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Game 6 Preview: Warriors at Celtics - 6/16/22

Established 1946 | 7-time NBA Champions

With a 3-2 series lead, the Warriors are just one win away from earning their fourth NBA title in the last eight seasons, and the Dubs will look to complete the mission on the road with Game 6 in Boston on Thursday night.

Game 6Warriors at CelticsThursday, June 166 p.m.TD Garden

WATCH: ABC
LISTEN: 95.7 The Game, ESPN Radio, Warriors Mobile App and Warriors Radio Network

ONE MORE TO WIN IT ALL
With a 3-2 series lead, the Warriors are just one win away from earning their fourth NBA title in the last eight seasons, and the Dubs will look to complete the mission on the road with Game 6 in Boston on Thursday night. The Warriors improved 15-6 in the postseason after handing the Celtics their first back-to-back losses of the playoffs. The stakes are high on Thursday night, as the Warriors have a chance to eliminate the Celtics and close out the championship series on the road.

LAST TIME OUT
Despite a third quarter comeback by Boston, the Warriors held off the Celtics for a 104-94 win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday evening at Chase Center. Andrew Wiggins led the Dubs in both scoring (26) and rebounds (13) while Klay Thompson splashed five 3-pointers on his way to 21 points.
» Full Game Recap

MATCHUP AT A GLANCE

PREVIOUS GAME STARTERS

GSW: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Otto Porter Jr. and Draymond Green

BOS: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford and Robert Williams

INJURY & ROSTER NOTES

GSW: James Wiseman (right knee injury management) is out. Team Notes
BOS: None. Team Notes

WINNING WITH WIGGINS
Andrew Wiggins is coming off a team-high performance of 26 points and 13 rebounds in Game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals series, marking the All-Star forward’s second consecutive double-double of the championship series and second back-to-back double-double of his career. The outing was the first time Wiggins led the Dubs in scoring and rebounding, both in the playoffs and regular season. With that being said, the eight-year forward has remained consistent for the Warriors throughout the postseason, tallying double figures in 19 of 21 games played in the 2022 playoffs. “This is the ultimate stage. It doesn’t get bigger than this,” Wiggins shared on his first NBA Finals series, with forward averaging 18.4 points and a playoff-high 9.8 rebounds in the series against the Celtics. Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr had previously coined Wiggins as “the key to all of this,” emphasizing, “He’s just been fantastic, not just in this series but throughout the playoffs.”

WARRIORS BIG THREE
The Warriors’ Game 5 victory marked another milestone for the trio of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green who have won 20 games total in the NBA Finals. The feat marked the most Finals games won by any trio in the last 50 years, recently eclipsing the San Antonio Spurs trio of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili (19 Finals wins). Curry, Thompson, and Green have been teammates for ten seasons, with the trio in their sixth Finals series in the last eight seasons.

TEAM FINALS LEADERS

BOSTON SCOUTING REPORT
The Celtics enter Game 6 in familiar territory – with their backs against the wall. Boston is 3-0 when facing elimination this postseason, coming back from a 3-2 series deficit against Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and winning another Game 7 in Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals. And even though the Celtics have now lost consecutive games for the first time this postseason, the fact that they were 7-0 entering following a loss going into Monday’s game tells you all you need to know about the tough-mindedness of this Celtics team.

And for them to bounce back in this series and force a Game 7, it will likely come down to two factors: turnovers and the ‘others.’ The Celtics committed 18 turnovers, leading to 22 Warriors points, in Monday’s Game 5 defeat, continuing a troubling trend for this Boston squad. The Celtics are yielding 22.4 points off of 16.8 turnovers per loss this postseason, while they are issuing just 12.8 turnovers for 14.4 opponent points in their wins.

Another big difference for the Celtics has been the play of their supporting cast. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart steer the ship for the Celtics, but it’s the play of the next tier of players that have made the difference between winning or losing. Tatum, Brown and Smart have combined for 59.2 percent of Boston’s scoring in this series, but the production of the team’s next three high-scoring players has varied greatly between wins and losses. Al Horford, Derrick White and Robert Williams III are averaging a combined 40.5 points in Boston’s wins this series, but just 22.3 points in the team’s Finals losses. If the Warriors can minimize the production from Boston’s ‘others’ – a task easier said than done when on the road – that can go a long way in the Dubs’ securing their fourth NBA Championship in the last eight seasons.