Then you would curse the shadowy fortune teller with all your heart when you realized that the story that Carrie wrote was of the ignorant variety. The all-time leading scorer made it 0-for-9 from a range of 3 points on Monday night, scoring for the first time in 132 consecutive playoff games – 233 consecutive games including the regular season – which he failed to do either. a 3-pointer. Curry finished with 16 points, almost 20 below his average in the first four games of the Finals. And yet this Warriors team, which had virtually zero attack outside of Curry in the finals, worked, pushed and had to beat 104-94 over the Boston Celtics to take a 3-2 lead and reach just one win. the franchise’s fourth NBA title in eight seasons. Watching the Warriors on Monday was like watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air after they replaced Aunt Viv with a different actress. You know it’s the same show, but it’s just different from what you’re used to. The whole discussion that followed Game 5 was about how intensely Curry carried the Warriors. It was the talk show head show, a topic on Sunday media availability and food for fun from NBA social media legend King Josiah. In Monday’s 5th game, however, the other Warriors did more than lift their own weight. They also carried Curry. “I think we have a really great team, a smart group of people. The game’s very high IQ, and we’re just trying to make it simple for each of us, each of our teammates,” Warriors guard Gary Payton II said after the win. “Really, everyone is just themselves and they are selfless and they try to play games for themselves, but again, they play games for their teammates by doing that.” The cast begins with Andrew Wiggins, who for the second consecutive game looked like the second best player on the Golden State roster – probably the second best player in the series. He scored 26 points, 13 rebounds, two steals and one block in a monstrous 43 minutes, once again taking on the responsibility of guarding Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Wiggins was all over the floor, scoring 10 points in a 5-on-6 shot in the fourth quarter, closing things off with an emphatic dunk that put an end to any faint hopes for a late Celtics return. “We are not more excited than when Wiggs dives into someone and makes them mad,” Warriors guard Clay Thompson said after the game. “And that really lifts the whole team and the bay area.” Wiggins was not the only one doing the job while Carrie was fighting. Thompson had 21 points in 5-for-11 shots from the 3-point range, another in a series of clutch appearances with the Warriors in balance after the season. Draymond Green, badly beaten over the past two weeks, scored eight points – almost half of the total in the first four games of the series together – to go along with eight rebounds and six assists, setting the tone from the front end with the energy and its pressure at both ends of the floor. Select the checkbox to confirm that you want to sign up.
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With Kevon Looney reduced to 17 minutes due to an early foul, Warriors coach Steve Kerr went into smaller squads, which allowed Payton to flourish. He presented his unique combination of elite perimeter defense and home scoring on the road with 15 points, five rebounds and three steals in a 6-to-8 shot. “The guy is a workhorse. He’s incredible,” Kerr told Payton after winning Game 5. “Amazing athlete, great defensive player. He has very good instincts out there and obviously extremely competitive. … He has come a long way. and now he has a chance to shine in the Finals, so he’s awesome. “ In terms of momentum, perhaps no player was more important to the Warriors’ victory than Jordan Poole. The 22-year-old withstood his ups and downs during his first run in the playoffs, but helped at the end of the third quarter during which the Celtics had overturned the deficit of 12 points at halftime to a five-point lead. With the buzzer ready to sound at the end of the season, Poole fired a 38-footer that hit the glass and entered. I quit. “That was a crucial part of the game, to respond to that,” Kerr said. “Jordan hit two greats at the end of third place and then made a good move to start the fourth. But the response to the Boston run towards me was the key to the game.” The second cast of the Warriors who ascend at a huge moment is not an accident. Kerr constantly aims to get the last player on the bench a handful of minutes every few games, knowing from his own experience as a role player that staying long without seeing action in the game not only rusts you but also leaves you feeling distant. . from the team. In the last three seasons since Kevin Durand left the Warriors, critics have been asking for more direct pick-and-roll from Curry. Even with a young, inexperienced and unsuitable roster, Kerr argued that flowing ball-oriented attack creates greater consistency, and therefore leads to better results when it matters most. “Dude, there are just a lot of great people here. Great people here who challenge you. They hold you accountable,” Wiggins said after the game. “The support system, everyone in this team, this organization, supports you and wants to see you do good and put you in a position to do good.” Kerr always plays the long game and spent a lot of time in Game 5 amid the franchise player’s uncharacteristic struggles. The story goes that Curry will recover strongly in Thursday’s 6th game, but the role players have shown that they can win even if they do not, and that is a worrying development for Boston. “The fact that everyone went up – Wiggs, JP, Klay hit some great shots, Draymond found his life and his spirit and the way he affects the game,” Curry said. “We could stand the 9-to-40 [on 3-pointers] As a team, I am 0-for-9, and we are still coming out with a victory. Obviously, history shows that I will shoot the ball better in the next game. I look forward to this recovery. “
