Will the Warriors-Celtics marquee game be decided on the 3-point line? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
BOSTON – A test of depth will take place Wednesday night at TD Garden when the Warriors and Boston Celtics face off in what should be a battle between two of the best teams in the NBA thus far.
The 12-man rotation led by Warriors coach Steve Kerr rose to the challenge, although Golden State will remain without guard De’Anthony Melton, who will miss his fifth straight game with a lower back strain. back. Melton participated in 3-on-3 drills during the Warriors’ shootaround and appeared to be free of discomfort throughout the session, as well as sprinting all over the court afterward.
The Celtics won’t have reigning NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown, who is he missed his third consecutive game to a left hip flexor strain, and Kristaps Porzingis, who continues to recover from offseason surgery on his left leg.
While the Warriors will once again rely on the best scoring bench in the NBA and the Celtics will need reserves to continue to step up their efforts, it’s clear that the difference in this highly anticipated matchup may be the 3-point line .
“Make them tougher,” Draymond Green said Wednesday morning during the Warriors shootaround. “You don’t want to give up swing-swing threes where guys are wide open. Make them take difficult three-pointers and live with the result.
Just like last season, the Celtics have been by far the most successful long-range shooting team in the league. They averaged 42.5 3-point attempts and 16.5 makes last season, both leading in the NBA. And both numbers saw an extreme increase over the course of eight games, while once again surpassing all of basketball. The Celtics are averaging 19 threes per game on 50.9 attempts.
Conversely, the Warriors are tied for second on three attempts made per game (16.4) and fourth with an average of 42 attempts.
But as their defense has improved exponentially, no one has been better than the Warriors at guarding the arc. Opponents are making just 10.3 threes against the Warriors through their first seven games, and they’re shooting 28.3 percent, both of which are the lowest in the league. Green thinks it’s a byproduct of everyone buying in defensively from the start and understanding the math of how teams operate.
“Guys are committed to that side of the ball,” Green said. “If you want to defend well in this league, you have to guard the 3-point line. … I think we’re doing a good job making this a priority. If you want to be top 10 or top five defensively, if you can’t guard all three, it’s not going to happen. So this needs to be a point on which emphasis is placed. »
Golden State defensive specialist Gary Payton II says he actually prefers to play against a team that wants to run threes at a historic rate. For him, the strategy fits perfectly with the Warriors’ goal of being a strong transition team on both ends and scoring 3 points themselves.
“It makes my job easier,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about anyone going to the cut. Contain and hope they take deep threes and long rebounds. Try to make it difficult for them. But we know the league and that everyone likes to take threes now.
“We rely on that and try to do our best to make it difficult, but it is what it is.”
Payton made a surprise start in the Warriors win 125-112 against the Washington Wizards, his first time in the opening lineup since February 8, 2023, his last game with the Portland Trail Blazers. The move was intended to keep former Warrior Jordan Poole from coming out of the gates hot, and it worked.
Although Poole finished with a team-high 24 points, he did so on 8-of-20 shooting and was just 2-of-10 from three. In the first quarter where the Warriors held the Wizards to just 20 points, Poole went 3 of 8 from the field and made one of his five 3-point attempts.
It’s unclear if Payton will be back with the starters Wednesday night, but regardless, one player he’s sure to keep around is Payton Pritchard. The veteran scored 18 points off the bench Monday night in the Celtics’ win over the Hawks, and he’s shooting 43.2 percent on 9.3 3-point attempts per game.
“We know Payton shoots 10 threes, so as soon as he comes in, we have to find him and know where those guys are to make it difficult for them,” Payton said.
In their first game since beating the Dallas Mavericks in last season’s NBA Finals, the Celtics came out and tied an NBA record by making 29 3-pointers on opening night. The most threes the Warriors have allowed in a game is 15, and that was in their overtime win against the Houston Rockets four days ago.
Which team hits the most triples at TD Garden will likely make all the difference. Better yet, this matchup could very well come down to who defends the three ball best, an area of pride that the Warriors will look to prove to be a strength even against the best.
