Stephen Curry is having one of the best offensive performances in an NBA Finals we’ve ever seen. Still, Celtics head coach Ime Udoka believes that Boston has bigger issues than trying to slow down the two-time MVP.
“And the offense, he’s having a successful series offensively,” Udoka said. “But if we are playing offense the right way, we’d be 3-1, at least, right now.”
Udoka’s belief that the Celtics offensive execution is the determining factor in this series is probably part of the reason Boston has not elected to throw double teams at Curry, despite the fact that he’s on pace for a 50/40/90 series.
“We haven’t gone after him much, honestly, like Durant or some of those other teams,” Udoka continued. “Some of that is due to the personnel that he has behind him and the playmakers that he has. For us, we rely on our one-on-one defense. Our guys use their length to contest, and then our bigs being up as well.
“It’s not as much us going after him. He’s made some tough shots, no doubt. I think the numbers look like they are skewed when he hits some of the other ones out of transition or miscommunication, as opposed to us in our regular touch defense.
“With us, as I mentioned, if we are playing the right way on the other end — the defense has been fine. They are scoring around 107. Scored 100 in a game. And when we’ve scored well, we’ve scored 121, 116. So our balance has to be better on offense. Continue to make him work on that end and trust what we are doing on defense, which is allowing him to get some looks, get some looks off, but kind of containing everybody else.”
In the halfcourt the Celtics have been the better team, posting an offensive rating of 98.2 to the Warriors’ 93.5. In transition is where Boston is being run off the court. The Warriors 123.3 offensive rating is much better than Boston’s 93.9 mark.
“So for us, looking at the positives and things we could have done better. Not playing our best offense overall. I think the narrative gets shifted to Curry and what he’s doing,” Udoka added. “But in our wins and losses, they are scoring the same points.”
