(6/11/22)
Written by John Raley
Stephen Curry played like a man possessed last night. Curry had his best game of the past season so far when the Warriors needed it most. Down 2 games to 1 in the Finals they were in a must win game to avoid going down 3-1 and their superstar was ready. He posted 43 points with 7 three pointers along with 10 rebounds and 4 assists, but looking at his box score alone really doesn’t do how he played last night justice. The degree of difficulty on some of the three pointers he made was absolutely ridiculous. I mean the shots he takes are shots that most players would get subbed out if they attempted, but that’s because they aren’t Steph Curry who has made it a habit of regularly making these seemingly impossible shots.
In a postseason that has so far been riddled with blowout games that are boring for the fans, this Finals has delivered quality game after quality game and last night was no different. The game was close for all four quarters with neither team ever getting a double digit advantage until towards the end of the fourth quarter when Golden State put the game on ice. Boston took a 5 point lead into the half and everything was calm for a second. Then came the Warriors. Fueled on offense by Steph, Golden State had their foot on the gas for the entire second half. Defensively Golden State locked in to close out the game too, playing the best team defense they have played all series. Now it also didn’t hurt them that as soon as Boston went down 97-94 they began to panic. The Celtics shot selection went down the drain as soon as their lead evaporated and they began to chuck threes to try and tie the game back up even though there was plenty of time left for them to score a couple of shots at the basket and get some stops. Instead they tried to get into a three point shooting contest with the two greatest shooters of all time, and when you do that most of the time you are going to lose. While Steph has been phenomenal this series and will likely win his first Finals MVP if the Warriors win the championship, another player on Golden State who I think deserves a lot of love for how he has played all series long is Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins has been arguably the most consistent player for this Warriors team in the Finals. He is averaging 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in this series and he’s also bringing some much needed versatility on the defensive end. Wiggins posted a team high +20 last night for Golden State while Curry with his 43 points was only +11.
Last night was truly one of those games where you could see the postseason experience of this Warriors roster takeover in the second half. At no point did the Warriors ever seem like they were panicking. They played with a sense of desperation and urgency because they had to, but that’s very different from panicking when things aren’t going your way over the course of a game. I expect to see Boston bring that same intensity on both ends of the court for game 5 in Chase Center on the 13th. The team that wins Game 5 of a series tied 2-2 historically goes on to win the series 82% of the time so this next matchup carries a lot of weight in terms of who will be walking home with the Larry O’Brien trophy to end the season as world champions. My prediction is Golden State wins at home to send the series back to Boston where the Celtics will force a game 7 on Golden State’s home court. Buckle up ladies and gentleman cause this ain’t over yet and it’s only going to get better.