Will Boston extend their lead?
The Boston Celtics await the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 of the 2022 NBA Finals, with the hosts winning the last clash. For the seventh time, the home side have bounced back from a loss with immediate success!
Boston Celtics – Statistics & current form
The record champion has also been convincing in front of its own backdrop. While Boston have won six of their last eight away games in the postseason, only half of their last eight home games, including the last one, have been victorious for head coach Ime Udoka’s team.
The triumph in the last game was mainly the result of a unified team performance. With Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart, three players recorded at least 24 points.
Robert Williams III holds it together at the back
In addition, centre Robert Williams III turned it up on the defensive end. Ten boards as well as a whopping four blocks and three steals represented a very strong output for him. Only two players averaged more blocks in the postseason than the giant with 2.2 per game.
Thanks to an overall very physical game of the basketball players from the East, especially in the final fourth quarter, when the Warriors did not produce more than eleven points, the opponent was defeated in the end by a clear margin of 16 points.
Projected Starting Five of Boston Celtics:
Tatum – Smart – Horford – Williams III – Brown
Golden State Warriors – Statistics & current form
Head coach Steve Kerr’s team kept up in scoring last game with only a slightly worse field goal percentage, but the six-time champions did not do enough to counter their opponents’ sturdy defence.
One example was the rebounding: In the battle for second balls, Boston had a 16-board advantage in the final tally. This coloured the paint deep green, as the home side scored twice as many points here as the Warriors.
At least Stephen Curry, however, remains reliable in the NBA Finals. The “Chef” once again posted the best output of any player on the court with 31 points, and on average the three-time champion has delivered 31.3 points per game against Boston to date.
Warriors particularly strong again after the break?
In addition, the core of the visitors’ brand is intact in terms of a consistently strong third period. In the third game of the finals series, Golden State also had the edge in the first quarter after the break.
For this reason, the odds on the visitors to win the third quarter in the upcoming duel between the Celtics and Warriors are even better.
This is also supported by the fact that the difference in favour of the Warriors at the start of the second halves of the game was clear: the guests have recorded an average lead of no less than 14.3 points in this quarter so far.
Curry again with at least five threes?
Furthermore, picks on more than four threes by Stephen Curry could also be worthwhile – a limit he has exceeded in all three Finals games so far.
As described, the guard has emerged as the best player in the series so far in terms of scoring and this is mainly due to his sure hand from downtown.
Curry sank an average of six threes against Boston and no other player tops his output of threes per game in the postseason.
Admittedly, at the same time, no other player in the 2022 NBA Playoffs took a shot from outside as often – more than ten attempts on average.
Although the best three-point shooter in the history of the NBA had to leave the court early due to an injury, this measure was more due to the fact that the game was already lost from the visitors’ point of view at that point shortly before the end of the game. The injury should not stand in the way of the team playing in the upcoming fourth final game.
Projected Starting Five of the Golden State Warriors:
Looney – Green – Wiggins – Curry – Thompson
Boston Celtics – Golden State Warriors Head-to-head comparison / H2H record
The home side have won two of the three 2022 NBA Finals games and eight of the past ten meetings with the Warriors.
The home record from the recent past is also in favour of the hosts: only two of the last six games at the TD Garden against the “Dubs” did not end with a victory for the record champion.
Boston Celtics – Golden State Warriors Tip
For the clash between the Celtics and Golden State Warriors on 11 May, betting on more than one block by Robert Williams III on the side of the hosts seems profitable. The 24-year-old is currently a particularly strong player in Boston’s defence.
Although his team-mate snatched the award for the best defensive player in the NBA this season, Williams III is not inferior to the “DPOY” at the moment. This includes most notably his shot-blocking in the series against the Californians.
In the three games he managed at least two blocks each and his average value is even 3.3! Especially the matchups with Curry and Wiggins under the board suit the over two-metre tall “big man”, as he gets to blocks against them very regularly.
While Smart obviously wants to make his mark offensively in the series, as can be seen from his latest 24 points, the centre continues to restrict himself to defence, but as described with great success.
