The Boston Celtics face off against the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
• Complete coverage: 2022 NBA Finals
SAN FRANCISCO — The NBA just spent an entire season connecting the past to the present of this beautiful game as it celebrated its silver anniversary, and here at the end of that journey, we’ve arrived at a fitting finish:
An old-school dynasty vs. new-school dynasty in the championship round.
This is a tasty coincidence, no? All this history colliding at once, over the next few weeks, is very appropriate. The Boston Celtics and their 17 championships against the Golden State Warriors gunning for their fourth in eight years. Aside from that, the 2022 NBA Finals have the chance to be entertaining along with being closely contested, all because of the Old-School Champions on the Warriors — that would be Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — against New-School Takeovers named Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart.
It’s as if the basketball gods had a sudden change of heart after depriving us LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the defending champion Bucks, as well as the regular season’s best team, the Phoenix Suns. Warriors vs. Celtics is not a typical consolation prize; these teams, for different reasons, are deserving if only because they handled their business.
What’s in store in this best-of-seven series?
There’s only one shared bond between the Celtics and Warriors, and that’s defense. Both are stellar, and defense is the reason they’re in the Finals. And that’s about it. It’s basically polar opposites from there.
There’s considerable chatter about the Warriors being far more experienced in championship games than these Celtics, and that’s factual in theory. Nobody in the Celtics rotation ever got a lick of victory champagne — old man Al Horford finally punched his Finals ticket after logging 141 playoff games — while the Warriors are, well, Steph and Klay and Dray, on a first-name basis and synonymous with June basketball.
Which players could emerge as X-factors in the NBA Finals?
But this ignores the circumstantial evidence that says the Celtics, when it comes to “pressure” and “urgency” and “clutch” and all those other championship buzzwords, actually earned their stripes on the way here. They survived three elimination games this postseason, two on the road. They just endured a pair of seven-game series. They dropped more sweat than the Warriors. They good.
“I think that prepared us more than anything,” coach Ime Udoka said.
Taking that a step further, the Celtics beat a higher grade of opponents than the Warriors, who didn’t even see the Suns. Boston overcame KD and Kyrie, then Giannis, then the plucky and higher-seeded Heat, who held home-court advantage. The Warriors, by this comparison, had appetizers along the way.
Also: Boston is big, literally. There’s a bit of throwback in them, because instead of downsizing their big men, they flex them. It helps that Horford, at 34, is having a rejuvenation in his second tour of duty with the Celtics, and Robert Williams III recovered from injury to bring his rim-protecting skills back to the mix. Grant Williams has also played big throughout the playoffs, and Boston has its former starting center, Daniel Theis, if needed.
This presents a challenge for the Warriors. Although they haunted their playoff opponents by going small and quicker, their last two opponents didn’t bring any quality traditional bigs, so it was a moot point. Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Grizzlies doesn’t post up, and the Mavericks had zilch in the paint at both ends. Suddenly, that’s about to change.
There’s also Tatum, and if you believe in destiny, then he’s covered with that fairy dust. He’s having a similar playoff sizzle as Dirk Nowitzki in 2011. Tatum is fearless with the ball, capable of dropping 30-plus points nightly no matter the defense thrown his way, and here’s where he differs from Luka Doncic, the superstar shown the door by Golden State in the West finals: Tatum also plays steady defense.
“I’ll be honest, for myself, there have been times where I questioned, am I the right person to kind of lead a group like this,” said Tatum, referencing Boston’s past playoff failures. “You know, I never doubted myself, but just moments after some of those losses and the tougher parts of the season.
“That’s human nature to kind of question yourself and things like that. But just always stick to what you believe in and trust in the work that you’ve put in.”
The Celtics aren’t without some nit-picky issues, though, such as Smart’s creaky ankle and those twin marathon seven-gamers they just finished and how much energy it siphoned from them. Otherwise, this team, the league’s finest since late January, is on a roll.
“I feel like Brown and Tatum and Smart have been there for 10 years already,” said Thompson. “They worked hard to get here, just like we did. We respect them, and they present unique challenges to us. But it’s just going to be a dogfight. We know how physical and athletic they are, and we expect a hard-fought series.”
Which stars step up and who controls the paint are 2 key factors that could determine who wins the Finals.
What’s weird about the Warriors is how they’ve been on both sides of fortune the last several years. They had it good while winning titles, then had it bad with major injuries to Thompson and Durant, and then Durant’s defection, and then Curry’s broken hand. To summarize, the Warriors enjoyed a stretch like few others this era. But had they stayed healthy, their title run could be even longer.
No matter. After a two-year absence, the Warriors are back with the usual suspects, along with new blood in Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins.
“Everything that we all went through with this as the ultimate goal of getting back on this stage, the chance to play for another championship,” Curry said. “Klay coming off an unreal rehab journey. Broke my hand. Draymond was injured with a bunch of different stuff. We had a lot of young guys coming into the fold and trying to reclaim our chemistry as a core but also get those guys up to speed in how they can help us and help impact winning.”
The younger players, because of their quickness and athletic ability, allow the Warriors to go small and gain favorable matchups against bigger, slower teams who discovered if they assigned a big man to guard Poole, Wiggins, Thompson or Curry, they’d pay a steep price. The Warriors put those big men on the bench.
Just the same, the Warriors’ offensive output expanded. That’s four players (Thompson, Poole, Curry, Wiggins) who can go thermal at any given time, and a clever passer in Green who can find them off screens and cutting through the lane. The 3-point shot weighs heavy in the Warriors’ favor, who are built for Today’s Game, which means if those shots fall with any regularity and efficiency, New School has an edge, and maybe a decisive one, over Old School.
“We have such a great team, top to bottom,” said Thompson.
So that’s where we are. If the Celtics secure the trophy, it would add to their considerable legacy, would be the turning point in the career of Tatum at 24, would be an affirmation of rookie coach Udoka, would make for an upset of sorts by a team that lacks title experience.
“What I see in Boston is a great defensive team, super athletic,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr. “A team that has continuity. They have been in the playoffs year after year with the same core. So it’s a team that has worked its way to this point in a very natural, organic way.”
If the Warriors win, then it’s a return to glory, would put Curry in the top 10 or 15 all-time player conversation, would further cement Kerr among the greatest coaches ever, would give Draymond an excuse to talk without interruption.
“They’re the winningest basketball players in this era,” said Brown.
Regardless of who wins, the NBA’s 75th season will keep the same flavor as it has all season. The Celtics and Warriors, owners of yesterday’s and today’s dynasties, are ready to keep the history coming, one way or another.
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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