SAN FRANCISCO — Gary Payton II’s return to achieve his first NBA Finals impressed the Chase Heart crowd to a loud ovation Sunday evening, and his defensive efficiency reminded everybody what they’d been lacking.
Restoration from his fractured elbow stored Payton out of the Warriors’ lineup since Recreation 2 of the Western Convention semifinals, however he delivered a defensive clinic within the 25 minutes he performed upon his return in a 107-88 win over the Celtics that evened the collection 1-1.
His efforts received’t present on the stat sheet, however his affect — working alongside a coordinated and intense Warriors protection — reveals on the Celtics’ aspect of the field rating. Boston turned the ball over 19 instances, and the Warriors capitalized for 33 factors off these turnovers.
“I feel turnovers are sometimes a byproduct of physicality and depth,” coach Steve Kerr mentioned. “I assumed we introduced that from the beginning. Draymond had a lot to do with that, so did Gary, so did Wiggs. I assumed our complete workforce was bodily and intense, and you already know, we did an excellent job of attempting to make issues troublesome for them.”
The Warriors had 15 steals on Sunday. Kevon Looney, Steph Curry and Otto Porter Jr. every had three. Their means to shut passing lanes and choose up unhealthy passes got here from sturdy point-of-attack protection primarily from Payton, Draymond Inexperienced and Andrew Wiggins — who was guarding Jayson Tatum.
Tatum’s unhealthy scoring evening in Boston’s Recreation 1 comeback win was counteracted by his NBA Finals-record 13 assists to open shooters that burned Golden State. On Sunday, these assists had been pressured into turnovers: Tatum had 4 giveaways of his personal. Guard Marcus Good had 5 and Derrick White had three.
Jaylen Brown, with Inexperienced as his main defender in a tweak for the Warriors, had two.
“I feel everyone performed with extra drive. It wasn’t simply me on Jaylen Brown,” Inexperienced mentioned. “It was throughout the board. If I simply choose up my drive and nobody else does, it doesn’t work. It’s a complete workforce effort, guys being prepared to assist when assist is required and guys taking over the problem on the level of assault.
Sure, I needed to come back out and be extra aggressive on that aspect, and I feel I did an excellent job of that. However that’s a full workforce effort. It doesn’t simply work due to one man.”
Turnovers had been the Celtics’ bugaboo heading into the Finals. The Miami Warmth pushed them to seven video games, partly, for his or her means to problem Tatum’s deal with and disrupt their passing lanes. Miami pressured a median of 15 turnovers per sport by Boston in that collection.
The Celtics common 16 turnovers of their losses and Tatum has averaged 4 turnovers per sport in these playoffs heading into Recreation 2. He had simply two in Recreation 1.
“For us, that was a little bit disappointing, to surrender 33 factors off of 19 turnovers,” Celtics coach Ime Udoka mentioned. “That’s form of been a relentless theme within the playoffs. When that occurs, we’re in hassle.”