minute 19 seconds of Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals, wearing a wide smile, chatting happily with someone nearby.“I don’t think I’ve ever been happier after a 0-for-whatever type of night,” Curry said later. He added: “Yeah, there’s a fire burning, and I want to make shots, but the rest of it is about how we win the game. And we did that.”Reliant on Curry for the first four games of this series against the Boston Celtics, Golden State showed its ability to succeed even when his shot wasn’t working. Monday’s was the first playoff game of Curry’s career in which he didn’t make at least one 3-pointer. It was also a 104-94 victory that gave Golden State a 3-2 lead in the finals and a chance to win a championship in Boston on Thursday.Andrew Wiggins was the star of the game, with 26 points and an emphatic dunk that sent the San Francisco crowd into a frenzy.Jed Jacobsohn/Associated PressThe Celtics threw all their effort at slowing Curry after he scored 43 points to beat them in Game 4 on Friday. So in Game 5, everyone else made them pay.“The fact everybody stepped up — Wiggs, J.P., Klay hit some big shots, Draymond found his life and his spirit and the way he impacts the game,” Curry said.Wiggs is Andrew Wiggins, who once was called a bust when some thought he couldn’t deliver on the promise of being a No. 1 overall pick in the draft. He scored 26 points for Golden State with 13 rebounds and two steals. He had a block in the first quarter when he smacked the ball away from Celtics guard Jaylen Brown.J.P. is Jordan Poole, who scored 14 points and banked in a 3-pointer as the third-quarter clock expired, then ran to the corner nearest him and roared into the crowd. That basket gave Golden State a 1-point lead after an otherwise disastrous quarter.Thompson, Curry’s 3-point shooting partner, has been inconsistent in the finals, but made five 3s in Game 5, and scored 21 points.Draymond Green had a game that Golden State Coach Steve Kerr called “brilliant,” after his struggles early in the series caused some to wonder if his pursuits outside basketball were distracting him.Gary Payton II, the 29-year-old journeyman, scored 15 points for Golden State, making 6 of 8 shots.“Gary plays bigger than any other 6-2 N.B.A. player I’ve ever seen,” Thompson said. “His vert and his ability to slide in front of the ball, obviously we know where that came from: from his pops. But his vert is something special, and his improved jump shot has also been a huge weapon for us.”Curry knew the Celtics were not going to let him get away with what he did to them in Boston again. In the days between Games 4 and 5 he watched film with a dual purpose: He wanted to see what worked so he could try to replicate it. He wanted to anticipate potential adjustments Boston would use to thwart him.The Celtics did make adjustments and felt good about how they defended Curry in Game 5.“A little more physical there,” Celtics Coach Ime Udoka said. “Switched up the coverage a little bit. But we have to do it on the others.”In talking about how Curry’s teammates made up for his shooting struggles, Curry and Udoka focused on their offensive production. But what mattered more for Golden State was their defense.They held the Celtics to just 94 points, and scored 22 points off Boston’s 18 turnovers. Payton had three steals, Thompson had two and Green and Curry each had one.The only quarter in which the Celtics looked better was the third, when they made 6 of 9 3-point attempts, 11 of 19 shots overall, and turned a 16-point deficit into a 5-point lead with 3:55 left in the period.“They pretty much dominated the entire third quarter,” Green said. “For us to still go into the fourth quarter with the lead, that’s huge. And I think that was something that we could build on, and we did.”Draymond Green fouled out in the fourth quarter, but he had tallied 8 points, 6 assists and 8 rebounds with a high-energy performance.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAs Golden State regained control of the game, a sense of joyfulness could be seen throughout the team.When Celtics forward Jayson Tatum knocked over Payton with just under four minutes left in the game, Payton put his palms on the ground and began to do push-ups. With 2:10 left, Wiggins ran past Boston’s Derrick White for a one-handed dunk that sent his teammates and the San Francisco crowd into a frenzy.“We don’t get more excited than when Wiggs dunks on somebody,” Thompson said. “And that really uplifts the whole team and the Bay Area.”In the first four games of the finals, Curry averaged 34.3 points a game, and his field-goal percentage was better than 53 percent in Games 3 and 4 in Boston. He also made 25 3-pointers in those four games and made at least half his 3s in Games 1, 3 and 4.He had been the most consistent part of Golden State’s attack. After Game 4, Thompson marveled at what Curry accomplished and spoke of wanting to give him some help.But on Monday, Green, as is his wont, disagreed with what he called the emerging narrative that Curry hadn’t had the help he needed this series.“If he’s got it going, we’re going to be heavy Steph Curry,” Green said. “That’s just what it is. The whole notion of this guy doesn’t, he doesn’t have help, well, you’ve got 43, he’s going to keep shooting, and we’re going to do all that we can to get him shooting it.”He went on in that vein for a few more sentences before smiling.Jordan Poole banked in a 3-pointer to close the third quarter, giving Golden State a 1-point lead.Cary Edmondson/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“He was 0 for 9 from 3,” Green said. “He’s going to be livid going into Game 6. And that’s exactly what we need.”Curry said he looked forward to “the bounce back” that his shooting percentage will, seemingly, inevitably get.When they are at their best, the Warriors can hit you in waves. Stop one and another will come at you.It has always been this way to some extent. During the first run of their dynasty, back when they played at Oracle Arena in Oakland, one had to contend with Curry, Green, Thompson and Andre Iguodala, then Kevin Durant for a while.Monday night they showed that it is still that way. More

  • in

    Stephen Curry Is More Human, and Brilliant, Than Ever

    Golden State was good. Then too good. Then very, very bad. The worst. Back among the N.B.A. elite, Curry’s team has been humbled by the journey.BOSTON — Stephen Curry was demoralizing the Celtics when he decided to improvise. After he dribbled to spin past Marcus Smart, who happens to be one of the N.B.A.’s most ferocious defenders, Curry found himself sizing up Robert Williams, a 6-foot-9 center whose sneakers might as well have been filled with concrete.Curry took a hard dribble, leaving Williams in his wake, before he rose from the court to sink a running 12-foot floater that extended Golden State’s lead in Game 4 of the N.B.A. finals Friday night.It was a scene that felt familiar but new, the same but somehow different. Curry has spent his career filling games with parabolic 3-pointers and dazzling drives to the hoop. But now, at age 34, having spent the past couple of seasons wandering through the basketball wilderness with his teammates, he has been busy staging a renaissance.And it was his performance — 43 points and 10 rebounds on a sore left foot — that had basketball fans buzzing ahead of Game 5 on Monday night in San Francisco. The series is tied, 2-2.“He wasn’t going to let us lose,” his teammate Draymond Green said.Aside from Curry’s relatively slight stature — at 6-foot-2, he is a shrub in the N.B.A.’s forest of redwoods — it might be difficult for ordinary humans to relate to him. He is a highly trained athlete and the greatest shooter who has ever lived. He has won two N.B.A. Most Valuable Player Awards. The architect of an expanding entertainment empire, he golfs with former President Barack Obama in his spare time.And for five seasons, from 2014to 2019, Curry sat atop the basketball world.Few people ever become the best at anything, and wins can feel elusive. You get stuck in the slowest checkout line. You deserved that job promotion. You want to be able to buy a house in that neighborhood, too. But Curry helped the ordinary masses feel like winners alongside him, even if they rooted for his team to lose.Curry draws crowds, no matter which city he is in.Noah Graham/NBAE, via Getty ImagesAs Curry led Golden State to five straight N.B.A. finals appearances, winning three championships, opposing fans would turn out early for games just so they could watch him warm up. At Madison Square Garden, where the lights are low and the court is a stage, the M.V.P. chants were for him. In Los Angeles, in Houston, in Philadelphia and in Miami, cities with All-Stars of their own, the roars and the crowds, the oohs and the aahs — they trumpeted his arrival.Along the way, he pushed his teammates to turn basketball into high art. They shot with precision. They moved with the grace of ballet dancers. And in a sport saturated by supersize egos and enormous paychecks, they relished passing to the open man.And then came Kevin Durant, all arms and legs and 25-foot jumpers. After losing to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 N.B.A. finals, Golden State had successfully recruited Durant to sign on as a free agent. Was it a cry for help, an acknowledgment that the team had room for improvement? Or were the rich just getting richer?“We were the evil empire for a while,” Rick Welts, the team’s former president, said in a recent interview.Durant, of course, was fearsome before he joined Golden State. After being named the league’s M.V.P. in 2014, he described his mother, Wanda, as the “real M.V.P.” in an emotional speech. The callousness of the current era eventually turned that expression of humility into a meme, one that would soon be turned against him: Between Durant and Curry in Golden State, who was the real M.V.P.?That question — from social media trolls, television personalities and needling sports fans — was a dig at Durant, but its sharp edge wounded Curry, too. Golden State had become too good.Draymond Green, left, and Klay Thompson, right, formed the core of Golden State’s five straight finals appearances and three championships alongside Curry.Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports, via ReutersSure enough, Durant was a force in back-to-back championships, the latter a four-game sweep of the Cavaliers. There was a sense of joyless inevitability about Golden State: Anything short of a championship was a failure.And then the dynasty crumbled. In the 2019 finals, Klay Thompson and Durant sustained serious injuries as the Toronto Raptors staged an upset to win their first title. Thompson sat out the next season after knee surgery. Durant left for the Nets in free agency. And Curry broke his left hand, missing all but five games as Golden State finished with the worst record in the N.B.A.In a matter of months, the league’s most dominant team had morphed into a renovation project. Making matters worse, Thompson ruptured his Achilles’ tendon in a workout before the start of last season, and Golden State fell short of making the playoffs again.This season, nothing was guaranteed. Golden State had gone from indomitable to vulnerable, a battered version of its younger self. But the team was not totally broken. Thompson’s return in January after a 941-day absence was celebrated as a triumph and no small medical marvel. He soared for a dunk in his first game.The finals have been a microcosm of Golden State’s long road back — a beautiful struggle. After splitting the first two games of the series in San Francisco, Golden State lost Game 3 in Boston, and Curry injured his left foot in the final minutes when the Celtics’ Al Horford landed on him in a scramble for a loose ball.Afterward, it was left to Thompson to offer some hope, saying he was “getting big 2015 vibes,” a reference to the 2015 finals, back when Golden State trailed the Cavaliers, 2-1, before engineering a comeback to win it all, the team’s first of the Curry era.Bruce Fraser, an assistant coach, estimated he tosses 200,000 passes a season to Curry during practices and workouts. “I get nervous when I’m passing because I don’t want to throw him off,” Fraser said.John Hefti/Associated PressMore broadly, Thompson cited Golden State’s postseason experience as a positive. When he was younger, he said, there were trapdoors everywhere. Prone to feeling anxious when trailing in a series, he was likely to be overconfident with a lead. Now, he was older but wiser.“You can’t really relax until the final buzzer of the closeout game,” he said. “That’s the hardest part about the playoffs — you have to deal with being uncomfortable until the mission is complete.”Curry slept well after Game 3, he said, and kept his left foot in a bucket of ice whenever possible. The emphasis was on recovery and mending his achy body. (Steph Curry: Just like us.) He knew only one thing for certain: He was going to play in Game 4.Precisely 75 minutes before Friday’s opening tip, Curry appeared for his pregame warm-up routine. Clad in black, with the notable exception of lavender-colored sneakers, he started off by making five layups. He then moved to the left elbow, where he hoisted a series of shots with his left hand, which is his off hand, and missed nine in a row to the delight of hundreds of early-arriving Celtics fans.But over the next 20 minutes, something strange but not entirely unexpected happened: The crowd began to murmur in admiration and appreciation as Curry sank 136 of 190 shots, including 46 of 72 3-pointers, a few of them from just inside halfcourt. Fans broke out their cellphones to record the moment for posterity. Children yelled for autographs.“People think his shot is like Ken Griffey Jr.’s swing — it’s so pretty that you think he never has to work on it,” Bob Myers, the team’s general manager, said in an interview during the regular season. “But that is anything but true. When you peek behind the curtain, you see the work.”Thompson said Curry had never played a better finals game than Game 4 on Friday.Winslow Townson/Getty ImagesOnce upon a time, Curry’s feats seemed magical — and they still are. But in recent seasons, as Golden State wandered through a wasteland of injury and uncertainty, Curry and his teammates revealed that success does not happen by accident, that it takes great effort and determination. Sure, they are still basketball savants, but they are savants who have shown the world their homework.“Win, lose, whatever it is, however you play, you have to keep coming back to the well to keep sharpening the tool kit and finding ways to evolve your game,” Curry said. “That is the hardest part of what we do.”After helping force the Celtics into a late turnover that essentially sealed Friday’s win, Curry and Thompson celebrated by swinging their arms in unison. Thompson, who knows Curry better than most, said his teammate had never played a finer game in the finals. Curry was asked whether he agreed with Thompson’s assessment.“I don’t rank my performances, though,” he said. “Just win the game.”At this stage, he knows what matters. More

  • in

    Why Golden State Fans Travel Far to See Curry: It’s Worth It

    Some Golden State fans traveled thousands of miles to Boston to watch their team face the Celtics in the N.B.A. finals.BOSTON — As Stephen Curry emerged from an arena tunnel for his pregame warm-up routine, he was the center of gravity, drawing fans to him as he often does defenders on the court.The Golden State faithful in the stands — who appeared to be in the dozens — dangled sneakers and posters into the tunnel for Curry to sign, or otherwise leaned over each other to get a better look at him. Ian Rea, a 16-year-old who drove with his parents from Saint John, New Brunswick, held up a sign that said, “Steph, if you sign my jersey, I will cut all my hair.”The meticulous combination of Curry’s jumpers, floaters and trick shots with a dash of goofiness is the basketball equivalent of watching Louis Armstrong run scales on the trumpet.Curry did not end up signing Rea’s poster. But several rows away, watching Curry run his own scales, Matt Velasquez, 49, a flight attendant, was wistfully considering the concept of basketball mortality Friday night, with Golden State then down a game to the Celtics in the N.B.A. finals.“You may be coming to an end of an era,” said Velasquez, who is from Danville, Calif. He and his friend Dale Villasenor flew across the country just to watch Game 4 in Boston. They each spent $2,500 to sit in the loge section. Velasquez, a lifelong Golden State fan, said he tries never to miss a home game in person.Curry signed autographs before Game 4 of the N.B.A. finals on Friday night in Boston. Fans regularly come out early just to see him warm up.David Butler Ii/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe fan base isn’t at a crossroads quite yet. Curry, 34, hasn’t said anything about retiring, and Golden State may end up winning this series. It is tied, 2-2, with Game 5 on Monday.The other two stars of the core, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, are just 32. But age creeps up on all of us — and in basketball years, the three of them are somewhere between middle-aged and eligible for Social Security. There likely aren’t many runs left with these players performing at an elite level.Villasenor, 49, a dentist from Walnut Creek, Calif., recalled what life as a Golden State fan was like before Curry was drafted with the seventh pick in 2009, back when the team played at Oracle Arena in Oakland instead of the Chase Center in San Francisco.“We used to watch games where we would just go hang out and just watch for All-Stars to come through,” Villasenor said.Now, Golden State is the draw. Usually, when Golden State plays road games, a significant contingent of its fans shows up. The team is among the N.B.A. leaders in road attendance. Sometimes, it’s a matter of having one of the world’s biggest stars on your team in Curry, a top jersey seller.In Boston, however, a city with a storied basketball history, road jerseys were harder to spot on Friday night. Trying to locate a Golden State fan was like playing Where’s Waldo? but for specks of gold and blue instead of Waldo’s red and white. Every seat in the arena was draped with a white-and-green shirt from the Celtics that said, “It’s All About 18,” a reference to Boston’s pursuit of an 18th championship.This N.B.A. finals is a contrast in legacies. Golden State has won six titles — three of them in the past seven years. Its dominance has mostly been in the 21st century, whereas the Celtics are steeped in nostalgia — wistful for the days of Bill Russell and Larry Bird, with only one championship since 1986.Looking for Golden State fans in Boston felt a little like playing Where’s Waldo?Winslow Townson/Getty ImagesThis has created different reputations for the supporters of each franchise. Recent success, as Chris Swartzentruber, 30, an insurance agent from Kalona, Iowa, put it, invites recent fans.“I don’t know any bandwagon Celtics fans,” he said. “I know a lot of bandwagon Warriors fans.”Not that Swartzentruber is the purest fan himself. He said he roots only for Thompson, not the team. He has followed the team to several finals games since 2015 to watch him play, and, as expected, he was donning a Thompson jersey to take in Game 4. For this trip, he traveled from Kalona by himself to sit courtside. His ticket cost $3,500. His fandom stems in part from being a strong shooter himself growing up.“I don’t spend that much money,” Swartzentruber said. “This is my vacation, and I haven’t had a vacation in, like, three years.”And because sport fandom is an irrational enterprise, it invites some amusing allegiances and profane behavior. This is especially the case in Boston, where fans are known to be — let’s call it, expressive. The Celtics’ fan behavior has become a story in this series because of Game 3, when fans chanted vulgarities at Green.N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver was asked for his response to fan chants by a local reporter in Boston.“I want fans to enjoy themselves,” Silver said. “Of course, as the league office, you want to see it done with respect for all the participants, but I get it. I love the energy that Boston fans bring.”If Silver’s wide smile could talk, it might have added: “Boston, please don’t be mad at me. Did I mention I love clam chowder?”Fans in Golden State jerseys before Game 4 of the N.B.A. finals in Boston. Winslow Townson/Getty ImagesNancy DeBlasio, 41, attended the game from Berlin, Conn., with her girlfriend, Ashley Cialfi, 33. Both of them wore blue-and-yellow Golden State T-shirts. DeBlasio is a teacher and a basketball coach rooting for Curry. DeBlasio said that being on the streets of Boston with her T-shirt had been “pretty brutal,” but that the two of them were “taking it because we understand.”“I think it’d be worse if we were guys,” Cialfi chimed in.“Oh, most definitely,” DeBlasio concurred.Really? But why?“Because they’re going to go easy on some chicks,” Cialfi said.But then came a pro-wrestling-style plot twist: DeBlasio said she is actually a Celtics fan, but simultaneously a Curry fan. She insisted that despite her shirt, she was actually rooting for a Boston win. (“No, you’re not,” Cialfi informed her.) No epithets were thrown in that exchange.Nor were they thrown near Andy and Ryan Malburg, a father and son who had driven almost seven hours from Buffalo for the game. Ryan, 15, who almost cried when he found out about the tickets, was a lifelong Golden State fan attending his first N.B.A. game.OK, fair point: What is “lifelong” when you’re 15?But this means Ryan’s generation of Golden State fans is spoiled: He has mostly known winning, which made his reference to the team as a “good, up-and-coming team right now” understandable. (Andy and Ryan are also Buffalo Bills fans, so it evens out.) Ryan’s father, meanwhile, made clear that the Malburgs would not be taking part in any profanity-related high jinks initiated by impolite Boston fans.“He knows to be respectful, and he will not say any of those things,” Andy Malburg, 43, sternly said. “I can guarantee you that.”After Game 4, Stephen Curry greeted perhaps his biggest fan of all: his mother, Sonya.Winslow Townson/Getty ImagesSure enough, Celtics fans chanted again at Green throughout the game and occasionally even cursed at Thompson. But ultimately, it was the Golden State fans who left the arena satisfied. Curry put on a vintage performance, scoring 43 points. Instead of mortality, Curry had backers of both teams awed by the latest campaign to enshrine himself in basketball immortality.“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Velasquez said after the game, “coming out to the East Coast to watch the Boston Celtics, historically one of the best franchises.”“The Boston Celtics,” Villasenor exuberantly interrupted.“I know!” Velasquez said, matching his jubilance. “To beat them at their home court!”As they spoke, a man who looked to be in his 20s and wearing a Celtics jersey approached and noticed their Golden State attire.“You guys are bums, you know that?” the man said, unprompted. It was one of several opinions related to the team he wanted to get off his chest.As he closed out his eloquent soliloquy, the man turned around and did a dance — with his own bum gyrating toward Velasquez and Villasenor.“Eh,” Villasenor said of Celtics fans, sarcastically. “Honestly, classy.” More

  • in

    Steph Curry’s 43 Points Help Golden State Beat Celtics in NBA Finals

    Golden State desperately needed a win after losing two of the first three games in the N.B.A. finals. Curry’s 43 points on Friday got it done.BOSTON — For two days, Golden State forward Draymond Green saw it in his teammate Stephen Curry. The fire Curry plays with isn’t always apparent to outsiders, but Green sensed that it was simmering within.Their team was down in the N.B.A. finals, 2-1, and Curry was not going to let them lose Game 4.On Friday night everybody else saw that emotion, too.After one of his two first-quarter 3-pointers, Curry screamed into the crowd full of Boston Celtics fans who had showed up early to hound him and his teammates. There was a long way to go in the game, one of the finest of his illustrious career, but he shouted to send a message.“Felt like we just had to let everybody know that we were here tonight,” Curry said.He added: “You can want it so bad, you kind of get in your own way a little bit, and everybody feels a little bit of pressure, and it can go the opposite way. I wanted to try to leverage that in a positive direction for us to start the game.”On Friday night in front of a hostile crowd in Boston, Golden State evened its series with the Celtics, 2-2, and regained home-court advantage. Golden State won, 107-97.Curry scored 43 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, becoming only the third Warriors player to have at least 40 points and 10 rebounds in an N.B.A. finals game; Rick Barry did so in 1967, and Kevin Durant did in 2018. Curry, Michael Jordan and LeBron James are the only players 34 and older to score 40 or more points in an N.B.A. finals game.As Golden State stretched its lead in the final minutes of Game 4, Celtics fans began to leave. When Curry was at the free-throw line with 19.1 seconds left in the game, a chant of “M.V.P.” could be heard in the upper deck of the arena.The series will return to San Francisco for Game 5 on Monday, followed by Game 6 in Boston on Thursday.Curry did it all for Golden State in Game 4. He “put us on his back,” Klay Thompson said.Winslow Townson/Getty ImagesThe crowd heartily booed Golden State’s players, beginning in their pregame warm-ups.When Klay Thompson appeared on the court an hour before the game, a group of fans in the lower bowl booed him. He acknowledged them with his arms and encouraged them to get louder. Green emerged a few minutes later and drew an even louder explosion of boos. Two nights before, Thompson had criticized the crowd for chanting obscenities at Green.The Celtics entered the game with aspirations of handing Golden State its first back-to-back losses in this year’s playoffs. Before Friday’s game, Golden State had won all five games that followed losses this postseason.But Boston understood the fierce grip that a 3-1 lead can hold in a best-of-seven series.“We understand we have a chance to do something special, put some pressure on tonight,” Celtics Coach Ime Udoka said before the game.The Celtics gained confidence from the way they had played in the last game.“We have to replicate what we did in Game 3,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said on Thursday. “We reduced our turnovers. We reduced our second-chance points, offensive rebounds. We just controlled the game, the game that we wanted to play.”Golden State made a change to its starting lineup for the first time this series in Game 4, replacing Kevon Looney with Otto Porter Jr.The playoffs this season have been characterized by blowouts, and the Celtics have played in several of them, including all three that came during the finals. Boston won Game 1 by 12 points, lost Game 2 by 19 and won Game 3 by 16.But early on, Game 4 showed promise that it could be a tightly contested matchup that would stay interesting until the end.Curry and Boston’s Jayson Tatum each scored 12 points in the first quarter.“Everybody was emotional tonight,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said. “Down 2-1, we had to come out with some desperation and more physicality than we showed in Game 3. So it was a team-wide sense of aggression and emotion. That started right from the opening tip.“Steph obviously doesn’t normally show a lot of emotion, but a night like tonight warranted it.”The first quarter ended with Tatum passing the ball into the paint to Robert Williams III, who flicked it out to Grant Williams in the corner for a 3. Grant Williams’s 3 gave Boston a 28-27 lead heading into the second quarter.“Steph obviously doesn’t normally show a lot of emotion,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said, “but a night like tonight warranted it.”Elsa/Getty ImagesBy halftime, the lead had changed hands six times and the score had been tied five times.It was Celtics guard Jaylen Brown’s turn to shine in the second quarter. He scored 10 points and Boston outscored Golden State by nine points when he was on the court during that quarter.Boston had stretched its lead slightly by halftime, to 54-49.But Golden State would not go quietly, especially not with Curry available. He had 33 points heading into the fourth quarter, having scored 14 in the third.The game was tied at 86 with eight minutes left.Thompson picked up his fourth foul with 5:33 left in the game. The crowd chanted at him the same obscene chant they had directed at Green in Game 3, but replaced “Draymond” with “Klay.” About one minute later, Thompson’s 3-pointer gave Golden State a 95-94 lead.Boston scored only once in the game’s final five minutes.There was some doubt after Game 3 that Curry would be available for Game 4 because he hurt his foot in a pileup while fighting for a loose ball. Curry participated in Golden State’s shootaround on Friday morning and was cleared to play.After Curry’s performance Friday night, the second-highest scoring finals game of his career, the first question posed to Kerr in the postgame news conference was a cheeky one about how he thought Curry’s foot held up. Kerr laughed.“I think he was really laboring out there,” Kerr quipped. “He really struggled.”Thompson also was asked about Curry first when he took the postgame podium.“The heart on that man is incredible,” Thompson said. “You know, the things he does we kind of take for granted from time to time, but to go out there and put us on his back, I mean, we’ve got to help him out on Monday. Wow.” More

  • in

    Celtics Gain NBA Finals Edge on Golden State With Physical Play

    The Celtics lead the N.B.A. finals, two games to one, in a series that has been defined by size and rebounds more than finesse and flash.BOSTON — After Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals, Boston Celtics center Robert Williams attended his postgame news conference dressed in a T-shirt with the face of the bruising, Hall of Fame player Dennis Rodman printed on it.It was fitting attire after a game in which the Celtics had banged into the Golden State Warriors and sent them skittering across the court, in which they wrested rebounds and loose balls away from them. At times, Golden State looked disheveled and tired when its players smacked into the bigger, more athletic, younger Celtics.“We want to try to impose our will and size in this series,” Celtics Coach Ime Udoka said.Game 3, on Wednesday night, was the first finals game in Boston since 2010, and the Celtics made a statement, playing with edge to earn a 2-1 series lead over Golden State with a 116-100 win. Boston will also host Game 4 on Friday night.It has been a series marked by toughness: The team able to exhibit more of it has been able to win each of the first three games.“If we were going to come out here and play, the last thing when we left that court we didn’t want to say we weren’t physical enough,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. “It worked out for us.”Statistically, that physicality manifested itself in several ways Wednesday night.It showed in the rebounding — Boston grabbed 16 more rebounds than Golden State. Williams had 10, as well as four of the Celtics’ seven blocks.“There’s a play early in the fourth, I got by Grant Williams and thought I had daylight to get a shot up, and you underestimate how athletic he was and how much he could bother that shot,” Golden State guard Stephen Curry said.Williams has been inconsistent this series because of a knee injury that has bothered him throughout the playoffs. Williams had surgery on his left knee in March, but aggravated it during the Celtics’ Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Milwaukee Bucks. On Wednesday, he felt good enough to give Boston a lift.“They’ve been killing us on the glass this whole series,” Williams said. “Wanted to just put an emphasis on it.”Golden State guard Stephen Curry, left, was caught under the Celtics’ Al Horford in the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the N.B.A. finals on Wednesday night.Scott Strazzante/San Francisco Chronicle, via Associated PressThe Celtics’ physicality also showed in their ability to score inside. They outscored Golden State, 52-26, in the paint.“It was just us being us, just continuing to drive the ball and try to find a great shot for our teammates and ourselves,” Smart said. “This Warrior team does a very good job of helping each other out on their defensive end. They’re going to make you have to make the right play every single time, and if you don’t, they’re going to make you pay.”Although Golden State is known for an offense that can be mesmerizing to watch, it was impressive defensively during its dynastic run from 2015 to 2019. That returned this season — the only team with a better defensive rating than Golden State has been Boston.In the finals, the Celtics have used their size to widen the gap between the two teams.The Celtics won Game 1, 120-108, and showed Golden State’s players they would need to be more physical if they meant to compete.Golden State trailed early in Game 2 as well, and that was the crux of the halftime conversation. The players knew that the only way to match Boston was to match its intensity, despite being smaller at most positions. With that in mind, Golden State outscored Boston, 41-14, in that third quarter and won, 107-88.“There wasn’t a whole lot of strategic change,” Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said after Game 2. “You know, a couple tweaks here and there. The preparation was mostly about our intensity and physicality.”In Game 3, the Celtics reclaimed that edge.“We had to,” Smart said of the physicality with which Boston dominated Golden State. “Game 2, they brought the heat to us. For us, that left a bad taste in our mouth because what we hang our hat on is effort on the defensive end and being a physical team.”Golden State was not able to match it, not for long enough anyway.Golden State has outscored Boston by 43 points in the third quarter this series, and took a lead in Game 3, 83-82, on a 3-pointer by Curry. That basket had followed a quick stretch of 7 points without Boston gaining possession. Curry was fouled shooting a 3-pointer, and since the foul was flagrant, Golden State got the ball back and scored another 3.But as the quarter closed, Golden State’s grip on the game slipped.“Take the hits, keep fighting,” Williams said was the message in the huddle after the third quarter. “Obviously, they’re a great team that goes on runs, a lot of runs, but just withstanding the hit.”Golden State couldn’t get through the defense, nor could it stop the Celtics from grabbing second chances. Hustle plays typically went to Boston.At one point in the fourth quarter, several players tangled over a loose ball, and Smart came up with it before Draymond Green pushed him. It was Green’s sixth foul, and the crowd jeered at him after having spent the evening chanting curses at him.Golden State’s Klay Thompson complained about fans swearing with “children in the crowd.”“Real classy. Good job, Boston,” he said.Green said the chants didn’t bother him. What bothered him more, he said, was that he played “soft.” He was a catalyst for Golden State’s more physical play in Game 2, but he was ineffective in Game 3.He said his final foul came when he was trying to get players off Curry, whom he heard screaming at the bottom of a pile. Curry stayed in the game but said afterward that he had pain in one of his feet.It is among the many bruises Golden State will have to manage after a Game 3 loss that challenged its toughness. The Celtics shoved over Golden State’s beautiful brand of basketball, leaving Curry and his teammates searching for ways to get back up. More

  • in

    Klay Thompson’s Fix for His Shooting Woes? Unearthing His Alter Ego.

    The Golden State guard has turned to highlights of himself at his peak — in the mode of “Game 6 Klay” — to help emerge from a shooting slump in the N.B.A. finals.BOSTON — Klay Thompson might as well have spent Game 2 of the N.B.A. finals on Sunday launching the ball straight into swirling winds. His field-goal attempts veered left and right, fell short and carried long.Afterward, knowing Golden State would need him to be more productive as its series with the Celtics continued, Thompson sought to remind himself that he was good at basketball. So he fired up a laptop and watched old clips of a familiar figure: himself.“I remember being in college,” he said, “and when you’d go through a shooting slump, the video guys would pull up a great game when everything seemed in unison, and your body was working so well that the ball was just flowing off your fingertips.”All Thompson needed to do, he said, was search for “Game 6 Klay” on YouTube, and various high-profile reminders of his long-range acumen were readily available to him. Most recently, he scored 30 points and made 8 of 14 3-point attempts in Golden State’s Game 6 win over the Memphis Grizzlies last month to close out their Western Conference semifinal series. He also famously scored 41 points, in a performance that included making 11 of his 18 3-pointers, in 2016 in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.“There were some very high-pressurized situations I was in, and I ended up shooting the ball well,” he said. “When you can do it when your back is against the wall, you can do it at any given moment. It’s just about keeping that mental strong.”Thompson was just 1 of 8 from 3-point range during Game 2 of the N.B.A. finals. His career regular-season 3-point percentage is 41.7.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesIf nothing else, Thompson is familiar with keeping, as he put it, that mental strong. His celebrated comeback after missing two full seasons because of injuries has culminated in another trip to the finals, his sixth with Golden State. But he was clearly disappointed with his effort in Game 2 against Boston, as he shot 4 of 19 from the field and finished with 11 points. On the bright side, he said, the Warriors drubbed the Celtics to tie the series ahead of Game 3 on Wednesday night in Boston.“It feels good going 4 for 19 and winning by 20,” said Thompson, referring to Golden State’s 107-88 win. “I’d rather do that than go 13 for 19 and lose by 10. Been there, and that’s never fun.”On Tuesday, Thompson arrived for his news conference wearing one sneaker while he worked to fit the other with an insole. He was, in his own way, a work in progress, and that has been the case since January, when he was finally back in uniform after a 941-day absence. In 32 regular-season games, he shot a career-low 38.5 percent from 3-point range, but he offered flashes of his familiar greatness, and his mere presence on the perimeter helped create more space for teammates like Stephen Curry.It has been more of the same for Thompson in the playoffs: some good, some great, some bad. His inconsistency should not be surprising given how long he was gone. His left knee and his right Achilles’ tendon are surgically repaired, so there were always going to be ups and downs as he sought to regain his rhythm and his conditioning. His teammates do not seem concerned.“If you saw him now, you’d think he’s averaging 50 in this series,” Curry said. “He’s got a very confident look about him. That’s the best thing about him. It’s all about the work you put in. It’s about the mind-set.”On Sunday, Thompson had a bit of a different look. He missed 9 of his first 10 field-goal attempts before he made a 3-pointer early in the third quarter that put Golden State ahead, 59-52. He pumped his fists, but was soon muttering to himself and shaking his head.“When I watched the film, I probably seemed a little rushed,” he said. “I wasn’t underneath my shot.”Even as the score grew more lopsided, Golden State Coach Steve Kerr left Thompson in the game against Boston’s reserves. But rather than unearth some confidence, Thompson missed his final four shots.“I think he’s just pressing a little bit,” Kerr said. “He just wants so badly to do well that he’s taking some bad ones. I’m not particularly concerned about it because this isn’t the first time it’s happened. Klay has a way of responding to mini-slumps or whatever you want to call them.”Thompson thought back to this year’s Western Conference finals against the Dallas Mavericks. Over the first four games of the series, he shot just 29.2 percent from 3-point range. In Game 5, he scored 32 points and shot 8 of 16 from 3-point range to help eliminate Dallas.“I stuck to the process,” he said, “and eventually I blew the lid off.”Ahead of Wednesday’s game against Boston, Kerr said a point of emphasis would be to make sure that Thompson got some good looks early that were in rhythm.As for Thompson’s film study — which he apparently tries to be discreet about — Golden State’s Draymond Green said he had not caught Thompson watching old clips of himself on YouTube.“The reality is, if I did, we’d probably make fun of him,” Green said. “So it’s probably good that I haven’t.”To be fair, Thompson does not have much trouble staying grounded on his own. On Tuesday, he recalled where he was about a year ago: working out in an empty arena with Rick Celebrini, the team’s director of sports medicine and performance.“To be back here on this stage,” Thompson said, “you’ve just got to remind yourself to keep working because it’s a blessing and really an honor to be here.” More

  • in

    Draymond Green Drags the Warriors Back Into the Fight

    A fiery star tests some limits in carrying Golden State over Boston in Game 2.SAN FRANCISCO — There is a line. Draymond Green knows the line well at this stage of his career. Sometimes he uses his arms and elbows and vocal cords to push right up against the line. And there are other occasions when he enthusiastically tramples all over it.How Green treats the line depends on the circumstances, but also on his mood. The line might help him focus his emotions today, then constrain him too much tomorrow. On Sunday, though, as he sought to lead the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the N.B.A. finals, he seemed to act as if the line did not even exist. And if he was to go over it? Well, Green was willing to take that risk.“We need that energy,” he said. “For me to sit back and say, ‘Oh, I’m going to push it to this edge and try to pull back,’ that don’t work. I’ve got to be me.”Green being himself meant lunging for a steal before the game was 13 seconds old, forcing a jump ball with Al Horford of the Boston Celtics. Green being himself meant plowing to the basket for his first points and flexing his biceps. Green being himself meant getting called for a technical foul a few minutes later.But it also meant playing relentless defense and throwing his weight around and urging his teammates to do the same: to be more assertive, more physical and more determined. By the end of the night, his body of work — however polarizing his behavior — helped clear the path for Golden State’s 107-88 victory, which tied the finals at a game apiece before Game 3 on Wednesday in Boston.“I think everybody played with more force,” Green said, adding, “It was across the board.”Stephen Curry, who scored a game-high 29 points for the Warriors, said it was clear to him “about five minutes” after the team’s loss in Game 1 that Green would approach Game 2 with a different level of ferocity. Green finished with 9 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds in Game 2 but made an outsize impact.“He knew what he needed to do,” Curry said. “I think we talk about how some of that stuff doesn’t always show up in the stat sheet in terms of points, rebounds, assists. But you feel him in his presence, and the other team feels his presence and his intensity, and that’s contagious for all of us.”Green, of course, has been a staple of Golden State’s championship core since he joined the Warriors as a second-round draft pick in 2012. A tenacious defender and immensely skilled passer, he has already helped the team win three titles — and now, amid their renaissance, aspires for more.Over the years, Green’s teammates and coaches and learned to accept and even embrace the way he operates. The pros far outweigh the cons, unless you are an opposing player, in which he case he can be one of the most irritating people on the planet.Green scored only 9 points but made his presence felt in other ways.Ezra Shaw/Getty ImagesAs for that fine line — the one that most players know they should not cross, especially in the postseason — Green used to have more trouble negotiating it, believe it or not. In 2016, he was suspended for Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals after he collected too many flagrant fouls. (The last straw was striking LeBron James in the groin.) Golden State lost that game — Green had to watch it on television from a luxury suite at the baseball stadium next door — and then the next two as the Cleveland Cavaliers stormed back to win their first and only championship.On Sunday, Green boarded his personal time machine and flirted with catastrophe. In the second quarter, he fouled the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown on a 3-point attempt before they fell to the court in a tangled heap and appeared to shove each other. A second technical foul on Green would have led to an ejection, but after reviewing the play, the officiating crew determined that his action was merely a common foul.“I don’t know what I was supposed to do there,” Brown said. “Somebody got their legs on the top of your head, and then he tried to pull my pants down. I don’t know what that was about. But that’s what Draymond Green does. He’ll do whatever it takes to win. He’ll pull you, he’ll you grab you, he’ll try to muck the game up because that’s what he does for their team. It’s nothing to be surprised about.”The Celtics’ Jayson Tatum went so far as to express his “love” for the way in which Green goes about his business, though it might be worth revisiting how Tatum feels in another week. The Celtics shot 37.5 percent overall in Game 2, and the Warriors outscored then by 36 points when Tatum was on the court. The Celtics scored their fewest points since Dec. 29, when their record was 16-19.“We knew we had to come with a much better focus and sense of aggression, and I thought that started right from the beginning,” Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said. “Draymond played a huge role in that.”That Green did so while attempting only five field goals in 35 minutes was fairly predictable. Instead, he sent backdoor passes to teammates for layups. He reached for deflections. He channeled his inner fullback to set screen after screen for Curry. And he might as well have used duct tape to affix himself to Brown, who shot 5 of 17 from the field while trying to keep his shorts on.“I think we’re in a great mental space,” Green said. “Nobody panicked. Everybody stayed the course. And we ultimately knew if we go out and play our game, we put ourselves right back in position to take control of the series.” More

  • in

    Golden State Beats Boston Celtics in Game 2 of NBA Finals

    After collapsing in the fourth quarter of Game 1, Golden State turned an early lead in Game 2 into a big-time victory to even the series.SAN FRANCISCO — It was exactly the kind of release the fans at the Chase Center had been seeking — some reason to jump up out of their seats in a delirious celebration of this team they couldn’t believe had lost Game 1.It happened at the end of the third quarter. Jordan Poole took a few steps past midcourt, pulled up and launched a 39-foot shot that swished through the net. Poole hopped back the other way on his left foot and raised both his eyebrows while seemingly every Golden State fan leaped to their feet and started screaming with joy and perhaps a little relief.That shot gave the Warriors a 23-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, and finished the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the N.B.A. finals. Golden State won, 107-88, to tie the series at one game each. Game 3 is Wednesday night in Boston.The Celtics had a habit this postseason of playing well when they had to win and playing with less urgency when they could afford to lose. That worked for them in the first three rounds, but it meant that their second- and third-round series each went to seven games.Boston Coach Ime Udoka addressed that with his team before Game 2 of the finals.“It’s time to be greedy and go for two,” Udoka said.He had also addressed Golden State’s penchant for making big third-quarter runs, a major problem for a Celtics team that had made a habit this season of third-quarter struggles.In Game 1, Boston was able to overcome being outscored by 14 points in the third quarter because it dominated the fourth, outscoring Golden State 40-16.In Game 2, Golden State didn’t allow a recovery. Instead that was when the dam broke.The Warriors outscored the Celtics by 21 points in the third quarter on Sunday, and pushed their lead to 29 early in the fourth.In Game 1, Stephen Curry unleashed a quick barrage of 3-pointers early, scoring 21 points in the first quarter. In Game 2, Curry remained threatening to the Celtics, and scored 29 points, 14 of them in the third quarter.Celtics forward Jayson Tatum temporarily recovered from his Game 1 slump, but was eventually stymied in the third quarter.Tatum shot 3 of 17 from the field in Game 1, and rebuffed suggestions that his shooting may have affected the rest of his game. As for moving beyond the one-game slump, he was confident he would be able to do that.“You don’t let it creep into your mind,” Tatum said before Saturday’s practice. “I can’t do nothing about what happened last game.”He responded by scoring 21 points in the first half of Game 2, making 7 of 16 shots. But he took only two shots from the field in the third quarter, despite playing all 12 minutes.Al Horford, who led the Celtics with 26 points in Game 1, and blew a kiss to the Chase Center crowd when the game ended, took only four shots and scored 2 points in Game 2.The game was close early, and the Celtics even had a 9-point lead at one point in the first quarter. But Golden State never let Boston sustain any lead. Despite 21 points from Tatum and 15 from Jaylen Brown in the first half, Golden State led by 2 at halftime.By early in the fourth quarter, the game was so well in hand that most of Golden State’s starters rested for at least some of the final frame.Streamers and confetti fell from the rafters after time expired, and Curry, who sat for the fourth quarter, looked up at them briefly. He had ensured that the series would return to San Francisco and last at least until a Game 5. More