Reactions and Thoughts on Games 5 and 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals
June 17th, 2022
By Alan Lu
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(Photo: Adam Glanzman/Getty Images, via SB Nation’s Golden State of Mind)
The Golden State Warriors are your 2022 NBA champions! It was quite a long journey for them to there. They’ve battled injuries to their star players, and lost some key players to free agency over the years, but after their players were able to return to full health and by adding some new players in this offseason, the Warriors were able to win the title this year.
I decided to write my thoughts on what happened in Games 5 and 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals. The series was tied 2-2, and I was wondering if the Golden State Warriors would be able to get a pivotal win if Stephen Curry had a bad shooting night. It turns out that the Warriors were able to answer that with a decisive Game 5 victory at home against Boston.
They started out with a quick lineup change, to start Otto Porter in place of Kevon Looney, and that minor tweak benefitted the Warriors, because it enabled their team to open up the floor on offense, and it allowed more driving lanes and space to operate in the paint for Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins. The Warriors also played terrific defense in the first half, and the Celtics had trouble getting consistent offense for most of this game. While the Celtics were able to come roaring back by having a strong third quarter, Jordan Poole made a pivotal buzzer beater towards the end of the third quarter to give Golden State the lead back, and the Warriors never looked back. The Warriors won Game 5 to go up 3-2 in the 2022 NBA Finals.
In Game 6, we saw greatness from superstar point guard, Stephen Curry, who put forth his tremendously hot shooting and scoring display to help get Golden State the win and the title. He received help from his teammates, as Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins, and Klay Thompson made shots, and Draymond Green played very well on both ends of the floor, as he excelled as a facilitator and defender, and also made two threes in this game. Here are my thoughts on how both Game 5 and Game 6 went.
Thoughts on Game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals:
(Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Associated Press, via FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV)
The decision to start Otto Porter Jr. alongside Draymond Green turned out to be a genius one, and head coach Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors should be lauded for their bold and innovative thinking to help Green get going on offense. The move to start Porter put four shooters around Draymond, and it really opened up the floor for him, which allowed him to drive hard and attack the basket to score some early baskets to boost his confidence on offense. This also allowed the Warriors to stagger the minutes of Draymond Green and Kevon Looney, to minimize the time that they would run into early foul trouble in the first quarter, though Looney still managed to pick up three quick fouls early on.
In addition, Andrew Wiggins did a great job of scoring and rebounding the basketball all game long, and he attacked the hoop at will to do so. Celtics’ superstar forward, Jayson Tatum was having a good game individually, as he was scoring out of the post, on mid-range jumpers, and on aggressive drives to the hoop, but his other teammates had trouble getting going, and there was little ball or player movement in the Celtics’ offense, which was in contrast to Golden State’s crisp, flowing offense in the first half.
The Boston Celtics were rejuvenated and experienced something of a renaissance to start the third quarter, and they had a spark from Jayson Tatum and Al Horford’s hot shooting, as well as Jaylen Brown’s strong scoring to help them at the start of the second half. It also helped the Celtics that they were seemingly getting favorable calls, and even when Jaylen Brown appeared to overtly take too many steps, the referees seemingly chose to look the other way and opted not to call a traveling violation on him.
Meanwhile, they were calling a lot of fouls on the Warriors, and Stephen Curry picked up a couple of fouls in the third quarter. This compounded matters since he struggled to make shots throughout this game, which was uncharacteristic for him. The Celtics went on a run and even overtook the Celtics in the third quarter, much to the consternation of Golden State’s fans, and things were looking pretty bleak for the Warriors, as they had trouble getting consistent offense in the third quarter.
(Source: Twitter/@NBA)
But then, Jordan Poole made a deep buzzer-beating, three-point shot to give the Golden State Warriors a one-point lead at the end of the third quarter, and the Warriors were able to go on cruise control from there to dominate the fourth quarter. Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole shot the ball very well in the second half, and Draymond Green provided his trademark, tough, tenacious, pesky defense to really bother the Celtics.
(Source: Twitter/@NBATV)
Andrew Wiggins did a terrific job of scoring the basketball, and he threw down a thunderous dunk late in this match, which served as the exclamation mark to emphasize the Warriors’ fourth-quarter dominance to help Golden State win the game. Stephen Curry was unable to make a three-point shot in Game 5, but his teammates stepped up in a major way to help Golden State win the game. As for Boston, they had trouble generating consistent offense, as they would all too often trade isos back and forth with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, which would bog their offense down. The Warriors’ defenders would be able to load up on them and intercept their passes, and the Celtics’ role players weren’t able to get going, as they didn’t shoot well.
Overall, the Golden State Warriors turned in a very good game to win Game 5, while the Boston Celtics really struggled down the stretch in this contest. Golden State Warriors’ head coach, Steve Kerr made great adjustments and decisions, and he was able to coach his team to win a pivotal Game 5 in this series. It will be interesting to see which team will win Game 6, as the Boston Celtics will be playing in an elimination game, and the Warriors played really well, and the Warriors are one game away from being able to win their fourth NBA championship in the past ten years.
Thoughts on Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals:
(Source: Twitter/@NBATV)
It was a competitive game early on, but the Golden State Warriors would manage to go on a huge run towards the end of the first quarter that would spill into the second quarter, which helped them win Game 6 and get the series win over the Boston Celtics.
It was a competitive game early on, but the Golden State Warriors would manage to go on a huge run towards the end of the first quarter that would spill into the second quarter, which helped them win Game 6 and get the series win over the Boston Celtics.
Early on, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were shooting the ball very well in the first quarter, and Marcus Smart was getting them the basketball to do so. Later on, Stephen Curry was able to make shot after shot to rally Golden State back, and he along with Jordan Poole made big, critical threes to help the Warriors take the lead at the end of the first quarter. In addition, Andrew Wiggins did a great job of attacking the hoop to score the basketball, and the Warriors were moving and shooting the basketball really well.
Stephen Curry continued to make marvelous shots, and Draymond Green also passed the ball well. He threw a sterling dime to find Klay Thompson on a cut to notch an assist. Green even made a pair of threes in this game. In the second half, the Boston Celtics tried to mount their comeback. Al Horford was making threes, and he also scored on tough, strong shots in the post. Jaylen Brown was scoring oon threes and aggressive drives to the hoop. Robert Williams threw a nice pass to help Jayson Tatum score on a dunk off of a cut, and Robert Williams also was blocking shots. The Celtics weren’t able to overtake the Warriors, but they managed to cut their lead to within single digits multiple times late in this game.
But ultimately, Stephen Curry made an array of shots, and he would slip past defenses to make threes, score on acrobatic finishes around the basket, and he did a tremendous job of making shots the whole way through. Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics couldn’t generate or muster much offense in the fourth quarter, and Jayson Tatum and their team were committing an abundant number of turnovers. In the end, the Golden State Warriors were too much for the Boston Celtics, and the Golden State Warriors were able to overpower and overtake them to win Game 6 to also win the 2022 NBA championship. Thank you for reading my thoughts on Games 5 and 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals. It was a fun season, and the 2022 NBA Draft will be held on June 23rd. Thanks for reading.
