2022 NBA Finals Game 4 Observations

For each game during the Finals, I will take notes of random things I observed or thought throughout the game and will post it either the day of or day after each game.  These are my notes regarding Game 4, which the Warriors won 107-97 in a game that was actually fairly close!


Quarter 1

·         I don’t like having Kevon Looney not starting; the Warriors will have no rim protection and Looney might have been their second best player this series behind Curry (or 3rd if you prefer Andrew Wiggins)

·         The Celtics are already going for drives and are exploiting the defense already.  Almost every possession has started with something in the paint

·         The Celtics have been playing so far off several of their shooters and it makes sense to do that.  Draymond realistically doesn’t need anyone within 10 feet of him unless there’s a handoff and screen

·         4 minutes in and Looney seems to be waiting to come in.  I guess Steve Kerr realized quickly he made a mistake

·         The first play back in Looney got an offensive rebound; while that was a bit circumstantial since he happened to be in the right situation, just kind of ironic

·         Klay Thompson’s turnover was a pretty bad one and I’m not sure what happened

·         It seems like Green’s paint defense has been better since Looney came back into the game.  I wonder if there’s something about him realizing that he needed to step up

·         After making his first 3 Wiggins appears to be a bit more confident, which is something to watch

·         Already Draymond and Looney each have 2 fouls.  I would draw up plays that involve them driving in at them whenever they’re on the court

·         The broadcasters are acting like the Warriors are in great shape because Curry is on fire now, but the only other player who has been playing well for the Warriors tonight is Wiggins.  Whenever Curry is out of the game you have to figure they could be in trouble given how the rest of the team has been this series

·         I think the Warriors will be in a bit of trouble defensively with both Curry and Poole out there in this matchup.  They’ve had Poole on Tatum and Curry on Brown at points, which is not an ideal matchup

·         Curry had such a weird quarter; he had like 2 minutes where he was hitting everything and evidently was hitting nothing the remainder of the game.  Someone else needs to help besides him and Wiggins though

Quarter 2

·         Payton Pritchard has had a couple amazing defensive possessions this game; if he’s doing that, the Celtics have no weak links on the court

·         I’m surprised Nemanja Bjelica is getting playing time like this so early.  I expected he’s enough of a defensive liability to not be on the court at all

·         Poole has made a couple big shots early; is this the wakeup call the Warriors need from him to be a threat in the series?

·         The Warriors have deflected a lot of passes this quarter so far; not sure how much it is due to aggressive play by Golden State and how much is Boston being sloppy

·         I’m surprised the Poole foul was called against Pritchard.  I’m not quite sure it was a travel (it was close) but Pritchard initiated more contact than Poole did

·         How on earth did Jaylen Brown make that shot against Draymond in the paint?  That was an unreal shot

·         If only I had bet on Larry Bird and Dave Cowens being mentioned on the broadcast when a Celtics star dove for a ball…but seriously, nothing like going for a younger audience by pointing out what stars used to do

·         The Celtics have been so sloppy in transition and have blown several opportunities

·         Even though there was the foul, that was an awesome defensive play by Wiggins to prevent Horford from scoring.  Some would say that stops momentum (I’m not a big momentum believer) but I’d say it prevents an easy bucket there

·         The Celtics have already turned the ball over a lot, which is something to keep an eye on.  Already at 10 with a little more than 2 minutes left in the half

·         Geez, Draymond can’t his anything this game either.  I think Horford got his hand, but he still missed one next to the rim now

·         I still can’t believe how mobile Rob Williams is despite his knees

·         If Rob Williams is helping in the paint, someone has to box out his man.  Looney had an open opportunity for a follow dunk due to that

Quarter 3

·         I was a little nervous about the start for the Celtics but they quickly shook off a slow start defensively

·         Robert Williams didn’t need to help on that attempt, and it resulted in Draymond getting an open dunk

·         I don’t get why Looney didn’t start the half.  The Warriors have been atrocious in the paint defensively this series and Green looks outmatched against Robert Williams

·         Jaylen Brown might be sloppy with the ball but there is a series chance that he could be named MVP if the Celtics win.  He really has been unreal this series

·         Even though Thompson missed those last 2 shots and has struggled tonight, both looks were amazing looks and are what Golden State wants.  If they lose because they can’t hit those shots, there’s only so much they can do there

·         Wiggins just passed up an opportunity after the guy defending him fell down.  I was a bit surprised to see that one even if he got a shot later in the possession

·         Al Horford absolutely looks pissed that the refs wouldn’t give him the ball quicker so he could attempt a full court pass

·         That was an odd one where Grant Williams went in too early.  I can’t say I’ve seen that one a lot

·         I really don’t like Marcus Smart attempting the number of shots he is.  There were a lot that I didn’t think were the best look for him

·         The Celtics have been very inefficient when playing for the 2-for-1, I don’t get why they keep doing that other than the mindset that 2-for-1 opportunities are better

·         The fact that the Warriors are only up by 1 and outscored the Celtics by 4 in the third is a massive story considering they have blown out the Celtics in each game in the 3rd

Quarter 4

·         I don’t know the numbers off-hand, but it does feel like Boston is easily winning the offensive rebounding game this game

·         Good call to bring in Curry there but I’m surprised Bjelica is still in the game at this point

·         I’m utterly confused about how Brown made in that fast break shot, seemed like a bad shot to me.  That said, 2 Warriors turnovers off two terrible passes

·         Clever idea by Marcus Smart to try to make the ball look like the ball hit the rim, though the refs did catch on

·         I absolutely believe having Green on the bench in the 4th is the right decision.  He has been atrocious this series and is hurting the team.  That said, I'm surprised Kerr opted to do that

·         The fact that Wiggins has as many rebounds as does is a massive factor in this game

·         Rob Williams was defending Curry so well but then for some reason shifted to Curry’s right side, allowing a wide-open path for Curry to get around him

·         It seems like Tatum has been worse this quarter, which is not good for the Celtics with the clock winding down

·         The Celtics are getting nothing to go down from 3 and Golden State is gladly letting them shoot that

·         Can someone explain to me how that’s a foul on Horford?  My guess is that the NBA wants the Warriors to win the game to go an additional game

·         “The Warriors wisely letting the clock run out”.  Mike Breen, who are you targeting with your play-by-play?  Aliens who have never heard of basketball?

·         Look, Celtics had nothing going for them offensively in the final few minutes.  This will happen with this team

·         Now Mark Jackson is talking about how difficult it is to not play Draymond Green as much.  I mean for me I think it’s easy to take a guy out who is providing literally nothing if you want to win, but maybe trying to win isn’t as easy as I would expect

·         We finally had a game that was somewhat close!  Ultimately, the Celtics had a lot of open looks in the 4th and they didn’t fall.  This will happen to them sometimes and when it does then there’s only so much to do.  The story will be about how Steph Curry went off (he sure did), Draymond was finally benched and probably how the Celtics fell apart, but the last point is overstated


What did you think of that game?  Do you think the Warriors figured out the Celtics there, or do you think that it was just a rough shooting finish from the Celtics?  Let me know in the comments!

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