The story of Achilles is among the more famous in Greek Mythology. In summary, to protect Achilles from the wrath of Zeus, he was made immortal by baptism in the river Styx. The whole of his body was protected except the part by which he was held and dipped into the water… his heel.
Achilles was later killed in battle by an arrow strike to that one vulnerable spot. This is why we have the term “Achilles heel” today, and this is what the Celtics must find if they are to slay the mythological beasts of today’s NBA… the undefeated Golden State Warriors.
1: Force turnovers
This is where the Warriors are most vulnerable. They are averaging 16 turnovers a game, 7th most in the league. The Celtics are the best in the league at forcing turnovers, with opponents averaging 18.7 per game.
To have a chance, the Celtics swarming defense needs to be as crisp as ever. The live-ball turnovers have to come in bunches, and they must result in fast break points. The Warriors play a stingy half court defense (they’re 5th in def. rating, right behind the Celtics), so it won’t be easy to score off of set plays. The scoring will come off running and the running will come off the defense. If the Celtics really are going to do this, they’ll need to force at least 20 Warriors turnovers and have a significant amount of those turn into points.
2: Attack Draymond Green
Steph Curry is basketball poetry, but Green is the ink in the pen. With Green on the floor, the Warriors as a team boast a true shooting percentage of 63.6%. With Green off the floor, it drops to 54.6%.
Curry’s numbers show a similar drop. With Green on the court, Curry has an insane true shooting percentage of 71.4%. When Green isn’t there, it drops to 61.3%
Curry’s gonna Curry. There’s not much you can do about that. The man is impervious to double and triple teams. He’ll pull up from 30 feet and hit shots so pure, the net barely moves. But the Warriors are a significantly better team when Green is on the floor because of the matchup problem he creates.
So attack him… do whatever you can do to draw fouls on him and get him off the floor. Finding a way to get this guy onto the bench for extended minutes will dramatically increase the Celtics chances of winning… especially if Klay Thompson is out tonight.
3: Beat their bench
The Warriors have 8 guys who currently have an above-average Player Efficiency Rating… including Festus Ezili (19.5), Andre Iguodala (16.0), and Ian Clark (15.6). And then there’s a guy like Brandon Rush who can come in in a pinch (like when Klay Thompson is out) and drop 15 quick points.
The Celtics bench HAS TO MATCH the Warriors. It would be a huge kick in the sack to have the starters play well and then watch the game slip away when the second unit struggles. This means Kelly Olynyk needs to be aggressive on offense. It’d be nice if Jonas Jerebko made a contribution on the offensive end.
There’s no reason to take any aspect of these Warriors lightly, but the bench is often overlooked when it comes to Golden State’s success. Overlooking them tonight will be costly.
4: Pray
Let’s be honest here… it’s going to take a little luck to win this game tonight too. So feel free to toss in a little message to whichever deity of your choice for a little extra help tonight. Go sit next to Red Auerbach on the bench at Quincy Market, put your arm around him, and ask if he can summon a few leprechauns for the evening.
Steph Curry is due for a bad shooting game at some point, right? Those insane 30 footers… the dribble-between-5-guys-and-make-a-floater move has to fail at some point, doesn’t it? Maybe a little Celtics voodoo magic can help.
This is not an impossible task, but it’s obviously not going to be easy. The Warriors will lose at some point… might as well be tonight.
Stats via NBAWowy, NBA.com, and Basketball-Reference
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