The Golden State Warriors won the fourth game of the NBA Finals in Boston (97-107) with a memorable performance by Stephen Curry
The great teams are born by rupture, what Stephen Curry meant in the face of the above, or by answering, what these Boston Celtics are for the Warriors. From so much opening the track, from so much moving away from the rim domain, the need arose to build defenses that would cover more and more ground. Longer perimeter players, more mobile interiors and yes, that ability to exchange in defense that already elevated Steve Kerr’s team.
Designed as an ideal counterweight, the Celtics had denied the identity of the Warriors in these Finals. Ime Udoka’s team has ruled out Draymond Green, the key that transforms Stephen Curry’s threat into Golden State’s offensive ballet. He was already noticeable in the previous game, but never more tangible than in this last one: losing with less than eight minutes to go, Kerr sent Green to the bench.
But then Stephen Curry. Without the umbilical cord that connects him to the rest of the team, forced to bear a weight like he had never had to carry on his back and faced with a defense that offers no weak link, Curry uncorked a memorable performance: 43 points (14/26 shooting, 7/14 3-pointers) to come back in Boston and keep the Warriors alive in these Finals (97-107).
For the man who has defined the NBA for the past decade, tonight will be among those that define his career.
The Warriors, to the limit
The change of Draymond Green, who adds more personal fouls (18) than points (17) in these Finals, was not a capitulation of the Warriors, but it is the best example of the limit to which the Celtics have taken Golden State. Nullified in attack and surpassed in defense, they had deprived a key piece of all value.
Warriors game, unable throughout the series to get past Boston’s midcourt defense, had been downgraded to trusting everything to Curry’s blocks. It is a move that they hardly use. It would be a waste of resources and an undue burden on your star. But with that wrist, that ball handling and so little need for space to set up the shot, few players can be more damaging.
Curry brought the Warriors back to the game with 14 points in the third quarter, including two three-pointers that tied the game and a last one that allowed them to reach the last act with an advantage (78-79). It was a sign of life, a sign of the path he had been waiting for when, at the Celtics’ next start, Kerr decided to remove Green.
In one of the key moments of the fourth quarter, Curry was caught between the band and two rivals: Marcus Smart, Best Defensive Player of the Year, and Robert Williams III, chosen in the Second Defensive Quintet of the season. And with the ball hooked to a string, he pushed Smart away, took him dancing, left him on the block, faced Williams, disarmed him with a sleight of hand and headed the paint to leave a bomb on the run that went in clean.
The victory of the Golden State Warriors would have been impossible without the improvement in defense, which only allowed one basket in the last five minutes; without the great game of Andrew Wiggins (quiet, but constant. 17 points, 16 rebounds); or the contribution of Klay Thompson (excellent back, still timid but punctual in attack). But it would have been inexplicable without Stephen Curry.
The NBA Finals return to San Francisco tied and with home court factor back in the hands of the Warriors.
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