Steph Curry showed off his competitive soul this Friday and two days after triggering the alarms due to a foot injury, he sealed a double double of 43 points and ten rebounds to give the Golden State Warriors a 107-97 win over the Celtics at Boston’s TD Garden and tie the NBA Finals 2-2.
With triples, Curry spoiled the party of the Celtics, who could hit the series in case of victory, and returned home court advantage to the Warriors, owners of their destiny at the Chase Center.
The series, to the best of the seven, will have at least two more chapters. He will return to San Francisco on Monday for Game 5 and back to Boston for Game 6. But in case of a tie, the Warriors will be able to play the fourth ring in eight years at home.
They defeated the Celtics led by their brightest star, who finished with 43 points, ten rebounds and four assists, supported by the 18 by Klay Thompson and by an Andrew Wiggins fighter in the paint, capable of adding 16 valuable rebounds to his 17 points.
The Celtics gave up despite a double-double of 23 points, 11 rebounds and six assists from Jayson Tatum, 21 points and six rebounds from Jaylen Brown and 18 points, four rebounds and five assists from Marcus Smart, on a night in which the Dominican Al Horford finished with eight points, six rebounds and four assists.
Equality in the Garden
If in the third game the Celtics had had a resounding start, by touching an 18-point lead in the second period, this time equality reignedwith small partials on both sides, errors and a fight for rebounds that did not see any clear winner.
Steve Kerr bet on Otto Porter Jr. in the opening fifth, although the Saint Louis forward barely scored two points, grabbed a rebound and provided an assist in fourteen minutes.
Steph Curry was quick to show that the fear of his foot had passed and led his Warriors with twelve points in the first period and 19 at halftime, sparking his team’s attacks.
Curry warns…
He sealed two consecutive three-pointers to improve his to 23-18, after trailing 6-12, and shone alongside Andre Wiggins’ eleven, although the Warriors, unusually, did more damage in the paint than from the perimeter .
His improvable success (18 of 49 in the first half) forgave some Celtics who fell back into their nightmare, lost balls. They accumulated ten just in the first two quarters, although it only cost them twelve points.
Tatum and Brown, with 16 and twelve points each, allowed Ime Udoka’s men to go to the locker room with a 54-49a satisfactory margin for the locals considering that the Warriors used to be forceful when it came to punishing rival turnovers in this series (they scored 33 after the 18 Celtics turnovers in the second game).
… and finish
But local optimism dipped in the third quarter, when Curry spiked up the level. After a two of six in triples in the first half, he brought out his best version and connected four of fivescoring fourteen points that allowed the Warriors to frustrate, little by little, the resistance of the Celtics.
Udoka’s men managed to cut their lost balls (only two), but they could do nothing to stop Curry’s drive. And it was, once again, a struggling third quarter for the Celtics.
If Brown barely scored three points in that third period, it started as a shot in the fourth, in which he sealed some spectacular plays, with penetrations and added fouls. He excited the Garden, but he could not be the protagonist of the night.
Neither he nor a smart pace from the perimeter was enough to contain Curry’s monumental night.
Supported by Thompson, and without traits of Poole or Green, Curry lit up the most physical and nervous moment of the game with his class and, with two consecutive three-pointers, launched the Warriors to 100-94, with 1:42 to play.
A great triple by Horford, leader in the most difficult moments, brought the Celtics closer (97-100), but his team did not score again and definitively succumbed to the 43 points of a Curry who finished his game from the free throw line. , receiving chants of ‘MVP’ by Warriors fans in the Garden.
