Apart from other factors that were also preponderant, such as the stellar performance of Stephen Curryone of the keys that help to understand the victory of Golden State in the NBA Finals lies in the amount of losses you made Boston.
Taking care of the ball on offense was a point of emphasis for the Celtics not just in this series, but throughout the postseason. Without going any further, in the last playoffs they finished with a record of 1-8 in the games in which they registered 16 losses or more, while the mark was 13-2 when they did not exceed 14.
It should be remembered that in Game 6 they finished with 22 losses, which originated 27 of the 103 points of the Warriors, who won 103-90. Jayson Tatum (five), Jaylen Brown (five) and Marcus Smart (three) combined for 13 of them.
Tatum had his 10th meeting in the 2022 playoffs with at least five losses. In this way, he matched the most of any player in the last 35 postseasons (Michael Jordan in 1992 and LeBron James in 2018).
Additionally, Tatum’s 100 turnovers this postseason represent the most all-time by a player in a single postseason (since turnovers were officially counted in 1977-78).
The 24-year-old forward, who had shown his best version against the Bucks, could not shine against the Dubs, whose merit on the defensive end cannot be ignored. It is also true that the number 0 accumulated considerable fatigue, since he came from playing almost every minute in two exhausting keys of seven crosses each.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance,” Ime Udoka said in the post-loss press conference referring to the number of losses they made in the Finals. All things considered, it wouldn’t be surprising if Boston went looking for a playmaker, a pure point guard, for next season.
Foto: Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
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