NBA Finals 2022 - Why the Warriors-Celtics series will be determined by which star duo can crack the other's defense

The Golden State Warriors are in the NBA Finals for the sixth time over the past eight seasons, making them the first team to do so since the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls of the 1990s. The Boston Celtics, meanwhile, are making their first Finals appearance since 2010. Not a single player on the Celtics' roster has ever competed in an NBA Finals game, while current Warriors have 123 combined games of Finals experience.

Still, despite the disparity in experience, the two teams have a lot in common. Both the Warriors and Celtics have an elite pair of All-Star scorers who will be trying to find cracks in two of the best defenses in the league.

While Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown enter this championship series as the ascendant star duo in the NBA, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson represent the massive establishment obstacle that stands between Boston's two stars and their first championship parade.

Let's take a look at what each star duo must do in this series to take home the redesigned Larry O'Brien Trophy.

Curry and Thompson have helped revolutionize pro basketball by proving once and for all that so-called «jump-shooting teams» can win it all.

No single basketball player in the 21st century has changed the sport like Curry has. In the parlance of the San Francisco Bay Area, Curry's jumper has disrupted the pro hoops industry and sparked a 3-point shooting revolution that is the dominant trend in the modern NBA.

But Golden State's 3-point shooting is more than a stylistic game-changer. It remains the most important tool in coach Steve Kerr's offensive toolbox, and if Boston can't stop it, the Celtics will lose these Finals.

The Warriors dynasty is built upon player movement, ball movement and shot-making. When Kerr took