Anyone who thought the Golden State Warriors would need another epic performance by Stephen Curry to have a chance to break their 2-2 draw with the Boston Celtics was wrong, which means almost everyone was.
With Curry lighting up the Celtics for 43 in Game 4 with only minimal help from her supporting cast, the plan seemed set. But in Game 5, the Celtics came out trying to get Curry out of the game by guarding against the ball, unlike the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals. Curry finished with a low of 16 points in a run of 7 out of 22 and failed to make a three-pointer – he was 0 out of 9 from deep – in a match for the first time since November 8, 2008.
Surprisingly, it didn’t matter what turned out to be Golden State’s impressive 104-94 victory to bring them 3-2 in the 6-game series for Boston on Thursday. The Warriors’ defense was spectacular as they held Boston with 41.4% shooting and imposed 18 turnovers for 22 points. And Curry got the help he needed to attack when Clay Thompson came up with 21 points and Jordan Poole and Gary Peyton II combined 29 from the bench.
Oh, and Andrew Wiggins had a career night, as we’ll look at in the suggestions for home:
Andrew Wiggins, star in his role
That was not the way it was supposed to happen. Wiggins had to raise Minnesota to new heights as the first overall pick in the 2014 draft. He was ordained. He won rookie of the year awards and averaged 23.6 points per game in his third season as a 21-year-old.
But that never happened, and Wiggins found himself with the Warriors after the Timberwolves had to give up what turned out to be the seventh pick in the 2021 draft in a deal brought to them by D’Angelo Russell.
Minnesota wanted to get rid of him. He was an unsuccessful leading man and therefore irreplaceable. But the Warriors narrowed Wiggins’ job description: Give priority to defense while either attacking for threes offensively or making hard cuts in the space left by Curry. In the finals, Wiggins was also given the task to bounce back and he stepped up like never before – his 16 fights in Game 4 were a career record.
Wiggins has always had extra equipment, skill at the moment – the big games against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, who exchanged him for the draft, are one example. The problem has always been the moments when switching it to overdrive don’t come often enough. But Wiggins organized finals full of them and a playoff series full of them.
Wiggins followed his impressive run of 17 and 16 in Match 4, which he has to win with 26 points and 13 rebounds in Game 5 – the first time he has had consecutive double-doubles in his career – to put the Warriors in the lead. one night when they desperately needed a spark of insult from someone other than Curry.
In the first half, Wiggins was the Warriors’ best player, taking advantage of all the extra attention the Celtics gave to Curry, as they essentially played box and one and challenged the other Warriors to create enough attack as he was taken out of the game.
Wiggins stepped up.
He scored 16 points in the first half to lead all the scorers, and his seven rebounds led the Warriors. But the games are long, and Wiggins’ ability to make a truly groundbreaking game seems to have dissipated, as he could not transform the almost endless supply of open-minded insights that were available to him. He finished 0-of-6 from deep, but Wiggins was not finished.
There was a hard drive for lay-up to start the fourth quarter and a great cut and finish with the left hand in the middle of the period. And as the punch clock twisted, there was a hook to run across the lane and then a jump pattern over Robert Williams of the Celtics. The final touch was a full speed drive with the remaining 2:10, which led the Warriors by 15 and closed the door for any hope of return.
“I’m just attacking the edge. I started early and I thought I’d stay aggressive and just start attacking,” Wiggins said after the game.
He was asked in the post-match interview what message he was trying to send with his late hit.
“We are here. We are here and we are hungry. The team that wants it the most will get it and we want it… I’m just trying to do every little thing to win, that’s it. Result, bounce, defend, everything he asked me to do to helped us win, I will. ”
He was 5 out of 6 in the fourth quarter and led the Warriors to victory. If Golden State closes it in game 6 or 7, Wiggins’ ring will be well won.
The Celtics drought continues
In the first four games of the series, the highly praised Celtics defense behaved well. They held the Warriors to 105 points at a real shooting rate of 56.5. In the regular season, the Warriors averaged 111 points per game, and in the Western Conference finals they scored 115.2 points at 62.0 TS.
Even in Game 5, the Warriors managed to score only 104 points and the Celtics successfully filled Curry. The problem was Boston’s violation.
In Game 4, when the Celtics had to face the hot Curry, they scored just six points in the final 7:32 of the game, scoring 2 out of 12. It was no different in Game 5, as Boston shot only 4 of 15 with the game in balance and turned the ball four times.
“There are a lot of things we’d like to do differently, especially in the offensive,” said Celtics star Jason Tatum after Game 4. “I think we just got up too late in the fourth.”
That was the Celtics’ Achilles heel. As dominant in the regular season as Boston was, the Celtics ranked 26th in the net season (minus 9.5) in the regular season and in 12 playoff games in which the game was within five points in the last five minutes were even worse, with a net rating of minus 14.2.
At the beginning of Monday, the Celtics’ attack continued from where they had stopped, as they scored only 16 points in the first quarter and set a record in the finals, missing their first 12 three-pointers. And although they showed little life in the second quarter, they were still trying to explain why they gave up nine defeats in the first half, which led to 13 points for the Warriors.
Boston was impressive in the third as they turned the table in the Warriors’ favorite quarter, but then shot just 1 of 9 to start the fourth as the ball became sticky and the Celtics resorted to either quick threes or crowds. . Finding a rhythm of tension in attack should be the goal of the Celtics from now until game 6.
Tatum keeps his word … almost
“I have to be better,” Tatum said after another unconventional performance in Game 4. In four games in the finals, Tatum shot just 34.3 percent of the field, including a brutal 14 of 51 (27.5 percent) inside. the rainbow.
The Warriors used Wiggins as the main defender against him, but did not shy away from selling to help the Celtics star, especially with his discs. They were successful in turning him when he drove to the left and generally took advantage of his fights when he played in a crowd.
Tatum was much better in Game 5.
Although the Celtics’ attack was beginning to fail at first, Tatum found a way to kill three buckets. In the second quarter, when Boston began to straighten the ship, Tatum added three more results, and in the third, when the Celtics fought for their lives – 12 behind and looking at the possibility of a traditional avalanche for the Warriors in the third quarter – Tatum returned. at the Celtics with three quick threes, while Boston reduced Warriors’ lead to one to start the fourth quarter.
Tatum had 22 points in shooting 9 of 15 at the moment, but in the end he will have to do more searching for the soul. There were two missed free throws as the Warriors threatened to retreat down the stretch. A hot air ball over Wiggins and another short jumper over Draymond Green. He was 1 of 5 from the floor in the fourth, which – along with his four turns – takes the lead from his otherwise impressive line of 27 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.
Errors of Draymond Green
The Warriors do everything, the big man is a heartfelt role player. He is not on the floor to score or command the offense. He is a defensive wizard who passes as a point guard in attack and has made the art of freeing Curry and Clay Thompson with his screens and dribbling.
Scoring is not really in his job description. But come on. Green was so bad in attack – he came into game 5, shooting 6 of 26 from the floor, anemic 23 percent, with most of his misses focused. He still had to make a threesome.
Even his mother tweeted about it. “I DON’T KNOW! Maybe it’s CLONING,” he said before being deleted.
Being so bad threatens to reject all of Green’s other contributions. As the Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had to limit Green’s playing time, his game was distracted.
Fortunately, in Game 5, Green decided to show up. Maybe that was all his mother had to call.
In the first quarter alone, Green had two lay-ups – one fake pass – and two assists. By halftime, Green had added another hoop as he passed the bar in a rare one-on-one landing, stopped, and buried a float. He reached the line and made both of his free throws.
This was even more important because Kevon Looney – who many say should eat more than Green’s minutes – had committed three quick fouls.
Green’s defensive energy also boosted as he helped the Warriors hold the Celtics to 39 points with 39% shooting in the first half. There …
Add Comment