Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics was essentially a heavyweight bout in 48 minutes, with both sides hitting hard all the time. In the end, however, Stephen Curry and the Warriors made enough plays to come out with a 107-97 victory to level the series at 2-2 and keep their championship ambitions alive.
Curry was fantastic for Golden State, who finished with the top 43 points, along with 10 rebounds, but he was far from the only Warriors player to step up significantly when the team needed it most, as Andrew Wiggins he had a monstrous game of his own with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Clay Thompson and Jordan Poole also finished their role by combining 32 points.
On the other side of the spectrum, Jason Tatum and Jaylan Brown led the attack on Boston, but their efforts were not enough to allow the Celtics to match Curry’s huge evening.
With the Warriors’ victory, game 5 on Monday night at Chase Center should be as intense as any game we’ve watched this postseason.
Here are three key findings from the game:
1. Curry has a special night
Steph Curry was great in the first three games of this series and was even better on Friday night. He finished with 43 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, made seven 3 points and shot 14 of 26 from the field. It was a really special performance of one of the greats of the game of all time.
For starters, it wasn’t like Game 1 or some sections of Game 3, where the Celtics had a breakdown in the defensive end and gave Curry too much space. They were locked in the task, chasing Curry around the court and getting good races for most of his shots. It just didn’t matter. He is the best scorer of all time and proved it once again in Game 4.
Moreover, the Warriors needed each of Curry’s 43 points. They were on the road in a hostile environment, losing 2-1 and falling behind in large sections of the game. No one else was really moving – the rest of the team was shooting 40 percent of the field – and there were plenty of points throughout the night where it looked like the Celtics could back off. Curry never let that happen.
Clay Thompson, who has been with Curry all this trip, called it his best performance in the finals ever:
“I think [it ranks] probably number one, ”said Thompson. I mean, his training is undeniable in this league. Steph played amazing. “
2. The Celtics’ violation at the end of the match burns them again
The Celtics closed the regular season 28-7 and strangely enough may have been too good in the last few months. Twenty of those victories were in double digits, including 15 with at least 20 points. They completely destroyed teams, which meant that they did not have many opportunities to work on one of their main shortcomings: the attack at the end of the match.
Even in the playoffs, it was a bit of the same story. Eight of their 14 victories are in double digits, and that number should probably be higher. Apart from Game 1 of the first round against the Brooklyn Nets, there were not too many positive moments at the end of the game for this team. They could not keep a late lead in game 3 against the Milwaukee Bucks and completely collapsed in game 5 of this series. In the Eastern Conference finals against the Heat, they failed to complete a return to Game 3, failed to maintain a late lead in Game 6 and nearly ruined Game 7 in a disastrous manner.
Now you can add game 4 of the finals to the list of fights at the end of the game. In the middle of the quarter, Jaylan Brown took over for a short period of time, scoring six consecutive points to put the Celtics ahead. Marcus Smart then added a free throw to make the Celtics 91-86 with 7:32 left. They had a window there to step back and potentially go up 3-1. Instead, they scored six points by the end of the game and gave up the home team’s advantage.
“I’m a little late,” said Celtics coach Ime Udoka. “When we took action outside the ball and moved, we had a really good look.”
“We wanted to quickly lift the ball and get into violation. If we don’t have anything, we still make them work on the clock. Many times we felt like we were standing around, unsure of who we were trying to go to after that, and that led to these troubled possessions. “
When a game is within five points with five minutes or less left, this is defined as clutch time and the Warriors beat the Celtics 15-0 in those minutes in Game 4. This is the biggest difference in a final match. over the last 25 years, according to ESPN statistics and information.
Please check the checkbox to confirm that you want to subscribe.
Thank you for registering!
Keep track of your inbox.
I’m sorry!
There was an error processing your subscription.
3. Wiggins hits the glass
After his starring role as Luka Doncic in the Western Conference finals, Andrew Wiggins sometimes felt like a forgotten man in the series. Although he was not bad in the first three games, he did not have much influence. That changed in Game 4, though not in the way you’d expect.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr made a change in the lineup before this game, inserting Otto Porter Jr. in the starting lineup of Kevan Looney. Being small has its advantages, but bouncing isn’t usually one of them, and we’ve seen Warriors smash themselves in the glass in Game 3. It was dangerous again on Friday, but Wiggins didn’t let that happen.
“Wigs was fantastic,” Kerr said. “To play against Boston, you have to deal with Tatum and Brown, and they are just powerful, experienced players. Large sizes. great protection. Apparently 16 fights, the highest in his career and a plus-20 at night. So we needed every contribution from Wiggs. “
He was a machine on the glass, grabbing a career-high 16 fights to help the Warriors win the battle 55-42. While he did most of his work on the safety glass, he also devised several clutch returns in the fourth quarter to earn the Warriors some big points other than Curry. The Warriors had 19 points for a second chance compared to 12 for the Celtics in a game they won by 10.
Most of the coverage of this game will focus on Curry and rightly so, but the Warriors did not win without Herculean efforts from Wiggins. It wasn’t the most spectacular or successful outing of his career, but it was his most important. He finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds in 43 minutes, and the Warriors were a plus-20 with him on the floor.
“I want to win,” Wiggins said. “I know bouncing is a big part of that. I just want to win. And I have the feeling that sometimes we play a little bit. So I’m just trying to get in there and bounce back, to help the team.”
Add Comment