San Francisco – The NBA Finals allow for the lowest margins for error. The opponents are elite and opportunities are too precious to be squandered in a seven-match series. For the Boston Celtics, Game 5’s commission sins were too many to beat a Golden State Warriors side with championship pedigree at home. The Warriors won 104-94 and now stands one win away from their fourth title in eight years.
Barring a few superior individual performances and team blasts, the 2022 Finals was a rugged defensive affair. In Game 5, both teams executed their defensive game plans brilliantly, if not perfectly. Golden State was sold out and relied on its superb defense to help, while the Celtics tried to turn Warriors shooters into chariots, providing contested shots from distance as the Warriors settled on.
Having lost their fourth-quarter lead in Game 4 and a chance to claim a 3-1 lead in the series, the Celtics caught the ball 18 times – a margin of error in Game 5 as both teams struggled to maintain a steady attack. The loss also took away something that Celtics believers had longed for from their star — a Jason Tatum Game.
The All-NBA Featured First Team lead led all scorers with 27 points in his most dominant output in the series. to increase misery, Stephen Curry At one of his lower shows, offering another opening for the Celtics to cash in.
For warriors, the maturity Andrew Wiggins It was one of the few offensive bright spots one night when Curry missed 15 of his 22 attempts from the field, including a 0-for-9 agonizing night from behind the 3-point streak. Wiggins are still an inspiration to the Golden State. For all the warriors’ attractive offensive style, they are distinguished by producing limited single shots from dribbling, especially since the departure of Kevin Durant After the 2018-19 season.
While it’s unreasonable to expect Wiggins to fill the void left by Durant, it is thrilling to watch the Warriors attack paint and smash panels. Wiggins finished with 26 points in a 12-for-23 shootout from the field and no spin. He also played heavily for the Warriors, collecting 13 rebounds.
In postseason when he took over the appointment of the main defender in Ja Morante (Memphis Grizzlies) and Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks), Wiggins could claim another stamp on his passport as one of the leading defenders of the post-season. Once again, he carried the bulk of the payload against Tatum, forcing the Celtics star into a series of difficult attempts.
One of Wiggins’ signature sequences came in the middle of the fourth quarter when he forced a volley from Tatum and then took a pass from Curry on the left wing and drove to his right to get a float over the Celtics big man Alhorford which extended the Warriors’ advance to 11. Wiggins then produced the dagger with just over two minutes remaining with an assured driving immersion over the Celtics’ Derek White.
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Andrew Wiggins goes hard over the edge and floods the house with a massive plunge to help put the game out of the Warriors’ reach.
After spending much of the series on an emotional vortex while playing some less effective basketball in his post-season career, Draymond Green He’s back to be one of the most creative and influential players in the game. He got rid of the offensive slack early on by using a few buckets in the first five minutes. From there, Green carried out his regular jobs as offensive facilitator and general line of defense.
Interested parties will likely be able to hear more in-depth analysis on the Green podcast. But for a few hours during live action, Green focused only on the task at hand and achieved excellent results. The Celtics shot 1-10 when Green was the opposing defender. He made a mistake in the last minutes of the match with 8 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in 35 minutes.
Throughout the season, the Warriors have maintained that their team is different from those who won three titles during the young Prime Curry. This has been proven to be true in this drag from a series. However, for all its aesthetic shortcomings and ugly offensive efforts, this team of warriors still shares one common denominator with its previous incarnations: the ability to win high stakes games whatever way they are.
Another win anyway Thursday night and those differences become irrelevant.
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