Despite missing all of last season due to injury, Zion Williamson remains very much in the long-term plans of the New Orleans Pelicans, according to executive VP of basketball operations David Griffin. 

Appearing on a podcast, Griffin expressed confidence in signing Williamson to a maximum-salary extension this offseason and said it’s an "easy decision". 

Williamson said in his postseason press conference that he’s eager to sign long-term with the Pelicans after the team made a late run to the playoffs. Griffin said it’s essentially a no-brainer that he will get a max offer of five years and at least $182 million. 

"We feel really confident he wants to be here, and we’re equally confident we can come to an agreement," Griffin said. 

Because Williamson missed the entire 2021-22 season due to a foot injury and has played in just 85 games since entering the league in 2019, the Pelicans could seek protections within the deal. 

"It’s not a big decision. It’s a pretty easy decision," Griffin said. "This is a max player. That’s easy. The kid is historically good when he plays.

"What becomes significant with a team that’s a small-market team that can’t make mistakes in terms of injuries over time, you have to indemnify yourself in some way." 

Williamson was recently cleared to play this offseason without any restrictions after recent imaging on the fifth metatarsal in his right foot showed continued improvement. 

Barring any setbacks, he should be ready to return next season and take the court for the first time since May 2021.  

Williamson has been an extremely effective player when healthy, averaging 25.7 points, 7 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting just over 60 percent from the field for his career.  

Offseason work pic.twitter.com/scnFaHUil3

— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) June 7, 2022

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry left no doubt about his status for Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday. 

"I'm going to play," Curry told reporters on Thursday, a day after injuring his left foot while diving for a loose ball late in a Game 3 loss to the Boston Celtics. 

"I don’t feel like I'll miss a game," Curry added. 

The Athletic reported on Thursday that Curry will not need an MRI before Game 4. 

During a scrum to recover possession in the fourth quarter, Boston big man Al Horford leapt into the fray and landed on Curry's left foot, leaving the two-time MVP hobbled. 

Curry remained in the game initially but was removed with 2:19 remaining and Golden State down 14 points. 

With the Warriors trailing the series 2-1 and a 48-hour turnaround before Game 4, Curry's status quickly became the focal point. 

"I'll be alright," Curry said after Game 3. "I got caught underneath Al. Obviously there'll be some pain, but I'll be alright.

"Figure out how it feels tomorrow and get ready for Friday. [It was] the same thing I did against Boston during the regular season, but not as bad."

Curry is shooting 48.6 percent from three-point range in these Finals and is averaging over 31 points per game, almost double the Warriors' second-leading scorer in the series: Klay Thompson at 17 points per game. 

"Curry will be needed if the Warriors are to claim a fourth NBA title in eight years. 

"We need him if we want to win this thing," Thompson said of his Splash Brother and team-mate. 

LeBron James intends to own a potential NBA expansion team in Las Vegas, he says.

Expansion in the coming seasons from 30 teams to 32 has been rumoured, with a return to Seattle and move to Vegas seemingly most likely.

And four-time MVP James hopes to have a role in any Vegas outfit.

"I want to own a team," he told The Shop in an episode set to air on Friday. "I want to buy a team, for sure.

"I would much rather own a team before I talk. I want a team in Vegas."

The Los Angeles Lakers superstar shared the clip with the caption: "Speaking it into existence!"

James would be following in the footsteps of fellow great Michael Jordan, who runs the Charlotte Hornets.

Stephen Curry is confident he will not miss any of the remainder of the NBA Finals despite hurting his foot in the Golden State Warriors' Game 3 defeat to the Boston Celtics.

The Warriors went down 116-100 at TD Gardens to slip to a 2-1 deficit, with Curry scoring a game-high 31 points despite the losing effort.

What was of even bigger concern to the Warriors was the sight of Curry's leg getting caught under the huge frame of Al Horford when jostling for a loose ball deep into the fourth quarter.

Curry was down for a considerable amount of time and when he did manage to get back to his feet he was noticeably limping and did not return for the remaining minutes.

Speaking about the injury after the game, Curry told reporters: "I'll be all right. I got caught. Obviously I'm in some pain, but I'll be all right. I'll see how it feels tomorrow and get ready for Friday.

"That's [a foot strain] what it felt like, and we'll see how it responds. Not much else to say. I don't feel like I'll miss a game. I'll take advantage of these next 48 hours to get ready."

Curry likened the injury to the one he sustained against the Celtics back in March during a similar scenario coming up against Marcus Smart.

The Warriors' talisman, however, does not believe it is as severe as the issue that caused him to miss the final month of the regular season.

"[Horford is] a big body, obviously," Curry added. "I haven't seen the play, so I don't know if it could have been avoided or not. 

"I was in that situation with Marcus back in the Bay, and you just want to get your foot out of there. That's all I was trying to do at that point, knowing the position I was in. 

"Like I said, for what I feel like, it's not as bad. So hopefully it responds well over the next two days."

Head coach Steve Kerr said of Curry: "I didn't say that [there was no concern]. 

"The injury didn't force him out of the game, but I took him out down 14 with two minutes left because we weren't going to catch up.

"We will know more tomorrow."

It was a night to forget for Draymond Green, who contributed just two points and struggled defensively leading him to admit afterwards: "I was s***."

Kerr was somewhat more diplomatic, adding: "He had a tough game, but I trust Draymond as much as I trust anybody. 

"You know, he always bounces back from losses and from tough nights individually. He'll be back on Friday."

A hostile home crowd jeered Green with chants of "f*** you Draymond", with Kerr adding sarcastically: "Classy. Very classy."

Green was asked if his struggles could have anything to do with the post-game recaps he has been supplying on his podcast. 

He replied tersely, saying: "No. I don't see much difference on the podcast than I say to you right here, so nah. What's the X's and O's that I said on the podcast?

"If that's X's and O's, you're reaching for something. It's all good, though, keep going.

"The only thing, you find that they are taking X's and O's away from your podcast? Well, the only thing you said is [Derrick] White, Smart and Horford. Hmm.

"You went for it. Appreciate the podcast promo you just gave me, though. The Draymond Green Show. Next time just mention it that way."

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart highlighted how the bumpy journey to this point is what makes his team so unified, after they produced a near-perfect defensive fourth quarter to defeat the Golden State Warriors 116-110 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

The win gives the Celtics a 2-1 series lead, with a chance to go up 3-1 by holding serve at home in Game 4.

In the process, the Celtics core of Smart, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown became the first trio since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson and Michael Cooper in 1984 to all have at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists in a Finals game.

The Celtics needed to get up off the canvas after a trademark Golden State Warriors third-quarter run saw them claw back from a 12-point half-time deficit to take an 83-82 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the third.

In response, the Celtics held the Warriors to just 11 points in the fourth quarter, completely shutting down one of the most dynamic offenses in league history to lock up the win at home.

Smart, who has been criticised for trying to be too involved in the Celtics offense while neglecting his point guard duties, credited his star team-mates for helping him believe in his own scoring ability.

"The 'Jays' – Jayson and Jaylen – have done a really good job of encouraging me to be aggressive on the offensive end," he said. "And really understanding that for me, in this team, I have to be aggressive to help us win."

Smart's relationship with the 'Jays' goes deeper than basketball, and he said it took some growing up, as well as some tough conversations for the trio to become who they are today.

"First off, this is a family here," he said. "I grew up with the Jays.

"I've been playing five years with Jaylen, four years with Jayson. When my mom passed… they all came down to the funeral, so we've already had that bond.

"Early on in the season for us, it's just like it is with your siblings. 

"You get into it, you squabble, you're mad at each other – and then the next day you're laughing, talking, hugging… giving each other their roses, and that's what this team is.

"It started off shaky for us, but that right there is what helped us get to where we are now. We had to go through the storm to see the rainbow at the end of it.

"For me, I had to look myself in the mirror. Along with my team-mates, we had to have a heart-to-heart, we had to sit down and have that hard talk, and understand that what we're saying is to help each other.

"It's nothing bad, it's nothing personal, it's to help us get to where we want to be. It's crazy, we're here, and nobody thought we would be here… but we stayed with it, and that's why I'm proud of this team, and it's what makes us who we are."

The Celtics have done plenty of soul-searching this season, and it was the case again after a demoralising Game 2 loss, but Smart said he was determined to not let the Warriors "bully" his side.

"We pride ourselves on being a physical team, and for us, [Game 2] left a bad taste in your mouth," he said.

"Coming out of Game 2, hearing and knowing that we got beat up. It's just like anybody else, if you're in a fight with a bully or anything, you've got to keep going, you've got to stand up."

When asked if he feels like the Celtics are in a fight with a bully, Smart replied: "We definitely are, we got the Golden State Warriors, who have done this before, multiple times, and they understand what it's like to be here.

"We're that little guy that is new to the school, and they want to see exactly what you've got. They came out and punched us in our mouth in Game 2, and we responded.

"We watched the film – and that was a nasty film session for us. It was ugly, we had to sit there and watch the whole film.

"You have to look yourself in the mirror and get it together. Coming out today it was not a matter of 'are we going to be physical' – it was 'how physical are we going to be'."

The Boston Celtics have taken a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals after defeating the Golden State Warriors 116-100 in Game 3.

In front of their raucous home fans, the Celtics started red-hot on the offensive end, highlighted by Jaylen Brown's 17 points in the first quarter to carry his side to a 33-22 lead at the quarter-time.

Boston's offense did not slow down in the second quarter, either, putting up another 35 points, but the Warriors were able to put up 34 themselves to stay within touching distance, down 68-56 at half-time.

Brown led the way with 22 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the first half – nearly matching his regular season averages of 23.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists.

For the Warriors, Klay Thompson had 15 points, Stephen Curry had 14, and Andrew Wiggins had 13, while the rest of the team combined for 12.

As has been a theme with the Warriors, they exploded once again in the third quarter, winning the frame 33-25 as Curry scored another 15 points in an eight-minute stretch.

The Warriors took the lead 83-82 with Curry's 15th point of the quarter, before the Celtics settled and fought back to take a 93-89 margin into the final break.

This Celtics team will be remembered as one of the finest defensive units of the modern era, and they relied on that end of the floor to pull out the win, holding the Warriors to just 11 points in the fourth quarter, while Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with eight down the stretch.

After setting a career-high of 13 assists in Game 1 of the Finals, Tatum showed it was no fluke, dishing another nine assists to go with his 26 points (nine-of-23 shooting). 

Brown cooled off late to finish on 27 points (nine-of-16 shooting) with nine rebounds and five assists, while Marcus Smart put up similar numbers, scoring 24 points (eight-of-17 shooting) with seven rebounds and five assists.

The game-changer for the Celtics, however, was Robert Williams III. The injury-plagued center showed exactly why he received Defensive Player of the Year votes and NBA All-Defensive Second Team honours, finishing with four blocks and three steals to go with his eight points and 10 rebounds. Williams also finished with a game-high plus/minus of plus 21.

For the Warriors, Curry was terrific, scoring an efficient 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting, hitting six-of-11 from long range, while Thompson had his best game of the Finals with 25 points on seven-of-17 shooting.

Public enemy number one in Boston was Draymond Green, and the crowd gave him a fitting send-off when he fouled out in the fourth quarter with just two points, four rebounds and three assists in his 35 minutes.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and star point guard Stephen Curry have both backed Klay Thompson to respond from his "mini slump".

Thompson produced his worst shooting percentage of the season in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, making four-of-19 from the field as the Warriors won 107-88 over the Boston Celtics.

The five-time NBA All-Star shooting guard managed only 11 points in Sunday's win, including one-of-18 from three-point range.

Thompson scored a decisive 32 points in Game 6 of the Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks but has only scored more than 15 points twice in his past seven games.

"I think he’s just pressing a little bit," Kerr told reporters ahead of Wednesday's Game 3 in Boston.

"He wants so badly to do well. He's taking some bad ones. I’m not particularly concerned about it.

"This isn't the first time it's happened. Klay has a way of responding to mini slumps."

Curry helped pick up the slack in Game 2, hitting five triples on his way to 29 points to level the series.

The two-time MVP also backed the 32-year-old shooting guard to find a way back to his best.

"History has shown that there's no predictor to when he can just take it to another level," Curry said.

"He’s always just found a way, especially in the playoffs, to make an impact that’s loud.

"The best you can probably say is keep shooting, as that’s the only way to get yourself out of some rough patches."

Thompson was buoyed by his Game 6 display against the Mavs, where he landed eight three-pointers at 50 per cent from beyond the arc.

"I’ll probably just YouTube Game 6, because there was some very high pressurised situations I was in and I ended up shooting the ball well," Thompson said about how he would manage his shooting issues.

"When you can do it when your back is against the wall, you know you can do it at any given moment. It's just about keeping mentally strong."

The new era of Duke basketball continues with the formation of a new front office position to help players enhance their marketing skills in the new college sports world created by NIL (name, image and likeness).

First-year Blue Devils coach Jon Scheyer announced on Tuesday that Rachel Baker is the program's first general manager – a position she will use to assist players in capitalising on strategic partnerships. 

"The state of college basketball is growing and changing at an exponential rate," Scheyer said. "Rachel is a one-of-a-kind talent with unique experience that will provide our players and their families with an unparalleled resource and partner as we navigate new frontiers of college basketball together.

"Through her work in the NBA and at Nike, she brings nearly a decade of expertise in the business of basketball to our staff, as well as her gifts in relationship and community building, leadership development, and experiential marketing. We can't wait to see all she brings to our program in this newly created position." 

A former lacrosse player at La Salle and the daughter of a collegiate basketball coach, Baker spent eight years at Nike and one year in the NBA league office before joining Duke. At Nike, she led their Elite Youth Basketball League, developing partnerships and managing strategic initiatives. During her year with the NBA, Baker directed the marketing and rebranding of the WNBA. 

"I could not be more excited to join Jon Scheyer and the entire Duke Basketball family," said Baker. "We're in the middle of such a transformative moment – not only for Duke, but for the college basketball landscape – and the chance to be part of it is the opportunity of a lifetime.

"Duke Basketball has remained rooted in honoring our storied history while writing the future of the game. I am humbled and honored to join this tradition and can't wait to get started." 

Baker is the latest major change for the Drake program following the retirement of coach Mike Krzyzewski after he had led the team to five NCAA Tournament championships since his hiring in 1980.  

Scheyer, the 34-year-old former Blue Devils star, had been on Coach K’s staff since 2014 and took over for the Hall of Fame coach following his planned retirement in April. 

Baker, who graduated from La Salle in 2012 and holds an executive education certificate in business of entertainment, media and sport from Harvard University, is the daughter of Rod Baker, who coached Tufts from 1983-88 and Cal-Irvine from 1991-97. 

Darvin Ham insisted Russell Westbrook is one of the best players the NBA has ever seen upon his announcement as Los Angeles Lakers head coach on Monday.

The nine-time All-Star and former MVP had a patchy first season in the purple and gold despite averages of 18.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 7.1 assists.

The 33-year-old was widely regarded as the cause behind the Lakers finishing with a 33-49 record which saw them finish 11th in the Western Conference, even missing the Play-In Tournament.

Asked about fitting Westbrook with LeBron James and Anthony Davis during his introduction as the Lakers coach, Ham took the opportunity to defend the embattled point guard.

"Don't get it messed up," he said. "Russ is one of the best players our league has ever seen, and there's still a ton left in that tank. I don't know why people tend to try to write him off.

"I'm going to approach him like I do every player I've ever encountered. We're going to talk about our running habits, with the ball, without the ball. And again, the team, the rhythm of the team and trying to establish a rhythm with LeBron, Russ, AD.

"And again, share the load defensively and offensively. Defensively is where you're going to see us make our biggest leaps and bounds. We have to commit to the defensive side of the ball or we don't have a chance to do anything. Our offence won't even matter if we don't get stops."

After an eight-year playing career in the NBA, Ham got his first coaching job in the league working as an assistant at the Lakers, as a part of Mike Brown's staff in 2012-13.

After that season, the 48-year-old spent the following years on Mike Budenholzer's staff with the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks, winning the NBA title in 2021.

"The fact that I got my start as a coach here, this place will always be special for me," Ham said. "It's like a homecoming for me, in all seriousness."

"As sad as it is for me to be leaving coach Bud, sometimes you got to walk that walk on your own. We went from colleagues, to friends, to brothers while all the while making history."

Quin Snyder’s decision on Sunday to abruptly step down as coach of the Utah Jazz took much of the NBA world by surprise.

Especially the franchise's star player.

Donovan Mitchell was reportedly "surprised and disappointed" by Snyder's decision to step away after eight seasons in Utah, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, and has been left "unsettled, unnerved and wondering what it means for the franchise’s future."

The 55-year-old Snyder had led the Jazz to six straight playoff berths, three Northwest Division crowns and the NBA's best record in the 2020-21 season, but the team had not been able to advance past the Western Conference semi-finals.

''Love Quin. I love Quin. Love Quin,'' Mitchell said after the Jazz were ousted in the first round by the Dallas Mavericks in April. ''He's a guy that gave me an opportunity when I first got here and trusted in me, believed in me. He's a guy that I think has had so much talked about and he's been headstrong, he's been steady with it throughout the year.''

Mitchell has been the face of the franchise since his 2017-18 rookie season, earning a third-straight All-Star Game appearance this past season while finishing ninth in the league in scoring at 25.9 points per game.

The 25-year-old signed a five-year maximum contract extension with the Jazz in 2020, and considered his positive relationship with Snyder a significant reason he opted to stay in Salt Lake City.

Mitchell, who is owed $67.5million for the next two seasons, followed by a $37m player option, reportedly respects Snyder's decision for stepping down but is left wondering how the franchise will respond to such a sudden and significant change in leadership.

Snyder is the second-winningest coach in franchise history behind Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan, and since he took over in Utah in 2014-15, only Steve Kerr, Doc Rivers, Mike Budenholzer and Gregg Popovich compiled more wins than Snyder's 372.

The Boston Celtics were left to wonder what might have been after a poor third quarter saw them lose Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, levelling the series at 1-1.

An underwhelming first half performance saw the Celtics trail by only two points, and after their incredible fourth quarter showing in Game 1, the hope for Boston was they could finish strongly again and take a commanding 2-0 lead.

However, after finding themselves trailing by 23 points by the time the final quarter arrived, they had left themselves far too much to do.

Celtics coach Ime Udoka blamed the amount of turnovers, saying after the 107-88 defeat at Chase Center: "That's been an ongoing theme in the playoffs so far. We've turned over the ball. Take teams out of scoring against us in the half court, give them some baskets.

"But it was more of the same in that third quarter. We had 11 for 18 points in that first half and gave up five or six more in that quarter. Kind of blew it open, and that hampered our offense, as well."

Jayson Tatum - who top-scored for the Celtics with 28 points, though ended the game with a minus-36, which is the worst plus-minus of the 24-year-old's career - agreed with Udoka on turnovers, but also pointed to the general sloppiness at the start of the third-quarter that saw the Warriors pull away.

"I think tonight, turnovers, and I think sometimes letting our offense affect how we defend, kind of was a little stagnant in the third quarter," Tatum said.

"I feel like it translated on the defensive end, and they got going and hitting shots and things like that."

Boston have now been outscored by at least 14 points on four occasions in the third quarter during this year's playoffs, and guard Derrick White also expressed his frustration at the increasing trend of losing the game just after half-time.

"Yeah, it's definitely frustrating," he said. "I mean, we've talked about it pretty much the whole postseason. It's easy to talk about, but we've got to go out there and change something.

"That was a big quarter for them and really a quarter that put us away."

Draymond Green lauded the performance of Stephen Curry on both sides of the ball after the Golden State Warriors blew the Boston Celtics out 107-88 on Sunday.

The Warriors were up by 29 points at one stage in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, on their way to evening the series up in San Francisco.

Curry was transformative on and off the ball in both offensive and defensive senses, finishing with 29 points, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and something even more reflective of his overall impact, an astounding net rating of +39.6.

Green was full of praise after the win, putting Curry's status even before Kevin Durant left for the Brooklyn Nets into perspective.

"I thought he was incredible," Green said post-game. "Most importantly, his decision-making was great. He got off the ball, he didn't drive into traffic, he took what the defence gave him.

"I think for the first six minutes of that game he had zero points. He wasn't forcing anything and let the game come to him, and we all followed that.

"Our offence is always a lot of Steph. It all starts with Steph. When KD [Durant] was here it still started with Steph, and that's the way it's going to be."

The barrage of three-pointers by the Warriors obscured Curry's three steals and ability to stay in front of the ball, especially given the latter has been an important factor in each of the Warriors' previous three series in the Western Conference this post-season.

Despite offensive focus from opposition teams onto Curry, Green insisted the former unanimous MVP has worked to improve defensively and should be respected on that side of the court.

"I have been talking about it for the last couple of years, how much he's improved on that side of the ball" Green said. "Teams used to try to call him into every action and just try to pick on him.

"That's doesn't work anymore. He guards, and we're all there behind him if he does need help but hasn't been needing that often and it's great.

"I've spoken about how much stronger he is. He's able to hold his ground, so you're not able to bump him off his spot, and that's been huge for us. I'm not shocked he's playing that type of defence."

Quin Snyder has resigned as coach of the Utah Jazz after eight seasons in charge.

Snyder was appointed as head coach of Utah in 2014, signing a three-year contract before extending his deal twice to prolong his stay in Salt Lake City.

The 55-year-old transformed the Jazz into a competitive playoff force, reaching the postseason for the last six straight seasons, although they have not progressed past the conference semi-finals in that run.

Snyder was the joint-third longest-serving coach in NBA, alongside Golden State Warriors' Steve Kerr, who trails Miami Heat's Erik Spoelstra and San Antonio Spurs' Gregg Popovich.

Having overseen a period of change in Utah, Snyder departs with the second-best winning record of any Jazz coach after boasting a 372-264 regular-season record.

"Quin Snyder has embodied what Jazz basketball is for the last eight years," said Jazz owner Ryan Smith.

"The tireless work ethic and attention to detail Quin displayed each day is a testament to the professional he is. I have nothing but admiration for Quin and respect his decision.

"We thank Quin and Amy from the bottom of our hearts for all of their contributions to the state of Utah and the Jazz and wish them nothing but the best."

Reports suggested Utah were intent on agreeing a new contract with Snyder, who is said to want to take a season's break to recuperate before he considers a new coaching role.

"At the core, and what drives me every day is our players and their passion for the game, their desire to constantly work to improve and their dedication to the team and the Jazz," Snyder said.

"I strongly feel they need a new voice to continue to evolve. That's it. No philosophical differences, no other reason. After eight years, I just feel it is time to move onward.

"I needed to take time to detach after the season and make sure this was the right decision. I greatly respect and appreciate Ryan, Danny [Ainge] and Justin's [Zanik] discussions regarding moving forward together, I just know it is time.

"I am forever appreciative of all the players, coaches, partners, and people I have worked with at the Jazz. Your sacrifice, your kinship have made this an incredible and special experience.

"Amy and I are so grateful for our time here as it has been just a tremendous place to raise our family. Thank you to our always supportive and passionate fans. We only want the best for you and to see you raise a championship banner."

Stephen Curry has backed his Golden State Warriors team-mates to "figure it out" after their Game 1 defeat to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals.

Game 2 of the championship series takes place in Chase Center on Sunday and Curry called on the Warriors to "flip the script".

The Celtics won the first encounter 120-108 on Thursday, turning things around dramatically in the fourth quarter, scoring 40 points to the Warriors' 16 to take the win.

However, Curry - who still top scored with 34 points - believes his team can respond to that setback, outlining after practice on Saturday when he had seen the necessary resilience from the Warriors this season.

"Even moments throughout the regular season where things are starting to get away from us a little bit at times," he said. "And kind of have your 'come-to-Jesus' moment, like we need to play right. How are we going to flip the script and get things back on the right track? We usually responded pretty well.

"It's the first time for a lot of things with this particular group. We are here in the Finals for a reason, because we figured it out along the way. If we're going to get back in this series, we've got to figure it out again."

Draymond Green, who claimed 11 rebounds but made just two of 12 field goal attempts on Thursday, said the Warriors need to improve their defensive performance. 

"We have to play with more force on the defensive end," he said. "I think there were times in the game when they didn't feel us; when you're playing against a great team at this level at this point in the season, they have to feel you every possession.

"We just have to make sure they feel us every possession."

Coach Steve Kerr added his assertion that the experience of Curry and Green will be vital for his team if they are to win their first championship since 2018.

"Draymond and Steph have been in the Finals six times now," Kerr said. "They have seen it all. They have seen everything. They have won championships. They have lost championships. They have had their heart broken. They have had parades.

"This is all part of it. So that's the right mental approach, and that's one that's born out of experience."

Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart insists his side's run to the NBA Finals has been borne of a more balanced defence heading into Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors.

The Celtics gave up the fewest points per game in the regular season at 104.5 while leading the league in defensive rating (106.9) and net rating (+7.5), while they only trail the Milwaukee Bucks for defended field goals made these playoffs at 43.3 per cent.

Smart, who received the Defensive Player of the Year and a third All-Defensive First-Team selection this season, has been a significant contributor in that regard with 1.2 steals along with his 15.7 points per game in these playoffs.

The 28-year-old believes it has been a collective effort for Boston in comparison to previous seasons, however, with every player pulling their weight.

"No offence to those other teams, but there was always somebody on the court that we had to cover for," he said. "Teams did a good job of exploiting that, and especially in the playoffs.

"It's all about adjustments and match-ups, and if it ain't broke don't fix it, so somebody would always pick on a guy that we had and we'd always have to help, and it put a strain on our defence. This year, kind of tough to do that.

"In every position, everybody can hold their own and switch and guard multiple positions, and that's what makes us stronger."

It was the other end that gave the Celtics Game 1 in San Francisco on Thursday, though, converting on 21 three-pointers at an eye-watering 51.2 per cent.

Jayson Tatum's dribble penetration was key, allowing for defensive collapses that then created relatively open looks for his teammates.

Smart believes that might change in Game 2, with the Warriors defensive help staying a little closer to home.

"I wouldn't say we were surprised," he said. "You've got two great players in Jaylen and Jayson on your team, everybody's focused on those guys, going to make everybody else beat you and you live with the results.

"An adjustment I can see them making, just a little bit more tighter on us and trying to make our shots even tougher, not that open. We're basketball players, just like those guys and we're going to have to adjust to whatever they do."