BOSTON – To reach the top of Steph Curry’s performance in the Pantheon, a 43-point masterpiece to snatch the Celtics’ home advantage, the Warriors had to win. Curry needed some level of help to win. Clay Thompson and Draymond Green, his two most famous co-stars, did not provide enough of him. So, when the series hangs in the balance, who would?
Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and Keven Looney.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr assessed each level of Warriors’ loss in Game 3 and selected, among other adjustments, a pair of rotation changes that may sound counter-intuitive. Kerr replaced Looney with Otto Porter Jr. in the starting lineup, hoping to spread the floor wider with Green to open the game, but he also planned to use Looney more often, despite the initial bench.
“I didn’t play enough in Game 3,” Kerr admitted. “It was my fault.”
Looney got 17 minutes in Game 3 and not a second in the fourth quarter. He played 28 minutes in Game 4, including 7 minutes and 24 seconds in the fourth quarter, which revived the Warriors’ chances for the title after winning 107-97.
Part of that fourth quarter was spent with Green, who played poorly in the first three quarters, on the bench and Luna on the floor as a lonely adult. Then a lot of the noise went around the green part of this equation, given the dynamics of the team and the personalities in the game.
“It’s more about Lun’s trust and what he’s able to do than any situation like Draymond,” Curry said.
The change in the starting lineup did not contribute much to the Warriors. They fell 12-6 and had only two team fights in the first five minutes as Robert Williams III continued to crush them on the glass. Then Looney came in and made four fights in his first two minutes, establishing an inside presence that the Warriors seem to miss every time he doesn’t play.
There weren’t too many moments in this series when the size advantage tipped the Warriors’ direction. This stay of Luni in the middle of the first quarter qualifies. Here is his second of two early offensive fights. The Celtics were small, replacing Derrick White for Williams. White found himself on Looney while Curry lined up 28 feet. Curry missed. Luni just beat White and grabbed the rebound, and the kick-off result resulted in Wiggins 3, one of Wiggins’ two in the first quarter.
A total of 157 fights by Looney are the third highest in the playoffs, and his 56 offensive fights are six more than any other, despite its easier use on certain nights. Al Horford of Boston led all the rebounds in the playoffs with 191. But he played 743 minutes. 157 fights on the moon came in 410 minutes. He absorbs them at the best pace in the league.
Its impact on glass is not just in size. It’s also about his mess and the way he reads corners. Check out this sequence from the second quarter. Luni was not even credited with an offensive rebound in this game. She went to Gary Peyton II, but Looney made the game.
Watch it in amusing cadence, predicting where the ricochet of Wiggins’ pass will fall, and head to the right block a split second before Jason Tatum. Tatum is in a better position to bounce, but Looney’s extra effort sends a frantic Tatum to the floor. In a hurry, he throws him outside of Peyton, who receives an indisputable delay.
These are two points for a second chance. The Warriors had 19. The Celtics had only 12. In Game 3, Boston had 21 points for a second chance, and the Warriors had 11. This reversal of the scenario is directly related to the increase in Luni’s minutes.
“The moon is crucial to everything we do,” Kerr said. “He’s our best screenwriter, our best bouncer. One of our smartest players. He is always in the right place. He made what I think is the biggest bucket in the game after Horford made 3 from the corner (at the end of the fourth quarter), Draymond made a pass from his pocket to Luon and he finished with that left hand (to bring the Warriors back to five). “
Curry rested seven of the 48 minutes in Game 4. These short non-Curry pockets were almost fatal to the Warriors in this series. This is mainly due to the inability of Poole to decide the defense of Boston. With White and Marcus Smart, the Celtics have better defenders on the offensive line than anyone the Warriors have faced, plus Williams, who now has 12 blocks in the series, roams like a dangerous rear wheel protector. The Celtics collectively defeated Poole.
But Poole entered Game 4 with a more aggressive and patient approach. He chased his shot more regularly, but he didn’t panic or rush to the edge and challenge Williams every time he thought he saw daylight. Instead, he slips into his jumper when the situation demands it.
He demanded it at the beginning of the second quarter when Curry hit the bench. Poole scored two big threes, and because the Warriors played so well in defense, it increased them to a plus-2 in the segment where Curry is resting.
Poole’s work was under an even bigger microscope when Kerr decided to let Curry relax again to open the fourth quarter, defending the lead by one point. Any blow he hit during this stretch would immediately qualify as the biggest points of his career.
The Celtics went back twice in the first moments of the fourth quarter. Another stop for Boston and a goal and Kerr would probably be forced to bring Curry back. But then Poole whirled around a tall green screen, read how far Williams had missed in the fall, and patiently rose to be a mid-range free-throw jumper to equalize and give Curry a longer breath.
“Wow,” Thompson said. “The balance with which he played as a 22-year-old in all these playoffs is incredible.”
The Warriors lost those few minutes to Curry to start the fourth with three points, which meant they were cumulatively minus 1 without Curry in Game 4. That’s more than acceptable to them. He came back with 9:13 left and Warriors was eliminated by two.
This is the end of the first possession after Curry’s return. Jaylan Brown missed corner 3, but the ball bounced back to him and Green flew past him as he closed. In Game 3, this is the type of rebound that the Celtics would get back.
But in this scenario, Wiggins reads the carom carefully and performs a slippery left-handed strike and a side dribble to secure the free ball and cause a quick break in the other direction. He remains patient on the move and finds Poole in the right wing. Poole forged and flew past Brown for laying before Williams could return to position to protect the rim. This is Wiggins and Poole, who combine for a huge moment in the fourth quarter.
Wiggins had no rebound in the first quarter of Game 4. He finished the night with a career-high 16 rebounds. He made five fights in the second quarter, five in the third and six in the fourth quarter.
For his entire career, Wiggins averaged only 4.4 rebounds per game. He has never averaged more than 5.2 in any of his eight regular seasons. This is part of the constant criticism of his game, this inability to translate his size, length and athleticism into force in the field of play.
But that story changed in those playoffs as the Warriors slowed down, trusting Wiggins as a powerful striker with a small ball. He rewarded them with 7.3 fights per game. What has changed?
“I want to win,” Wiggins said. “I know bouncing is a big part of that. I just want to win. ”
Wiggins was huge in his 43 minutes. Kerr can’t get him off the floor. He kept either Tatum or Brown for most of the game, had to get involved offensively enough and became Warriors’ second best rebound.
Wiggins has 50 offensive fights in these playoffs, the second most in the league. The 49th and 50th came in the fourth quarter of Game 4. This one below is the biggest among them, probably the biggest offensive rebound of his career.
The Warriors are down by four points as the clock ticks under five minutes. The odds for their title fluctuate. Poole passes White from the left wing, but fails to transfer him to another strong Williams race. But look at the opposite block. This is Wiggins, who uses Smart, the best defender of the year in the NBA, out of position and grabs a bounce with a return wick before Williams manages to clear another blow.
Curry was a constant in those NBA finals. He was great in all four games. But the Warriors have two losses because he has not received enough help. They don’t win game 4 if he doesn’t invent these 43 transcendent points. But they also didn’t win if Luni didn’t bounce, Poole didn’t score and Wiggins didn’t give up 44 minutes.
“Everybody got stronger,” Curry said.
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(Photo by Andrew Wiggins and Derrick White: David Butler II / USA Today)
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