With their “drop coverage”, the Celtics leave a lot of space to Stephen Curry, allowing him to shine like never before in these Finals. However, this strategy totally shuts out Draymond Green, so Ime Udoka thinks it’s the right approach to beat Golden State. No upheaval in sight for Game 5, therefore.
“We don’t rush him so much (to make him release the ball) as was the case with Durant or other teams”details the coach. “Part of the answer comes from his teammates, and the creators he has on his side. On our side, we rely on our defense in one-on-one. Our guys use their size to contest shots. »
Ime Udoka confirms that the Celtics can perhaps mix the defenses more, but the plan is assumed.
“We can mix things up, be more physical, go under the screen when he’s very far away. We were pretty good at that. But the thing is, he’s an amazing, spontaneous creator. It’s hard to press him, compared to other guys who don’t want to let go of the ball. Because he finds guys immediately in space. And of course, that’s where Draymond is at his best, when he can create for others. »
The Boston coach therefore wants above all to deprive the Warriors of the secondary game generated by Draymond Green on the two-man strike on Stephen Curry. And he reiterates that the strategy is working well so far, with the Celtics’ problem being more on the offensive side than the defensive side in these Finals.
“If we had played in attack in the right way, we would be at 3-1, at least, currently” he assures. “The defense is doing well. With us, as I said before, it’s all about playing well on the other side of the pitch. They score around 107 points per game (108, 107, 100 et 107). They scored 100 points in one game (and Game 3). On our side, we scored 121 and 116 points (120, 88, 116, 97 actually). Our balance must above all be better in attack. We must continue to make him work on this side, and trust what we are doing in defense, even if it gives him some good shots, with or without the ball, since it allows us to contain the others. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Jayson Tatum | 76 | 35.9 | 45.3 | 35.3 | 85.3 | 1.1 | 6.9 | 8.0 | 4.4 | 2.9 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 26.9 |
| Jaylen Brown | 66 | 33.6 | 47.3 | 35.8 | 75.8 | 0.8 | 5.3 | 6.1 | 3.5 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 2.5 | 23.6 |
| Dennis Schroder | 49 | 29.2 | 44.0 | 34.9 | 84.8 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4.2 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 2.4 | 14.4 |
| Marcus Smart | 71 | 32.3 | 41.8 | 33.1 | 79.3 | 0.6 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 5.9 | 2.2 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 12.1 |
| Derrick White | 26 | 27.4 | 40.9 | 30.6 | 85.3 | 0.5 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 2.2 | 11.0 |
| Al Horford | 69 | 29.1 | 46.7 | 33.6 | 84.2 | 1.6 | 6.1 | 7.7 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 10.2 |
| Robert Williams | 61 | 29.6 | 73.6 | 0.0 | 72.2 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 9.6 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 10.0 |
| Josh Richardson | 44 | 24.7 | 44.3 | 39.7 | 85.9 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 9.7 |
| Daniel Theis | 21 | 18.7 | 59.8 | 35.7 | 68.8 | 1.3 | 3.4 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 7.9 |
| Grant Williams | 77 | 24.4 | 47.5 | 41.1 | 90.5 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 3.6 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 7.8 |
| Payton Pritchard | 71 | 14.1 | 42.9 | 41.2 | 100.0 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 6.2 |
| Romeo Langford | 44 | 16.6 | 42.9 | 34.9 | 58.8 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 2.4 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 4.7 |
| Jabari Parker | 12 | 9.4 | 47.4 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 4.4 |
| Aaron Nesmith | 52 | 11.0 | 39.6 | 27.0 | 80.8 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 3.8 |
| Enes Freedom | 35 | 11.8 | 52.6 | 40.0 | 85.7 | 1.7 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 3.7 |
| Matt Ryan | 1 | 5.3 | 20.0 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 |
| Sam Hauser | 26 | 6.1 | 46.0 | 43.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 2.5 |
| Luke Kornet | 12 | 7.1 | 57.1 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 2.2 |
| Joe Johnson | 1 | 2.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Justin Jackson | 1 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Malik Fitts | 8 | 3.5 | 60.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.9 |
| Brodric Thomas | 12 | 5.0 | 44.4 | 22.2 | 60.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.8 |
| Nick Stauskas | 6 | 2.5 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 |
| Juancho Hernangomez | 18 | 5.3 | 18.5 | 16.7 | 66.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Bruno Fernando | 20 | 2.9 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 80.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 1.0 |
| Juwan Morgan | 1 | 3.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Kelan Martin | 3 | 1.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| cj miles | 1 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 |