Will Warriors-Celtics marquee matchup be decided at 3-point line? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
BOSTON – A test of depth will take place Wednesday night at TD Garden when the Warriors and Boston Celtics face off for what should be a battle between two of the NBA’s best teams to date.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s 12-man rotation rose to the challenge, although Golden State will still be without guard De’Anthony Melton, who will miss his fifth straight game to a lower back strain. Melton participated in 3-on-3 drills during Warriors shootaround and appeared to be out of discomfort during the session, as well as running full-court sprints afterward.
The Celtics will not have reigning MVP of the NBA Finals Jaylen Brown, who is missing his third game in a row to a left hip flexor strain, and Kristaps Porzingis, who continues to recover from offseason surgery to his left leg.
While the Warriors will once again rely on having the best scoring bench in the NBA, and the Celtics will need reserves to continue to rise, it is clear that the difference in this highly anticipated matchup may be the 3-point line.
“Make them that tough,” Draymond Green said Wednesday morning at Warriors shootaround. “You don’t want to give up the swing-swing threes where guys are wide open. Make them take hard threes and live with the result.”
Just like last season, the Celtics were far and away the league’s highest-volume shooting team from long range. They averaged 42.5 3-point attempts and 16.5 makes last season, both of which led the NBA. And both numbers saw a drastic increase through eight games, while once again topping all of basketball. The Celtics are averaging 19 made threes per game on 50.9 attempts.
Conversely, the Warriors are tied for second in threes made per game (16.4), and are fourth in averaging 42 attempts.
But as their defense has improved exponentially, no one has been better at guarding the arc than the Warriors. Opponents are making just 10.3 threes against the Warriors in their first seven games, and they are shooting 28.3 percent, both of which are league lows. Green believes that’s a byproduct of everyone buying in defensively from the jump and understanding the math of how teams work.
“Guys are committed to that side of the ball,” Green said. “If you’re going to defend well in this league, you have to guard the 3-point line. … I think we’re doing a good job of making that a priority. If you’re going to be a top-10, top-five defensive team – if you can’t guard the three, it’s not going to happen. So that has to be an emphatic point.”
Golden State defensive specialist Gary Payton II says he actually prefers to play a team that wants to shoot threes at a historic rate. To him, the strategy plays right into the Warriors’ goal of being a strong transition team on both ends and getting 3-pointers themselves.
“It makes my job easier,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about anyone going to the cup. Contain and hopefully they take deep threes and it’s long rebounds. Try to make them difficult. But we know the league and that everyone likes to take thirds now.
“We’re counting on it and trying to do our best to make it difficult, but it is what it is.”
Payton made a surprising start in the The 125-112 victory of warriors against the Washington Wizards, his first time being in the starting lineup since February 8, 2023, his final game as part of the Portland Trail Blazers. The move was to contain former Warrior Jordan Poole from coming out of the gates hot, and it worked.
Although Poole finished with a team-high 24 points, he did so on 8-of-20 shooting and was just 2 of 10 from three. In the first quarter where the Warriors held the Wizards to just 20 points, Poole went 3 of 8 from the field and made one of his five 3-point attempts.
It is unknown if Payton will be back with the starters on Wednesday night, but either way, one player he will definitely be keeping an eye on is Payton Pritchard. The veteran scored 18 points off the bench Monday night in the Celtics’ blowout over the Hawks, and he’s shooting 43.2 percent on 9.3 3-point attempts per game.
“We know Payton shoots 10 threes, so as soon as he goes in, we have to find him and know where those guys are to make it difficult for them,” Payton said.
In their first game since beating the Dallas Mavericks in last season’s NBA Finals, the Celtics came out and tied an NBA record of making 29 3-pointers on opening night. The most threes the Warriors have allowed in a game is 15, and that was in their overtime win against the Houston Rockets four days ago.
Which team hits more triples at TD Garden will likely make all the difference. Better yet, this clash could very well come down to who defends the three-ball better, an area of pride that the Warriors will seek to prove is a force even against the best.
