With the Cleveland Cavaliers groping for form, the Boston Celtics’ odds of representing the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals has looked promising lately. Will their Saturday’s game against the Golden State Warriors prove to be a preview of what’s to come in June? Read on for a preview of this matchup between two heavyweight title contenders.
Despite the absence of Marcus Smart (hand laceration) and Al Horford (possible concussion), the Celtics manage to pull off a 113-102 road win on Wednesday against the L.A. Clippers. The win gave the Celtics a break from a four-game losing skid. Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum delivered the goods for Boston with 20 and 18 points, respectively. Terry Rozier, meanwhile, fired 15 points off the bench. Smart and Horford are deemed day-to-day as of this writing, and in case both of them will be ruled out, Marcus Morris, Aron Baynes, Daniel Theis, Shane Larkin, and Rozier will all see bump in minutes. Morris and Baynes played well as the team’s starting frontcourt against the Clippers with 28 points together. Even without Horford, the Celtics outrebounded the Clippers, 47-40. When Boston defeated Golden State at home on Nov. 16, 92-88,the Celtics won the rebounding battle, 52-47. Boston is 4-0 ATS in its last four games at Oracle Arena.
The Warriors’ offense are firing on all cylinders. Following their 126-113 win at home Thursday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the defending NBA champions have now averaged 119.0 points on 52.8 percent shooting in their last three games. Stephen Curry had a rare bad night offensively in the first meeting with Boston, during which he finished with only nine points (3-for-14 from the field). The two-time MVP, however, is playing like a two-time MVP over the last give games wherein he averaged 25.8 points and shot 48.3 percent from behind the arc. Klay Thompson, who only had 13 points in that game also, put up 19.4 points on 51.5 field goal shooting percentage in his last five outings. Kevin Durant led the team in the loss with 24 points, and he is, as always, expected to make things happen on both ends of the floor. Boston’s defense should be credited for the slight power shortage of the Warriors in the previous matchup, but it’s going to be a tough task for Brad Steven’s men to slow down Golden State in Oakland, where the hosts are 4-1 SU in their last five games there.
