The Boston Celtics had an opportunity to take command of the 2022 NBA Finals this past Friday, as they came into a Game 4 tilt on their home floor holding a 2-1 series lead, looking to secure win No. 3.
For a decent chunk of the contest, it appeared that this desire had a realistic chance of becoming a reality, as they led the majority of the way and even held a slight edge over the Warriors in the fourth period.
Then the final five minutes came about, where the C’s as a whole flatlined and Stephen Curry erupted, which, in turn, ultimately led to Golden State pulling out the 107-97 win and tying things up at two games a piece.
Now, this victory was not an easy feat to accomplish for the Dubs. Throughout the contest, we saw head coach, Steve Kerr, tinkering with his rotation in an effort to ignite a spark for his team to come alive, and even sat some of his staple rotational players and experimented by replacing them with those who have spent a majority of this year’s playoff run sitting on the pine.
In the end, such tweaks worked, as they provided enough fresh energy within the lineup to exact a highly impressive comeback victory.
As we head into Monday’s bout, Ime Udoka could look to take a page out of Kerr’s playbook as he tries to harness the energy and high-end motor that’s necessary in order to steal another road game, and perhaps throwing out fresher legs into the rotation for extended periods of time could be a way to do exactly that.
With this in mind, we at HH believe there are 2 surprise players that could see more minutes in Game 5: