How the Celtics finally “slowed down” Steph Curry | NBA Finals Game 5 analysis 

Friendly reminder, Steph had a college game where he scored zero points because he got double teamed full court the entire game. The man was willing to let his teammates take advantage of it and they end up winning the game because of it. His unselfishness hasn't changed all these years. The team winning has always been his priority, not his ego. It's so rare to see that for someone that had his level of success and it just really makes him different.

this is why just helding down steph isn't the only way to stop the warriors,his willingness to be a decoy to open up for his teammates plus passing iq of dray and the ball movement system make this team so dangerous

I remember seeing several comments saying steph could go 0-10 and still be the best player on the court. Well, it kind of happened

Warriors defense is suffocating, they've held the Celtics below 100 points in all three wins and no one's talking about this

The warriors defense in the first half was the best defense I've seen in a long time. They were absolutely amazing. Even when Boston got to the rim, their shots are heavily contested, AND without a ton of fouling.

Two way Wiggins is so crucial. His drive, dunk, floaters, rebounds and defense are incredibly important. With Celtics's defense without drop affecting Curry, Wiggins is so clutch. Game 6 Klay pls take us home. Let's go!!!!

It's amazing how much Steph's shooting skillset opens things up for himself and his team, whether he's making shots or not. It's almost like the Warriors can function on a higher offensive dimension that no other team can quite access.

Alot of content these days that makes the game understandable, but your breakdowns with your use of clips is the most valuable thing ive ever come across for understanding a basketball game. For the first time in my life im actually considering going out of my way to find ways to support your channel, i think its so valuable to the sport for people like me. Im seeing the game in a new light i never had before with your breakdowns. Fantastic work!

Curry's gravity and Kerr's coaching on both ends of the floor are two of the greatest things I've ever seen.

This Andrew Wiggins game reminds me of what Shaun Livingston used to do, taking opportunities from what the defense is taking away from Steph. A lot of midrange, a lot of secondary/third action and so forth.

This game was just sick. I loved the effort and how Wiggins stepped up

I’m appreciate of these because going into the next game I know what to be looking for strategically from each team. It makes the games even more fun to watch.

steph is like kaioken; he makes every aspect of your team better even when he's not playing well.

It's great to see in this video how much love was given to Klay for his performance in game 5 outside of his important and timely 3 point shots. His positioning, anticipation and switching on defense was crucial to slowing down Boston in the first half. While the best player scoring and rebounding wise was Wiggins, Klay was also an important piece for the W when Steph was off. Props to the Celtics for taking 2 games away from GS, but I definitely believe GS is the better team in my opinion. We'll see what happen, series isn't over.

5:09 one of the best defensive possessions from the Warriors in game 5 Green rotates, Wiggins close out Payton's close out, Green back to action, Curry occupying the foul line area, making it hard for Horford to roll in and ready for a potential X-out to the corner (as Klay being the low man) Clinic.

Curry is going to be LIVID going into Game 6 knowing he didn't make a 3 yesterday, and that's on top of GAME SIX KLAY 🔥💪

And this is what the greats do. They find a way to beat you regardless of circumstance. Trap/blitz curry? That unlocks draymon on the short roll for 4 on 3s. Play man to man defence? You risk curry going nuclear. Spend extra resources to take curry out of the play entirely, you then have to contend with the spacing between Wiggs, Pool and Klay. This is what makes the Warriors offence SO hard to guard. So many weapons combined with high IQ, selfless players who move the ball around. If it doesn't look that special anymore (compared to say, 2015) that's because -every team is now trying to be the Warriors-. Curry don't care about accolades, nor does Klay or Dray. They only want to win.

Celtics: Yay, we finally slowed down the Chef 😄 Also the Celtics: Crap, forgot there were 4 more players on the court 😰😭

ngl this channel has gotten me back into basketball. i was super into basketball prior to covid but the bubble kind of killed my interest. these breakdowns have introduced me to the crazy strategy used in basketball and has reignited my interest in it. thanks lol.

Wiggins has really stepped up with all this attention being put on Steph. What I like most though is that it seems he took Game 3 personal and has since become the Warriors top rebounder by far. Nice story for him, talk about a career turnaround.

Steph is the definition of MVP..just him being on the court discombobulates defenses

Wiggins also when 0-6 from the three but the Warriors are dominating the paint despite they are small. A very interesting chess match this series is. Steve Kerr and Ime Udoka are both great coach. And neither of them are coach of the year

Minnesota acquired a rough diamond but didn't do anything with it. The same rough diamond was traded and molded into the brilliant gem we're seeing in the Finals.

Been waiting all day for this to come out. It did not disappoint!

The Celtics didn't slow Curry down, Curry was just off. He missed quite a few wide open looks including a free throw. He still got off 9 3s, every single of which he's hit before. Truly slowing him down would mean he couldn't get shots off at all.

This breakdown had my full attention from beginning to end. So interesting. I will definitely pay more attention to the details next game.

Celtics can't stop the warriors, if they guard curry from the 3, it leaves the other warriors open, if they drop down to guard the others, curry gets open looks. It's not possible for celtics to win.

this just shows how great curry is even when he's not scoring it seems like he's still controlling the game like he drew 2 defenders 2 defenders that's how lethal this man is I gotta say tho he didn't shot that well but not entirely his fault he was very heavily guarded this game but thx to him it made playmaking and scoring points for the team easier love ya steph

Love your content, brother! Glad I found your channel! Thanks for all of your hard work and analysis!

I love your analysis. Opened my eyes to how good Wiggins was defensively on top of his offense. I was very frustrated at coach udoka and tatum in the 4th quarter for not intitating more ball movement as he kept losing isolations.

This is the best basketball channel on YT - every video is so slick and informative, going into the details and nuances of strategy but doing it in a way that's fun and easily understandable. Absolutely brilliant work 🙌

Way to break it down, still shows the gravitational force that Steph has, great coaching from Karr

Curry’s gravity on the court is so insane that I wouldn’t mind watching him not score the entire game because of how much he opens up the floor.

Absolutely love listening to your podcast! Can’t wait for the next finals episode

That's the thing about overloading on Steph. There's just too many scoring threats apart from curry that they can't overlook by constantly doubling or tripling on him.

Wow nice job Ben! You are killing it with these videos. Glad your work is blowing up!

Excellent breakdowns and attention to detail. Thanks for sharing

thinking basketball uploads a video. I click it and watch. amazing studies. keep it up!

I have to say watching the finals and then the detailed breakdowns has really deepened my understanding of basketball. Keep up the great work!

I’m loving the constant uploads!

i think youre giving the celtics more credit than they deserve. they dodged the steph bullet, not slowed him down. they gave him 9 good looks from 3 (i think it was 9 without checking the box score), and he, for the first time in some 200+ games, missed them all. that wont happen again

This is the luxury that kd experienced while playing with the dubs. He can do his iso without worrying about double teams and open shots come to him naturally unlike with his current situation in the nets

Man, I learn literally so much of your videos and at the same time they are soooo entertaining it makes you look like a basketball teacher.

Finally a good analysis of the coverages and how that creates and stops plays. Thanks man.

Poole and GP2 need more time on court together. They pick in roll really well.

This is just what I thought happened in Game 5. Felt like I made the video myself but how come non-NBA players or non-pro analysts know this but not one among ESPN and Undisputed can even tell the difference. All I heard from them was how Steph couldn't make shots. No one has even mentioned Klay or how Curry opened opportunities for Wiggins.

Excellent job … Keep continue making content like this . Really enjoyed. When u watch live action it’s so fast u can’t really tell . But when u break it down I m amaze how GSW good of team in both defense n offense.

I love you, Mr. Thinking Basketball. Thank you for expanding my understanding and enjoyment.

Curry gets slandered for drawing so much attention that his teammates can score. Totally unfair to one of the greatest players in curry

Can you do a video about Jayson Tatum’s struggles and why he may be struggling from warriors defense ?

Great analysis! Great presentation! Really enjoyed this.

great coverage!

It’s so incredible watching the Warriors players react and move based on how they’re guarding Steph Curry and how they all manage to be in sync and get good looks for each other

A lot of people already commented on Wiggins performance but I'd like to add that he has looked like the most athletic players out there all series. He's maintained his "springyness" after these long grueling playoffs while most everyone else looks like they're playing the second game of a back to back. It really shows up on the glass.

The best channel to watch if you want to understand the game. Great job! 👌

Wow, I actually understood the breakdowns you offered, not the usual mumbo jumbo that I hear on other videos. Thank you and keep it going!!

So happy to see Andrew Wiggins perform like this again

Wiggs playing with so much passion and drive after being criticized for being uncaring his whole career. Puts a tear in the eyes 🥲

Damn you Thinking Basketball, y’all are so good at this, best basketball channel

Great analysis! Congrats

I love this channel, completely changed watching the game for me. After watching the last video, I immediately realized that they had switched defensive schemes and were coming out higher to take away Steph's looks, and then exactly as you said, it resulted in a ton of offense for the rest of the Warriors and allowed Draymond to have a much better game.

They did not slow down Steph Curry. Steph Curry allowed certain things to happen to be team effective.

This such a fascinating Analysts keep up the good work my guy

Thank you for this video. It was very clearly explained. I love watching basketball and can't wait to notice how close or far away from the screen the defender is lagging in game 6 ... Thanks again!

The Warriors played really well as a team even though steph was inefficient tonight. Wiggins was the real player of the game with 26 pts and 13 rebounds. Warriors are one game away to winning the NBA championship!

FIRST! I was waiting for this video.

excellent video once again

Cheers on how the video breaks down all these plays👏🏾

if there's one thing we've learned from this finals , WIGGINS WAS NEVER A BUST

They didn't really stop curry as a whole

You make it sound simple definitely subbing

Another great video. Thank you. Everything is so easy to understand. After watching your videos I am getting more interested in basketball and it's tactical aspects too. I am seeing so much more of the game and start appreciating small and unnoticeable plays that players are doing in the heat of the fast paced game like this. Keep up the good work. BTW I also love the GSW's game and to have a proof that Steph Curry is still influencing the game even when he is having a bad night.

After seeing game 5, I don't see how Boston can win, I expect nearly everyone on Warriors to play well, feels like they've figured it out, Steph gonna play better & Klay finna have his biggest game 👌🏽

Celtics forgot that Curry is a playmaker.

you amazingly breakdown the plays, thank you for this very detailed lecture 🙏

Thats one great video!

Curry's is an unconventional point guard position; and this video explains why most of the time people/haters could easily dismiss his orchestrating ability since the things he did happen before assist stats could have triggered.

And this my friends is why Steph is the best player in the league and top 10 players ever!!

best nba channel. keep up the good work!

I’ve been waiting all day for this!

Thru 5 games it appears Cs are gassed in the 4th & starting to wear down. It seems GSWs has figured them out

Watching this video really made me realize why LeBron on two different occasions said he wanted to play with Steph and the Warriors. Imagine a Steph/LeBron two-man game where LeBron is the short roller playing downhill 4vs3. Or LeBron playing a 5-out offense where he just collapses the defense and kicks to Klay and Steph.

Awesome analysis!

Thanks for the vid

Golden State's role players really stepped up without Curry being on fire. What killed the Celtics in my view was Tatum and Brown forcing some well contested shots in the fourth and for some reason Udoka decided that they should play the entire game when they were clearly tired; the play that highlights it is when Horford rushes up the court with the ball and tries to do a pick and roll hand off to Brown when he clearly wasn't ready for it. Kerr out-couched Udoka and utilized minutes to their bench to give the starters the rest they needed to finish off the Celtics. It was clear that Golden State was going to win it in the fourth with 5 minutes to go when Golden State started to knock down unguarded shots because Tatum and Brown were dead to try and defend. It seemed that the Celtic's bench was ice cold even though they caught up in the third with their starters. So much energy was used just to do that which resulted in them being tired. The Celtics need to understand that it takes a team to win it and they all need to be on the same page. They all looked dead and disorganized when Golden State was breaking away. There might have been legit missed calls from the refs but having no urgency just cemented their loss to Golden State. Pool got into Smart's head a bit and it almost ended up being with him being kicked off...

Wonderful explanation! Let’s go warriors! Bring it home!

Amazing content

This is beautifuly done, THANK YOU!!

Appreciate the content. The old media looks at Celtics turnovers like they just careless with the ball or sometimes. Your breakdown shows Golden State defense has figure them out. I feel the runs the Celtic go on, the warriors have let there foot off the gas on defense.

that defence on curry didn't work at all . him hitting from everywhere the game before made this a great team victory cause defence tightened up on that solo player way to much

Best analysis I've seen, thanks!

Love the video. Finally some one highlighting all the openings that curry’s gravity creates and how impactful he is to the warriors offense and the reason why everyone performed so well the last game. The old media keeps harping on the fact he shot poorly and keep denouncing his impact. Thanks for the great video.

Boston made a fatal mistake. You take steph away and the rest of the team will eat. They shouldve just let steph go off and clamp the others. Now the others are comfortable and have become unafraid and confident of bostons defense. Steph can and will likely drop 20+ next game but now with the rest of the team ready to go

Just like CP3 making centers effective with his PnR skills, Curry makes wings effective with all the spacing

Great video, great breakdown of the game. The players and coaching staff of the Warriors were prepared with knowing the Celtics never lost two games in a row. In the night when Curry struggled to get into his rhythm, the rest of the teams came through with that kind of immovable and sophisticated defense. But the player of the game is Andrew Wiggins, literally. He was aggressive outta the gate and attacking the basket. His defensive effort was incredible to watch. Game 6 is going to be the game to watch.

Bro so cool the way you break down the game.

Wiggins already as valuable to the dubs as KD ever was

lol slowed down

ELITE LEVEL BREAKDOWN! AMAZING!

great vid