In the early stages of the Finals series that would solidify Stephen Curry as one of the 10 greatest players to ever lace them up, the Celtics eagerly picked on something they believed they’d make hay with.
With a little more than five and a half minutes left in the first half of Game 1, Boston’s Marcus Smart tossed the ball to 6-foot-8 franchise player Jayson Tatum, who was posting up Curry, six inches shorter, near the elbow. Upon making the catch, Tatum immediately spun around Curry, only to find Kevon Looney positioned behind the Warriors guard to induce a miss at the rim.
The initial misfire didn’t deter the Celtics from trying again. Far from it. Their very next possession, they came down and targeted Curry, with forward Jaylen Brown overpowering him in the post for a basket. Then, just a few plays later, Tatum got deep in position in the restricted circle, making a catch and drawing a shooting foul on Curry in the process.
It was three post-ups, and two golden scoring opportunities, in less than five minutes against Curry, the most important player in the series. With Boston’s much bulkier wings, the strategy was almost certain to become a larger theme if Curry and the Warriors couldn’t find a fix.
But then something interesting happened: The Celtics overplayed their hand in targeting him.
After scoring or drawing a shooting foul on Curry three times in five tries in the first three games, Boston proceeded to post up Curry an additional nine times in Games 4, 5 and 6. Yet those last nine post-up attempts ultimately resulted in just two scores and three total points for the Celtics. In Thursday’s close-out Game 6, Boston tried him four times, with Curry forcing two turnovers and two missed shots, including an airball from Smart, according to Synergy.
Put another way: The Celtics tried their very best to leave their physical imprint on Curry. But in the end, it was Curry who left his distinct mark on the league’s most dominant defense.
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Yes, that last part should be obvious enough, given that Curry averaged a whopping 31 points while canning 31 triples on a blistering 43.6% from the arc during the series. Yet it was more about how he did it than the fact that he did it to begin with.
Unlike in Golden State’s prior title runs, where Klay Thompson was closer to a metronome of consistency before his catastrophic leg injuries, or Kevin Durant was arguably the most lethal hired gun in NBA history, Curry didn’t have a highly consistent second option this time around. Thompson was understandably up and down. With the exception of a handful of moments—and a handful of buzzer-beaters—Jordan Poole looked more like a young, talented role player than a star in the Finals; especially given his defensive challenges.
SI Presents: Golden State Warriors, 2022 NBA Champions
Andrew Wiggins, suddenly redeemed after heaps of criticism as a former No. 1 pick who didn’t reach superstardom, largely answered the call as a second option. He not only took the task of serving as Tatum’s primary defender, but picked up a huge amount of slack on offense. His Game 5, with 26 points and 13 rebounds, won’t soon be forgotten by the Warriors faithful, particularly since it was the one game where Curry didn’t shoot the ball well. In fact, it was the worst showing from deep of Curry’s playoff career: 0-for-9, marking the first time he’d ever gone without a triple.
After Game 5, some raised the odd prospect of Wiggins potentially earning the Finals MVP award, given his invaluable secondary scoring, his dominance on the glass and his solid instincts as a stopper, which slowed Tatum and made it easier to challenge the star scorer from inside the arc. To that point, Wiggins was averaging 18.4 points and 9.4 rebounds while shooting 45.8%; all very good numbers.
But aside from Curry averaging in excess of 31 points—and having been the leading scorer (from either team) in five of the six Finals games—there was additional context missing from any argument realistically supporting Wiggins. And that’s the fact that Wiggins was only effective on offense with—and because of—Curry himself.
Wiggins shot almost 49%, scoring 102 points and draining 11 threes in his playing time alongside Curry in the Finals. Yet in the 38 Finals minutes he played without Curry, Wiggins shot 20%—just 3-for-15 overall—while failing to hit a triple, and scoring just eight points.
The numbers, which were stark but highlighted the same downward trend seen during Wiggins’s regular season, simply illustrate how much more players can do with the unprecedented openness that Curry allows them. And it’s why, throughout the series, we generally saw Golden State struggle to make anything happen when Curry sat, then look like a championship-caliber club whenever he played. Curry is, and has long been, an offense unto himself.
Defenses—even elite ones like Boston, which boasted the Defensive Player of the Year Award winner to defend Curry—more or less break themselves trying to prioritize the sharpshooter and his seemingly limitless range. Time and again, Robert Williams and Al Horford failed to come up high enough against Golden State’s screen-and-rolls to contest Curry, who calmly took what the defense “gave” him from almost 30 feet out.
The giving and taking culminated in Curry having a ridiculous 43-point showing in Game 4. And even when he wasn’t at his best in Game 5, with just 16 points on 22 attempts, Boston still covered him like the singular threat he is, occasionally sending a second man at him. Curry made the right reads, skillfully dribbling around Williams for an open midrange look one play, while calmly dishing to a wide-open Thompson as two Celtics sought to force him into a mistake the next.
It resulted in Curry logging eight assists against just two turnovers in the pivotal contest; a night-and-day difference that, on some level, explained precisely how this series was won. Curry had 30 assists and 15 turnovers in the Finals, while Tatum and Brown combined for 64 assists to go with an eye popping 43 turnovers.
Curry’s chaotic, perpetual motion paired with his range leaves even the best defenses on constant edge, fearing that he’ll get an open look if you even lose him for a millisecond. The preoccupation with him creates more opportunities than you can count for a struggling shooter like Draymond Green, whose aggression on offense came to life late in the series as Boston felt forced to overplay Curry. Players who thrive on back-door opportunities, like Gary Payton II, benefit from Curry, too, as defenses often seem more concerned with surrendering an open three to Steph than letting Payton or Thompson break free for a layup.
Effort-filled plays like this one, where Curry seemingly ran an entire marathon just to find a shot on one possession, are par for the course.
And on some level, they explain why it took so much for the Warriors to get back to this point.
Three years ago, during the 2019 Finals against Toronto, Durant tore his Achilles and Thompson tore his left ACL. Then, in trying to rehab his way back, Thompson tore his right Achilles in 2020. In between those instances, Curry broke his hand, largely rendering the 2019-20 season a waste for the Warriors, aside from what it meant for their lottery prospects.
That and the team’s failure to make the playoffs last season—the Warriors fell against Memphis in the play-in game—gave Curry and his teammates a newfound respect for how difficult it is to climb back to the top of the mountain; one that came across clearly Thursday night as Curry openly wept on the TD Garden floor during the final minute of Game 6.
“Without question, this is his least talented Golden State team,” ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy said on the air as it became abundantly clear Curry would collect his fourth championship in eight years. Between Thompson’s mid-season return, and injuries to Green and Curry himself, it always seemed as if it would be a struggle to see the Warriors at full strength again. That they didn’t even need ample time together on the court speaks volumes about their superstar.
Generally speaking, the Celtics were much more athletic and at times more physical than Golden State. They had more two-way talent, and more size. They had a 2-1 series lead, and got to the line far more often. But try as they might to leave their imprint on history, they failed.
Curry’s greatness was simply too much to overcome. And throughout this series, Stephen Curry made his mark as one of the all-time greats in a way that no one can question.
