Draymond was right about Celtics’ role players in Game 2 originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Warriors probably didn’t expect the likes of Al Horford, Derrick White and Marcus Smart to combine for 65 points in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, helping the Boston Celtics steal a game.
In Game 2 on Sunday, a 107-88 Warriors blowout, those three were held to a combined 16 points. While Celtics star Jayson Tatum had a much better game than his Game 1 performance with 28 points, he didn’t receive much help outside of 17 points from Jaylen Brown.
Without the role players contributing much, the Celtics had no answer for the Warriors’ firepower on Sunday at Chase Center.
For at least one member of the Warriors, that was not a surprise.
After Game 1, Draymond Green looked at the stat sheet and saw that Horford, White and Smart combined to go 15-of-23 from 3-point range.
“15-of-23 from those guys?” Green said to reporters. “Eh, we’ll be fine.”
He added that the Warriors would be fine because they dominated Game 1 for the first 40 minutes and just needed to take away the open looks from deep.
Mission accomplished in Game 2.
Horford, who had 26 points in Game 1, had just two points in Game 2. So did Smart, who had 18 points in Game 1. And White had 12 points compared to 21 points in the first game.
The three combined to shoot 6-of-23 from the field and attempted just seven 3-pointers between them, with Horford not taking a single 3-pointer.
Whatever adjustments the Warriors made defensively paid off, combined with some help from the Celtics and their 18 turnovers.
“I don’t think we got as much penetration to the paint,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka told reporters. “They switched a few more things. Then we turned the ball over and didn’t give ourselves a chance with a lot of those turnovers.”
Related: Curry sees path to lead Warriors, takes it to Game 2 victory
The fact that the Celtics were able to take Game 1 behind their role players and a subpar shooting performance from Tatum probably caused some concern for the Warriors.
But, as Green predicted, those role players came back down to Earth in Game 2 and the Warriors took advantage with a much-needed win to even up the series.
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