Carrie was fantastic for Golden State, who finished with 43 points per game and 10 rebounds, but he was not the only Warriors player to climb much when the team needed him most, as Andrew Wiggins had a monster game. his with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Clay Thompson and Jordan Poole also did their part, scoring 32 points. At the other end of the spectrum, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown led Boston, but their respective efforts were not enough for the Celtics to meet Curry’s huge night. With the Warriors winning, Game 5 on Monday night at Chase Center should be as intense as any game we’ve seen this post-season. Here are three key points from the game:
1. Curry has a special night
Steph Curry was amazing 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 three-pointers and shot 14 of 26 from the field. This was a really special look from one of the greats of all time in the game. For starters, this was not like Game 1 or some areas of Game 3 where the Celtics had defensive errors and gave Curry plenty of room. They were locked in the mission, chasing Curry all over the field and had good fights on most of his shots. It just didn’t matter. He is the best shooter of all time and he proved it once again in Game 4. In addition, the Warriors needed each of Curry’s 43 points. He was on the road in a hostile environment, with 2-1 and lagging behind in large areas of the match. No one else had anything to roll on – the rest of the team shot 40 percent off the field – and there were plenty of points throughout the night where it looked like the Celtics could get away. Carrie never let it happen. Klay Thompson, who has been with Curry all this time, called it his best performance in the Finals ever: “I think so [it ranks] “Probably No. 1,” said Thompson. I mean, his preparation is unparalleled in this championship. “Steph played incredible.”
2. The Celtics’ attack on their late-game burns again
The Celtics closed the regular season 28-7, and in a strange way, they may have been pretty much good in recent months. Twenty of those wins came 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 flaws: the attack at the end of the match. Even in the playoffs, it’s a bit of the same story. Eight of their 14 wins were 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 many positive moments at the end of the match from this team. They could not hold the lead in the 3rd game against the Milwaukee Bucks and completely collapsed in the 5th game of this series. In the Eastern Conference finals against the Heat, they could not complete a comeback in Game 3, could not hold the lead at the end of Game 6, and almost blew Game 7 in a disastrous manner. You can now add Game 4 of the Finals to the roster of the last game. In the middle of the quarter, Jaylen Brown took over the game for a short time, scoring six consecutive points to put the Celtics ahead. Then Marcus Smart added a free kick and made it 91-86 to the Celtics with 7:32 remaining. They had a window to pull away and possibly go up 3-1. Instead, they scored six points in the rest of the match and left the home advantage. “He stayed out for a while,” said Celtics coach Ime Udoka. “When we ran off the ball and did a little movement, we looked very good.” “We wanted to pick up the ball quickly and attack. If we have nothing, keep putting them on the clock. “Many times we felt like we were standing around, unsure of who we were trying to go after, and it led to those dead ends.” When a game is within five points of five minutes or less, this is defined as clutch time and the Warriors beat the Celtics 15-0 in those minutes in the 4th game. This is the highest difference in a final match in the last 25 years, per ESPN Statistics and Information. Select the checkbox to confirm that you want to sign up.
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3. Wiggins knocks on the glass
After starring in Luka Doncic in the Western Conference finals, Andrew Wiggins felt at times a forgotten man in the series. Although he was not bad in the first three games, he did not have much effect. That changed in Game 4, though not in the way one would expect. Warriors coach Steve Kerr made a change of line-up before this game, introducing Otto Porter Jr into the starting line-up for Kevon Looney. Going small has its advantages, but rebounds are usually not one of them, and we saw the Warriors smashed to the glass in Game 3. That was again a risk on Friday, but the Wiggins did not let that happen. “Wiggs was fantastic,” Kerr said. “To go against Boston, you have to face Tatum and Brown, and they’re just strong, capable players. Great size. They keep going down, so we had to have Wiggs out there. I thought it was a great defense. Obviously 16 rebounds. “A career-high plus 20 a night. So we needed every little Wiggs contribution.” It was a machine in the glass, with 16 rebounds to help the Warriors win the battle of rebounds 55-42. While doing most of his work in the defensive glass, he also considered a few clutch shots in the fourth quarter to give the Warriors some big points outside of Curry. The Warriors had 19 second chance points against 12 for the Celtics in a game they won by 10. Most of the coverage from this game will focus on Curry, and rightly so, but the Warriors do not win without a huge effort from the Wiggins. This was not the most spectacular or with the most scores of his career, but it was by far the most important. He finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds in 43 minutes and the Warriors were co-20 with him on the floor. “I want to win,” Wiggins said. “I know rebounds are a big part of that. I just want to win. And I feel like sometimes we play small. So I just try to go there and make rebounds, to help the team.”
