NBA Finals: Warriors and Celtics projected starting lineups for Game 1

The NBA Finals begin tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET with Game 1 between the Celtics and Warriors. Here are the players who will be on the court.

Both the Warriors and Celtics have battled injuries across a long regular season and grueling postseason run. But both teams are looking relatively healthy as the NBA Finals begin and Game 1 gets ready to tip-off.

James Wiseman has already been ruled out of the entire postseason for the Warriors. Gary Payton II, Andre Iguodala and Otto Porter Jr. are all listed as questionable although the expectation is that they’ll all be available for Game 1. On the Celtics side, Robert Williams is listed as questionable but is also expected to play.

That means both teams will be able to roll with their standard starting lineups.

Who will be in the starting lineups for the Warriors and Celtics for Game 1 of the NBA Finals?

The Warriors will almost certainly be rolling with Kevin Looney, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson and Steph Curry. That group has started the last six playoff games for Golden State and has been the team’s most-played lineup in the postseason, outscoring opponents by an average of 17.3 points per 100 possessions.

The Celtics will likely be starting with Robert Williams, Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart. That group has started the last few games together but has actually been outscored by opponents across 56 minutes in the postseason so don’t be surprised if Ime Udoka splits up his two bigs fairly quickly.

The Celtics have been going a bit deeper into their bench in this playoff run and with Grant Williams and Derrick White available have the ability to play with their normal rotations a bit more in search of advantageous offensive and defensive matchups.

As Ben Ladner pointed out, this whole series is going to be a chess match and although standard positional matchups like Smart on Curry seem obvious, Boston has a lot of options:

"The matchups in this series will be fluid because of how often the Warriors move and screen, but to the extent that conventional defensive assignments do exist, Marcus Smart seems like the most logical candidate to guard Curry because of his size and screen navigation on and off the ball. Don’t be surprised, however, if Ime Udoka experiments with Smart on Draymond Green while Jaylen Brown or Derrick White chases Curry. Boston seemed unwilling to switch Robert Williams and Al Hoford, their best rim protectors, onto Curry in the regular season, which the Warriors exploited by using their men (often Green and Kevon Looney) as a screener for Curry."

Whoever is on the court, this is going to be a fascinating matchup, so don’t miss Game 1 (here’s how to tune in).