2022 NBA Finals - Game 5 | Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics (GSW 3-2)

[BoatsNZones]

Jason Tatum has shrunk in big times of the series. The Celtics also lack a legit point guard.If the Celtics had a half decent point guard instead of Smart a dumbass who commits turnovers with Tatum like it’s in vogue

Imagine if they had a player like 2011 Jason Kidd where Marcus Smart could come off the bench.

This series would be over by now if they had even an above average playmaker who could get them easier shots. It’s obvious to anyone with a couple of functioning eyes how badly they are missing playmaker…… It’s an abomination watching Smart trying to be a playmaker.

Eh - it's an opportunity cost. Playing Smart at point allows them to run a lineup that is about as imposing defensively as any we have seen. This lineup was the top team in the East for the 2nd half of the season and would have beaten any other team but the Warriors in the West. Curry and the Warriors are the only team of 2022 who has shown the ability to break it down for long enough stretches to battle for some tough wins (when coupled with their own very strong defense). Their offense is extremely solid as is, and also ranked top 5 in the league in 2022.

Series isn't over. The Celtics will be decently favored again in game 6, and if they take that down we've got ourselves a 1 game playoff for the title among two teams who shoot a ton of 3's. Anything can happen at that point.

[rocketsfan100]

Imagine if they had a player like 2011 Jason Kidd where Marcus Smart could come off the bench.

This series would be over by now if they had even an above average playmaker who could get them easier shots. It’s obvious to anyone with a couple of functioning eyes how badly they are missing playmaker…… It’s an abomination watching Smart trying to be a playmaker.

Eh - it's an opportunity cost. Playing Smart at point allows them to run a lineup that is about as imposing defensively as any we have seen. This lineup was the top team in the East for the 2nd half of the season and would have beaten any other team but the Warriors in the West. Curry and the Warriors are the only team of 2022 who has shown the ability to break it down for long enough stretches to battle for some tough wins (when coupled with their own very strong defense). Their offense is extremely solid as is, and also ranked top 5 in the league in 2022.

Series isn't over. The Celtics will be decently favored again in game 6, and if they take that down we've got ourselves a 1 game playoff for the title among two teams who shoot a ton of 3's. Anything can happen at that point.

Play him at the 2 . He is better suited to that anyway as he is a good catch and shoot three point shooter and he can still impact the game on defense and stops hurting the Celtics by being the playmaker with his turnovers and dumb decision making. You can play Tatum at the 4 against the Warriors small lineup

[BoatsNZones]

This series would be over by now if they had even an above average playmaker who could get them easier shots. It’s obvious to anyone with a couple of functioning eyes how badly they are missing playmaker…… It’s an abomination watching Smart trying to be a playmaker.

Eh - it's an opportunity cost. Playing Smart at point allows them to run a lineup that is about as imposing defensively as any we have seen. This lineup was the top team in the East for the 2nd half of the season and would have beaten any other team but the Warriors in the West. Curry and the Warriors are the only team of 2022 who has shown the ability to break it down for long enough stretches to battle for some tough wins (when coupled with their own very strong defense). Their offense is extremely solid as is, and also ranked top 5 in the league in 2022.

Series isn't over. The Celtics will be decently favored again in game 6, and if they take that down we've got ourselves a 1 game playoff for the title among two teams who shoot a ton of 3's. Anything can happen at that point.

Play him at the 2 . He is better suited to that anyway as he is a good catch and shoot three point shooter and he can still impact the game on defense and stops hurting the Celtics by being the playmaker with his turnovers and dumb decision making. You can play Tatum at the 4 against the Warriors small lineup

Their size/strength/athleticism filled with 2 way talents is their most potent weapon. So again, you're reducing that advantage by adding some pure PG. And beyond the starting lineup loss there, this is a team that's already over the luxury tax. Trading for a true PG means losing a key cog or two. No team is perfect, but this Celtics team is definitely composed extremely well.

[Miami_Lux]

Real numbers this series:

Fouls called:
Boston. 81
Golden State 105

FTAs
Boston 107
Golden State 80

The Celtics being the more physical team would suggest more FT’s but the Warriors also have 24 more fouls.

Celtics fans shouldn't really complain. Against the Heat they had 201 FTAs vs 147 FTAs. The interesting thing is that both teams were basically even in FTAs after the first two games (55 to 56). From that point on the Celtics had on average 11 more FTAs than the Heat.
Especially egregious were game 3 (30 to 14 in favor of Celtics) and game 4 (38 to 14 in favor of Celtics)

Conclusion: The refs don t hate the Celtics

[Dubnation]

GSW gets away with plenty of grabbing, holding and pushing too. Not sure what you're watching. They also set moving picks on nearly every offensive possession.

Celtics are getting to the line more because they've been the more aggressive team. Through the first four games they averaged 53 drives per game to the Warriors' 38. Tonight looked to be about the same.

The turnovers and missed FTs killed the Celtics tonight. Those were the top two reasons they lost.

Both teams do this a lot so there shouldn't be any complaints. A physical game gives the advantage to Boston anyways more times than not.

It's just that the Celtics are outmatched on offense. The Warriors system is too established at this point, they have so many ways to score because they preaches team ball so they will always find the open man. The game would've been a blowout if the Warriors weren't missing 3s.

This. If the Dubs don't at least try to approach the level of physicality brought to them by the Celtics, there's no chance whatsoever. Even then, it's playing right into the C's hands since they're clearly more practised and better at pushing, holding, grabbing, bumping, etc.

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[KIRAG]

After that debacle, it's time for this man in Game 6. It's only fair after that Poole flop, Dubs fans

Boston shouldn’t ever complain about refs the way Miami series was officiated, it was daylight robbery against Miami

Would've been nice to see the better team, Miami, in the Finals. The NBA is so corrupt/fake sometimes.

Have you seen Miami's offense outside of Butler? There's a reason why warriors fans were rooting for the Heat to make it out of the east instead of the Celtics

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

Boston shouldn’t ever complain about refs the way Miami series was officiated, it was daylight robbery against Miami

Would've been nice to see the better team, Miami, in the Finals. The NBA is so corrupt/fake sometimes.

Have you seen Miami's offense outside of Butler? There's a reason why warriors fans were rooting for the Heat to make it out of the east instead of the Celtics

Warrior fan here. Yes I thought Miami would be easier to beat.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I think Smart has been good. Although I did not notice the turnovers as being Smarts fault I believe you all. But I think Smarts overall play is worth whatever turnovers he is committing.

[Garbanzo]

Funny. When you get the benefits of the rigged reffing you don’t want to talk about it. Greens 6th foul. Whole games in Boston against GS AND Miami. The good awful free throw and fouls call disparity. Especially when the Celtics are TRYING to be more physical but somehow have far less fouls calls. And then the Smart flop you refernpence. I’ve seen the multi angle slo mo Smart deserved a flop call.

You do understand though that Celtics players foul less as they have amazing defensive players and almost don't have weak defensive match ups, right?

GS also move the ball much better than the Celtics, so they get open lay ups, or they shot jumpers.
Hard to get foul calls when you shot jumpers and open lay ups.

Miami for once, was twice as physical as Boston were in their series. Kudos to them.

Too funny. A good friend shoots these games as a pro photographer. She posted great photos on FB. I am looking at photos of Smart and JT with fistfulls of jersey and arms wrapped around Curry etc. Really, get in there and see with eyes. These games are covered from all angles and it is there to see. Boston is not magically physical without fouling. You've been trained to accept it by the non calls.

Wish I could post them but copyrights to ANG. That said, the level of physicality, when captured in stills is jaw dropping. We should all pay more attention to great still photos of these series. Amazing stuff.

I am not blind my friend. I see it and never said the Celtics don't play physical basketball.
I mean.. have you ever watched the how the Warriors set their screens?

It happens on both sides of the floor. The Warriors do the same thing, and the NBA let's the game be very physical near the basket, and on off ball plays.

So, my point stands. You don't get ft attempts for jumpers.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

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I would have ejected punk as$ Grant Williams for that.

[xdrta+]

You do understand though that Celtics players foul less as they have amazing defensive players and almost don't have weak defensive match ups, right?

GS also move the ball much better than the Celtics, so they get open lay ups, or they shot jumpers.
Hard to get foul calls when you shot jumpers and open lay ups.

Miami for once, was twice as physical as Boston were in their series. Kudos to them.

Too funny. A good friend shoots these games as a pro photographer. She posted great photos on FB. I am looking at photos of Smart and JT with fistfulls of jersey and arms wrapped around Curry etc. Really, get in there and see with eyes. These games are covered from all angles and it is there to see. Boston is not magically physical without fouling. You've been trained to accept it by the non calls.

Wish I could post them but copyrights to ANG. That said, the level of physicality, when captured in stills is jaw dropping. We should all pay more attention to great still photos of these series. Amazing stuff.

I am not blind my friend. I see it and never said the Celtics don't play physical basketball.
I mean.. have you ever watched the how the Warriors set their screens?

It happens on both sides of the floor. The Warriors do the same thing, and the NBA let's the game be very physical near the basket, and on off ball plays.

So, my point stands. You don't get ft attempts for jumpers.

For jumpers....and yet the Warriors outscored Boston 50-36 on points in the paint. Do you get foul shots when driving in the paint? Celtics do.

[Raps in 4]

Boston shouldn’t ever complain about refs the way Miami series was officiated, it was daylight robbery against Miami

Would've been nice to see the better team, Miami, in the Finals. The NBA is so corrupt/fake sometimes.

Have you seen Miami's offense outside of Butler? There's a reason why warriors fans were rooting for the Heat to make it out of the east instead of the Celtics

Yeah, Miami was in bad shape. Butler was playing like 48 MPG just to give them a chance and Lowry and Herro were playing on one leg each.

The Celtics were clearly the better team. Even when healthy, the Celtics still probably pose a bigger challenge to the Dubs due their core all being in their physical primes.

[SinceGatlingWasARookie]

I find it somewhat odd that following almost every Celtics' loss this post-season a large number of people talk about how they think the Celtics are the "better team". Why is a somewhat consistent inability to hold onto to the ball or run your offence late in tight game separated from how people evaluate the quality of a team. What does it mean to say the Celtics are the better team exactly?

The media has been doing this as well (even the good guys). It may just be a novelty thing but its shocking how heavily the discourse has leaned towards "The Celtics are a [vastly superior] team and its mainly, if not exclusively, self-inflicted issues preventing them from cruising towards a championship." I know the stats back it up somewhat and given better health, the Celtics are probably a slightly better team, but I can't recall the last finals (with even matched teams) where the discourse was so heavily slanted in that way. Its not that they think the Celtics are clearly much better, just the weird nature of the discourse.

When it is the media expertise vs the bettors expertise I go with the bettors.

[KIRAG]

Boston doesn’t belong here , they only here cuz Middleton was injured. And now it’s showing

It took them 7 games to beat the Bucks without Middleton.

It took them 7 games to beat the Heat without Herro & Butler playing on 1 leg.

And now it would take 7 games to beat the worst version of this Warriors dynasty.

Having to play 25 games to win a title would be one of the worst championships in history — I believe the most played was the 2008 Celtics, funny enough.

Lowry was the most hurt guy in that Heat/Celtics series.

But let's not act like Boston hasn't been playing without two of their best defenders at full strength. Smart and Williams have also missed a chunk of games in these playoffs.

Like his team did not benefit from an injured Nets team and a few inches of KD's shoe away from being eliminated last season.

[Zvaart]

OK, so this will not be my typical kind of post. Never cried about the refs, so just take these like for the sake of exemplification.

As all i did read here since game 5 was how the refs changed the momentum, last night i took the liberty of watching the fourth quarter again.

In the beginning Poole had a three point attempt contested by Al, where Horford seemed to touch his hand. Not a foul by me, but just for **** and giggles i will say that it might have been called by a biased ref.
The second or third Boston attack, Tatum extended his arm similarly to Klay and put Draymond on his butt. Not a foul in my opinion, nor did Dray complained, but you know....with a biased ref it might have been a call.

Then let's go to the favorite part of the Boston's whiners. Won't comment about Smart's tech, i did not see anything there to be honest, so i'll call it a bad whistle.
The shove from Klay. yes, he extended his arm, but Smart's flop was so exaggerated that it granted him a flop non-call.
The flop from Poole. Clearly a flop, and the refs fell for it, as they do with a lot of flops, don't see intend there. And as i strongly dislike flopping, this particular one i will call poetic justice, being against Flopmaster Smart.

so here you have your big ref job in my perspective.

And something else to finish this, as a lot of you are complaining about Dray not getting techs. Is it me, or did he not complain at all in game 4 and very little at the end of Game 5? And is it still only me that i see Tatum flailing his arms and bitching about being fouled on almost every play, plus he never committed a foul in his life?

I]

[KIRAG]

Can't believe GS is one win away from being champions....and this was a retooling year. They weren't even trying to contend.

Both teams actually were not expected to contend this season. If the playin/playoffs started early January, Celtics will not even make it being an 11th seed

[RB34]

Broken record thread.

[AussieCeltic]

Last 5 pages has been nothing but trash.

I said during the game, the refs were horrible both ways. Like some egregious stuff. It was like they were trying to make up a bad call with another bad call down the other end constantly.

Anyone who brings up free throw count without context just doesn’t understand basketball. Like it’s supposed to be even every game. Hint. Some players foul more than others.

I wish the Celtics fouled more because it usually means we’re actually being physical. Game 5 we were punked by the Warriors. They were the more physical team and the better team and that showed with the foul count but also the scoreboard.

[BoatsNZones]

Just realized every cross country flight of this series (3 now) has been a miserable one for the Celtics. I like that.

[bearadonisdna]

I think Smart has been good. Although I did not notice the turnovers as being Smarts fault I believe you all. But I think Smarts overall play is worth whatever turnovers he is committing.

Other than game 2 Marcus smart has been really good.
Look his series numbers 16 ppg 44% fgs 40% 3s

Right now I think they are reeling from Tatum throwing away their best shot going for fmvp.
Gotta pick up their stones and transcend his play , be good even if he is bad.