NBA Finals 2022: Warriors keep eyes on prize but still have their fun

By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

There are all kinds of statistical factors that can help to explain what is going on in these NBA Finals – and why the Golden State Warriors might be about to win them.

The Celtics’ offensive efficiency is out of whack, rising all the way to 125.5 points per 100 possessions in their victories, compared to 95.5 in their losses.

Draymond Green, despite some wobbles, is getting players he defends to shoot at 18.9 percent worse than they normally would.

Boston, on a whopping 17.2 percent of its offensive possessions, has turned the ball over, and Golden State averages 1.12 points on all possessions that begin with a defensive rebound, free-throw shooting has been a thing, and so on. But that’s enough number-crunching.

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Despite Steph Curry snapping his streak of 233 consecutive games with a three-pointer and shooting 22.5 percent from behind the arc and Jayson Tatum’s 27 points, the Celtics could not get the job done.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a data hater or stat skeptic. Heck, analytics and their interpretation have been some of the biggest developments in basketball — and all sports across the past decade and change.

Yet it should also be remembered that this is not a game played by robots. Mentality, psychology, and tiny, real-world factors — such as whether a key player got a good night’s sleep or not — play a monumental role in the destiny of a series such as this.

If there is one observation to be made after five games, it is that the Warriors, possibly because they’ve been here before, are a little more open to the outside noise. Laser-focused is not exactly the right definition for them. In fact, it would be a better descriptor for the Celtics, who seemed intent on blocking everything else out and remaining in the moment.

For the Warriors, there is full concentration, but also a willingness to accommodate some of the surrounding circus and use it for fuel.

In their media availability sessions, there are no “no comments.” Golden State hears and sees what is going on and is embracing it. Players know it’s a series filled with some spice, punch, cross-country snark — and they’re OK with it.

When a Boston bar put up a sign criticizing Curry’s wife’s cooking abilities (Ayesha Curry is a bestselling cookbook author), the Warriors’ sharp-shooting talisman didn’t take the high road, he clapped back in a very public way.

The bar sign of “Ayesha Curry can’t cook,” was met with a corresponding T-shirt from her husband post-Game 5. “Ayesha Curry CAN cook,” it read, and so too could the Warriors on Monday, as a devastating second-half burst set up a 104-94 victory and a 3-2 series lead.

Days earlier, when Green came under criticism for his lesser-than-usual level of performance, his mother Mary Babers weighed in by joking on Twitter that perhaps a clone had replaced her son.

Instead of swatting the issue aside, Green jumped in, admitting his mother was right. “I saw my mom tweeted that it’s been a tough series for me,” Green smiled. “Absolutely, it definitely has.”

Warriors security staff didn’t find it funny when a Klay Thompson impersonator infiltrated the court during Game 5 warm-ups, but the Golden State players certainly got a chuckle out of it.

And at the time of year when more than any other you’d think all external things would be deflected, the Warriors are staying in Finals rhythm by peeking their head outside the bubble from time to time.

Maybe that’s the secret. For when it comes to mentality, it is a nuanced thing. Every team has sports psychologist. Many players have their own. There are countless differing approaches, and it is not one size fits all. Indeed, across a seven-game series that will span more than two weeks, the same approach that worked in the beginning may not sustain until the end.

The Warriors aren’t on the same keel every night. But getting back to a general sense of relaxed intensity has worked well for them.

“The way we play is the way the locker room is,” Warriors center Kevon Looney told reporters recently. “It’s fast, loose, disciplined. Everybody in the locker room is having fun, everybody puts their input in, and as long as you work, you’re able to enjoy what you’re doing. There’s going to be music playing, it’s going to be guys joking around as long as you working.”

Such an atmosphere has multiple effects. It keeps even guys lower down the bench feeling that they are a part of it. It assists in lessening the stress of difficult moments.

It helps put the losses into perspective, and, with triumph now just one win away, prevents the gravity of the moment from feeling too daunting. Before long, that sense of levity might have floated the Warriors to a fourth title in eight years.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.