While Stephen Curry had led the team to this point, the Warriors helped him a lot in Game 5 as four other players besides Curry – led by Andrew Wiggins and his 26 points – scored a double-digit number for Golden. State. Assisting Curry on the offensive edge was something that the entire Warriors support cast was said to be necessary in Game 5 and they did just that to help Golden State to a double-digit victory. With the victory, Curry and the Warriors can close this series at TD Garden in Boston on Thursday night in Game 6.
Wiggins and company are leading the way
It was certain that we would have a bad game with Curry at some point, and when that happened the focus would be on which of the Warriors players would get the loose. Given how much Golden State relied on Curry’s brilliance in the first four games of the series, no one could have predicted that he would win the game in which he scored just 16 points and failed to score a three-pointer for the first. time in 233 games (more on that below). But speaking of which, the Warriors are leading 3-2 in this series against the Celtics and this is due to the excellent performance of their players, but especially the Wiggins. After being the absolute force in the glass in Game 4 to help the Warriors win, the Wiggins followed this performance with an even better performance: 26 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two steals. It was the main reason that Golden State won on Monday night, getting what it wanted in the attack and creating a disturbance on the other side of the floor. He really came to life in the fourth quarter where he scored 10 of his 26 points to push a one point lead at the end of the third quarter to a 10 point lead by the end of the game. While Wiggins was the head of the snake in Golden State’s attack in Game 5, he was not the only player to lift the slack in the middle of Curry’s uncharacteristic play. Thompson had by far the best performance in the series, going 5 of 11 from downtown and was the only Warriors key to be connected with a three-pointer. In the previous two games that led to this, he seemed to take small steps to return to the offensive blow we expected from him, and in Game 5 he gave when the Warriors needed him most. The bench was also a huge advantage for the Warriors on Monday night. Golden State’s second unit prevailed over Boston 31-10, as Jordan Poole and Gary Payton collected 29 of those points. Poole’s huge bell, 35 feet high at the end of the third quarter, is what triggered Golden State’s dominant performance in the fourth quarter. It was a team effort for the Warriors in Game 5 and needed a lot with Curry having a night out.
The Celtics’ mistakes overcome 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 this series. The attack came easily and the defense forced the Warriors to look low quality. As a result, Boston used a 10-0 streak to open the third quarter and take the first lead of the night with 6:27 remaining. It seemed that the Celtics had the ability to steal this victory as they had a small lead of two points with three seconds left for the third ten minutes. But then it happened: Poole sucked the Celtics’ life on his own with this shot to end the third quarter. He gave the Warriors a one-point lead in the last 12 minutes of the game and Golden State never gave up the lead. In the fourth quarter, the Celtics turned the ball four times, shooting 26.7 percent from the field and 25 percent from deep. It was one of the most troubling issues for the Celtics throughout the post-season. They have had difficulty at times attacking in the fourth quarter, especially when the game is near. It happened in the 4th game, where the Warriors prevailed over the Celtics with 15-0 in clutch time (last five minutes of the game) and again on Monday night Boston seemed unsuitable. This does not mean that this game was lost in the fourth quarter, because Boston had a hard time in the first half, recording nine upsets in the first two quarters. However, they returned to this game in the third quarter and then completely missed the golden opportunity to lead 3-2 in the NBA Finals. I know this team is new, but you can not let this shot from Poole completely derail your game, especially not with a league on the line.
The historic Curry series is coming to an end
Entering Game 5, Curry had scored a three-pointer in each of the 132 games in the playoffs of his career. He was also linked with a three-pointer in 233 consecutive games, including both regular season and playoffs. You’d think Curry to make a single three-pointer would be a safe bet given these numbers, but this streak ended in game 5. Curry went 0-9 from a long distance on Monday night, breaking the streak of consecutive games with one made a three-pointer and finished his perfect streak to make one in every game after the season. Both series were NBA records. After a performance in which he scored 43 points and 10 rebounds, Curry looked a bit of a grass in game 5. Several of his 3 were hitting from the front of the rim, indicating that his legs were exhausted from the team’s transfer to victory at Game 4. With Curry’s uncharacteristic interpretation of Game 5, you would think the Warriors would have lost. But Boston failed to take advantage of his out-of-shooting night and now the Warriors are one win away from the league.
