The Warriors came into Friday night with a chance to level the NBA Finals and reclaim home court advantage. A team which was riding an NBA record of 26-straight playoff series with at least road win did just that, extending their streak to 27-straight series with a road win.
It was a 43-point Stephen Curry masterclass, en route to a series-evening 107-97 win.
Curry, angry and outrageously good
It couldn’t be anymore evident that Stephen Curry is the best player on either side. He is shouldering a massive load for a Warriors team that has struggled to provide him with consistent help.
Klay Thompson has been laying bricks, Draymond Green has been unable to hit a layup, and Andrew Wiggins gets his usual, roughly 15 points a game, but without much efficiency. Jordan Poole is as hit or miss as it comes.
But Curry was, again, outstanding. That’s probably not hyperbolic enough for coming into the TD Garden and raining shit-talk-laced hellfire on the Celtics in a game they could have put the Warriors in a deep hole.
He played with an open anger that he doesn’t often show. After what should have been a four-point play opportunity, Curry raged at the referees. Curry was talking back to Boston fans from the outset and it certainly didn’t slow as he waged war deep into the fourth.
The amount of effort, intention and pressure that Boston puts on him and the way he manages to navigate it is a case study in how Curry has grown.
Earlier in his career, he wouldn’t have been able to deal with that pressure and physicality, and he absolutely wouldn’t be able to do it without sacrificing something defensively.
But at this point, Curry has worked himself into a physical force. He’s built to handle that pressure and carry the load of doing everything the Warriors need him to do… which, as it turns out, is everything, including on defense.
He was outrageous, drubbing Boston for 43 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. He did have some of those maddening, inexplicable turnovers, but unlike the ones that come from Green, it didn’t feel as damning.
With less than two minutes remaining, and the Warriors up three, Curry stepped back for a massive 3-pointer, then proceeded to talk shit, again, as he did all game long.
The fact that he’s doing this — playing the most well-rounded basketball of his career at age 34 — is a spectacle necessary of grand appreciation.
Rotation choices: Draymond rides pine
Kerr made some questionable choices with his rotations. He gave Nemanja Bjelica an extended run into the fourth quarter, while Curry sat on the bench.
Otto Porter Jr., who was a non-factor, started this game.
But Kerr made something of a masterstroke in the fourth quarter. He let Green, who was struggling for so much of the game, sit on the bench.
He rode with a lineup of Curry-Poole-Thompson-Wiggins-Looney and it worked to perfection.
As the Warriors trailed in the fourth, that lineup flipped the script and went on a 7-0 run that became a 14-3 run. Kerr recognized that Green was unable to get into a rhythm since Game 2.
He realized that Green wasn’t matching up enough physically, that Looney was a much more effective rebounding option, and that the Warriors could not afford to go with two non-shooters on the floor against a Celtics team that is so switchable and two-way at every position.
Later in the fourth, Kerr started to go offense-defense, putting Green in for defense, then putting Poole back in on offense. It was the sort of tactical acuity that Golden State absolutely needed.
And by doing that, it seemed to spark Green. He secured some key rebounds, steals, and was at least more in control than he had been, in a role that seemed to ask a bit less of him.
Wiggins, Payton II, Looney and the value of physicality
The moments that won this game for the Warriors, outside of the obvious brilliance of Curry, were those based around physicality and defensive effort.
That was highlighted by Gary Payton II’s minutes at the end of the third quarter.
He was contesting every shot, every drive, switching on everyone, attacking the passing lanes, grabbing rebounds and providing screens and spacing in the half court.
Payton II does all of those so-called little things in a way that’s relentless. He didn’t have much of an impact in Game 3, when Golden State was out-rebounded by 16 and struggled massively to contain Boston in the paint.
But his effort was outstanding in his 10 minutes, with 5 points, 4 rebounds and one assist, steal and block.
That came from multiple players. Andrew Wiggins, who has been arguably the Warriors’ second-best player throughout these playoffs, and at least their second-most consistent player, was outstanding, too.
His effort on the glass, and ability to secure a couple of key second-chance scores down the stretch were incalculably large. He had a whopping 16 rebounds along with his 17 points, a couple assists and a steal.
And Kevon Looney, who Kerr basically chose over Green as the Warriors’ lone big in the key minutes, did what he always seems to do. He got the right rebounds at the right times, and finished at the rim right when his team needed it. He had 6 points, 11 rebounds, a steal and a block, and led the game with a +21 net rating, followed by Wiggins, at +20.
Even Thompson, who was putrid for so much of the night, came up clutch in the end with some key shots, and some excellent perimeter defense that forced a Jaylen Brown turnover and effectively iced the game.
The difference, aside from Curry being outrageous, was that physicality, and that effort.
Green, who was terrible in the first half, recovered at least to provide some positive impact defensively, starting the second half with a steal, an assist and a score. Even with his seeming inability to score, he had 8 assists, 9 rebounds and 4 steals.
This is a team that needs to play with consistent defensive effort, and when that happens, it tends to bode well. That didn’t happen two nights ago. It did on Friday night, and it’s a huge reason why the series is even.