The Golden State Warriors are one win away from continuing their dynasty with another championship after a 104-94 victory over the Boston Celtics in the fifth game of the NBA Finals on Monday night. Just two seasons ago, the Warriors finished with the worst Western Conference record at 15-50 and are now at the peak of their fourth title since 2015.
Although Stephen Curry had led the team to this point, the Warriors helped him a lot in Game 5, as four other players, in addition to Curry, led by Andrew Wiggins and his 26 points, scored in two figures for Golden State. Providing assistance to Curry on the offensive end was something that the entire Warriors support cast mentioned was essential in Game 5 and they did it to help lead Golden State to a double-digit victory.
With the win, Curry and the Warriors can close out this series at Boston’s TD Garden on Thursday night in Game 6.
Wiggins and company lead the way
We were forced to have a bad game of Curry at some point, and when it passed the attention would go to which of the Warriors players would take the game. Given how much Golden State has relied on Curry’s brilliance during the first four games of the series, no one could have predicted he would win the game in which he only racked up 16 points and failed to get a triple for the first. time in 233 games (more info below). But here we are, the Warriors go 3-2 in this series against the Celtics and this is due to the outstanding performance of their role players, but especially Wiggins.
After being an absolute force in the cup in Game 4 to help the Warriors win, Wiggins followed up this performance with an even better performance: 26 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two steals. That was the main reason Golden State won Monday night, getting what it wanted on offense and disruptive at the other end of the court. His really came to life in the fourth quarter, where he added 10 of his 26 points to advance what was a one-point lead at the end of the third quarter to a 10-point lead at the end of the game.
Although Wiggins was the head of the snake in the Golden State attack in Game 5, he was not the only player to catch the game in the middle of Curry’s uncharacteristic game. Thompson had, by far, his best performance in the series, going 5 of 11 from downtown and being the only Warriors starter to connect with a triple. In the last two games before this one he seemed to be taking small steps to get back to the vanguard we expected of him, and in game 5 he fulfilled when the Warriors needed him most.
The bench was also a big advantage for the Warriors on Monday night. Golden State’s second unit outscored Boston 31-10, with Jordan Poole and Gary Payton taking 29 of those points. Poole’s huge 35-foot rise at the end of the third quarter is what prompted Golden State’s dominant fourth-quarter performance. It was a global team effort for the Warriors in Game 5, and it was much needed with Curry spending a night off.
The mistakes of the Celtics outweigh them
Although the Warriors looked like the top team for most of this game, in the third quarter the Celtics started to look like the team that won Games 1 and 3 of that series. The attack was easy, and the defense forced the Warriors to look low quality. As a result, Boston used a 10-0 run to open the third quarter to take their first lead of the night with 6:27 of the end. It was as if the Celtics had the ability to steal that victory, as they held a small two-point lead three seconds from the end of the third quarter.
But then this happened:
Poole sucked the Celtics’ life with this shot to end the third quarter. It gave the Warriors a one-point lead in the final 12 minutes of the game, and Golden State never relinquished the lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Celtics spun the ball four times, throwing 26.7 percent from the field and 25 percent from the depth. It has been one of the persistent problems that has affected the Celtics during the postseason. Sometimes they have struggled to generate offense in the fourth quarter, especially when the game is ready. He moved on to Game 4, where the Warriors beat the Celtics 15-0 in clutch time (last five minutes of the game), and again on Monday night Boston looked bad.
That’s not to say that game was lost in the fourth quarter, because Boston also struggled hard in the first half, committing nine losses during the first two quarters. However, they bounced back in that game in the third quarter and then completely missed a golden opportunity to advance 3-2 to the NBA Finals. I know this team is young, but you can’t let this Poole shot completely derail your game, especially not with a championship in play.
Curry’s historic streak is coming to an end
Entering Game 5, Curry had hit a triple in each of his 132 playoff games of his career. He also connected with a triple in 233 straight games, including both the regular season and the playoffs. One would think that Curry making a single triple would be a safe bet considering these numbers, but this streak ended in game 5. Curry made it 0 of 9 from long distance Monday night, breaking his streak of games consecutive with one made a triple and ended his perfect streak of making one in each of his postseason games. Both streaks were NBA records.
After a performance of 43 points and 10 rebounds, Curry looked a little gassy in Game 5. Several of his 3 were hitting from the front edge, suggesting that his legs were exhausted. to lead the team to victory. in game 4. With the quirky performance Curry offered for game 5, one would think the Warriors would have lost. But Boston couldn’t take advantage of their night off shooting, and now the Warriors are on a championship win.