Steph Curry dribbled round a display set by Andrew Wiggins, which created sufficient area for him to step again and sink a deep 3-pointer over Jaylen Brown and Al Horford.
That was regular stuff for the 3-point king, who had given the Warriors a five-point lead late within the first quarter.
But this wasn’t: As the Celtics referred to as a timeout, Curry trotting again to his defensive finish, he turned and directed some phrases on the crowd seated behind the baseline, barking at anybody who might hear him, in a uncommon show of emotion from the guard, particularly that early within the recreation.
But Curry understood the stakes. He’d been right here earlier than. Down a recreation within the NBA Finals, on the street in essentially the most hostile of environments, Curry knew he needed to be a little bit louder on Friday evening at TD Garden.
“Felt like we just had to let everybody know that we were here tonight,” Curry stated.
When it was all stated and performed, that message had been made loud and clear, as Curry delivered one of many best particular person performances in NBA Finals historical past.
It wasn’t fairly the Michael Jordan flu recreation, however nursing a harm left foot that had put his standing for Game 4 into some query, Curry overcame all of it – the foot, the relentless crowd, the Celtics’ bodily demanding protection – to attain 43 factors, hitting back-breaking 3s time and again, as he nearly single-handedly willed the Warriors to even this sequence and take it again to the Bay Area with home-court benefit restored.
Curry has come by the Warriors in massive moments all through his embellished profession. He’s received three championships and performed all of it. But Friday’s efficiency left even his longtime teammates with a efficiency that they had by no means seen earlier than.
Where would Klay Thompson rank that efficiency on Curry’s prolonged NBA resume? He didn’t want a lot time to ponder.
“I think probably No. 1,” Thompson stated.
Draymond Green didn’t mince many phrases, both.
“Put us on his back. Willed us to win,” Green stated. “Much-needed win. Game we had to have. Came out and showed why he’s one of the best players to ever play this game.”
Twenty-four of Curry’s 43 factors, and 5 of his seven 3-pointers got here after halftime, and the Warriors wanted each certainly one of them, with minimal scoring assist from others, and the Celtics punching again all through a back-and-forth fourth quarter.
This may need been a recreation a youthful Curry couldn’t pull off. The physicality required of him on each ends of the court docket towards a much bigger and imposing Celtics crew takes its toll over 48 minutes. But an older, extra mature and stronger Curry fought by all of it – double groups, fixed stress and troublesome matchups towards greater guards on the defensive finish – to will the Warriors.
“Just stunning,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr stated. “The physicality out there is pretty dramatic. I mean, Boston’s got obviously, best defense in the league. Huge and powerful at every position, and for Steph to take that — that kind of pressure all game long and still be able to defend at the other end when they are coming at him shows you, I think this is the strongest physically he’s ever been in his career, and it’s allowing him to do what he’s doing.”
Curry is scoring 34.3 factors per recreation, together with a 49.1% clip from 3-point land, on this sequence. But nothing has come simple. Boston’s protection – together with Brown, Derrick White and Marcus Smart are contesting nearly all the things he takes. Curry is simply hitting ridiculous pictures. On Friday, it was one of many main the reason why this sequence was tied again up.
That momentum Curry created early on carried over late, and it finally sunk the Celtics. With 1:42 left, he delivered a dagger into their hearts with a step-back 3 over White that gave the Warriors a six-point lead that the C’s finally couldn’t dig out of. Curry pounded his chest 3 times after the shot, and it was protected to say a silenced crowd had heard him.
Friday evening at TD Garden was Curry’s evening.
“We were there,” Smart stated. “He’s an excellent participant; he made pictures. He made a variety of the pictures the place we had been contesting from behind. We had anyone there and he was simply making them. That’s what he does.
“We obviously have to do a better job of limiting that. We got to make it even more tough for him. … That’s the one guy you can’t allow to beat you.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com