The Opening Tip

• We saw (maybe?) the first-ever 7-point possession last night. 
  Klay Thompson wants you to think about the children. 
  More context came out yesterday regarding the Suns’ game 7 collapse.

Tomorrow's Finals game

1. Is this the dumbest team to ever be two games from an NBA title?

The Warriors essentially have two chess pieces in this series:

1. Hoping Klay Thompson hits his open 3s. (He did last night.) 
2. Wringing every last drop out of Steph Curry. 

The best-defense-in-the-league Celtics have often played Curry well, but have also at times decided to treat him like Russell Westbrook.

• Curry scored 15 last night in the third quarter and got the Warriors back in the game, thanks mostly to repeated high pick-and-rolls the C’s decided time and again not to cover correctly.

Take the picture above: Al Horford, who should’ve been up in Curry’s face, opted to sag and let the GOAT shooter waltz into an open 3. (Spoiler: He made the shot.)

• In the third quarter alone, it happened here, here, here, and here.

In eight minutes, GSW went from down 12 to up one thanks entirely to the Celtics' inexplicable drop coverage on Curry.

Then, Ime Udoka subbed out Horford, implored his team to “stop playing like assholes,” and the Celtics outscored the Warriors 34-17 over the final 16 minutes of the game. Such is life for the dumbest great team in the NBA. 

[READ: Defense has always been part of the Celtics’ DNA, and it may lead them to Banner No. 18]

2. Daily GIF: The 7-point possession

The third-quarter Celtics and the third-quarter Warriors collabed on a seven-point possession last night, which included: 

• A made 3 by Steph Curry + a foul shot. 
• A flagrant foul by Al Horford for not letting Curry land, which led to another possession.
• An off-balance leaning 3-pointer by Otto Porter, which account for points 5, 6 and 7. 

3. Trivia time

In the history of the NBA, there’s been one Finals MVP who never made an All-Star Game. 

Who is it?

Answer at the bottom.

4. Not the children 😱

The news cycle you didn’t want is about to play out between the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics fans, thanks to a ‘Fuck you Draymond’ chant and a chastising from Klay Thompson afterwards:
 

Three things:

1. ‘Fuck you Draymond’ is a little far. ‘Draymond sucks’ would have been better. 
2. The Warriors probably shouldn’t get on their high horse when they unleash Draymond upon the league every night. He was out of his mind in Game 2 and did stuff like this all of Game 3. 
3. You know who wasn’t mad at the chants? Draymond! “I don’t make much of (my son) hearing that or seeing that,” he said on his podcast. (Yes, he went home and recorded a podcast.)

5. Suns-Mavs Game 7 makes more sense now

Remember when the 63-win Phoenix Suns turned into mush in Game 7 of the WCSF against the Mavericks?

It seemed like something else was up, and yesterday we got a little more context from The Athletic:
 

We can probably deduce that the ‘one player’ was DeAndre Ayton, who mysteriously played 17 minutes in Game 7, a small number explained away as an ‘internal’ decision by Monty Williams after the game. 

6.  Quick Hits

• Steph Curry said last night he’ll be ready for Game 4 after injuring his leg late in Game 3.
• Boston is shooting 43.4% from 3 in three Finals games. 
• Which was your favorite Celtics fan fit from last night: The DIY Derrick White jersey or the DIY Draymond is a ***** shirt?
• The Movie “Hustle” featuring Juancho Hernangomez, Anthony Edwards and Adam Sandler as an NBA scout is now on Netflix.
• Bill Walton took the T to last night’s game. 
• Twitter unearthed a must-watch high school Kobe moment.

7.  Reads

• These are not Larry Bird’s Celtics. And that’s just fine. [New York Times]
• The Warriors can’t beat the Celtics on vibes alone [The Ringer]
• If Steph Curry's injury is significant, how can Warriors salvage the Finals? [SF Chronicle]

Trivia answer:  Cedric Maxwell (1981)