The Golden State Warriors have won Game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics at Chase Center last night. The Warriors are now in the lead this series 3-2 and are 1 game away from winning the 2021-2022 NBA Finals.

Game 5 was anticipated to be a Celtics win, according to betting sites like Fanduel and looking at the box score shows it could quite easily have been.  Steph had a subpar night and Draymond posted his usual triple single. The Celtics, who played well in the 3rd quarter, made only 4 field goals in the 4th including 1 that was in garbage time. The Celtics were outscored 29-14 before the starters got pulled with a minute left in the game.

The free throw disparity was noticable with Boston hitting 21-31. Celtics players spent much of the game complaining to refs byt had double the amount of free throws. Golden State hit 13-15. This is such an easy way to rack up points, and something the Celtics didn’t take advantage of. The Warriors also shot 23% as a team from 3..

Boston’s bench were outclassed today. The Warriors’ bench players scored 31 points while Boston’s only scored 10. Poole hit another playoff buzzer beater to end the 3rd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZmEXJADy_0

Andrew Wiggins

The MVP of this game was clearly Andrew Wiggins who racked up 26 points and 13 rebounds. He has shot up to number 2 on the Finals MVP list behind Steph and seemed to realise that he is quick enough to blow past defenders at will this game. His impressive rebounding has been vital to some of these stretches where the Warriors have gone on runs.

Stephen Curry

Steph had a bit of a bad night to Steph standards. He lost his playoff streak of consecutive games with at least one 3 point make at 132. Curry racked up 16 points and 8 assists but went 0-9 from 3 point range. It seems Boston finally stopped the drop coverage on him, and doubled him consistantly, which started their motion offence. Interesting to note that the last time Curry lost his streak for the regular season he then hit 13 3 pointers and breaking the record the next game…

Opposite Day?

• Curry had an underwhelming performance hitting zero 3s
• Wiggins didn’t put up his usual 17ish points but got 26
• Warriors played well to start, Celtics had a strong 3rd quarter and let it slip in the 4th
• The Warriors were getting flopping calls on Marcus Smart
• Celtics got technicals for yelling at refs
• Draymond played well, and didn’t foul out

Is it opposite day?

Game 5 Highlights

Player Stats

Game 6 and 7

Game 6 is on 16th June in Boston.

Game 7 (if needed) is on 19th June back in San Francisco.

Do you think the Celtics can beat the Warriors twice in a row? Will Steph be snubbed of another Finals MVP by his teammate Andrew Wiggins?

Steph Curry put on a masterclass at The Garden last night, up there with one of his best performances, winning the game and tying the series 2 – 2.

Steph Curry

Steph had 43 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists against a team with the defence that the Celtics has is a legendary performance. Steph went 14-26 from the field, hit 7-14 3s and went 8-9 from the free throw line.

Curry has shot to the top of the Finals MVP predictions table, an award that would round out his Hall of Fame career.

Game 4 Highlights

Draymond Green

Draymond had another bad night offensively scoring only 2 points and going 1-7 from the field. Steve Kerr pulled Draymond out of the game and was using him intermittently during the 4th where he had some key defensive plays. He did grab 9 rebounds and have 8 assists but spent much of the game arguing with refs – who in fairness, were consistantly bad tonight. A good example of this was Curry’s deep 3 make through a lot of contact that the refs didn’t call. Curry was not happy:

Andrew Wiggins

Andrew Wiggins had another great game in the finals, taking a small percentage of the scoring load of Curry with 17 points. The main story from Wiggins was his 16 rebounds which is a career high for him – great time for a career high. In the words of Kawhi Leonard, ‘board man gets paid’.

Player stats

With the series all tied, and coming back to Golden State, how do we feel this series is going to go?

The Boston Celtics win Game 3 of the Finals

The Celtics have taken a lead in the series against the Golden State Warriors, winning Game 3 116 – 100. The Celtics are now up 2 – 1 in the series with Game 4 being on the 10th of June back in Boston.

Boston Celtics

The MVP of the game was Jaylen Brown who had 27 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. He kept Boston ahead with his offence. The Celtics role players also shined, contrastingly to game 2 – Robert Williams had himself a block party and was a force in the paint. He kept the Warriors shooting from distance without getting anything easy at the rim.

Game 3 Highlights

Golden State Warriors

Draymond had another bad game fouling out again. He now has fouled out 15 times in the Finals, and scored 15 points… He was clearly frustrated, here you can see him being very agressive with Jayson Tatum, a player who he knows has injured his shoulder recently.

Draymond finished with 2 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists along with the 6 fouls. His stats in the playoffs so far: 15 PTS 26.3 FG% 0-7 3P 5-10 FT

The Celtics continue to play drop coverage on Curry, which allows him to wide open 3s, however even his offence could not keep the Warriors in the contest tonight. Klay has yet to play consistantly like his former self and Wiggins seems to be consistantly Wiggins.

A scramble and fall meant that Curry’s leg got injured during the game, and there were worries that he would be out for Game 4. Shams has tweeted that there is optimism that Curry will be okay:

There is optimism today on Warriors star Stephen Curry’s status for Game 4 of the NBA Finals vs. Boston on Friday, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. It appears Curry won't need MRI, has avoided major issue with his left foot, and will attend Golden State's afternoon practice.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 9, 2022

Player Stats

Has the Celtics figured out the Warriors? Or will this contest be a back and forth to Game 7?