Andrew Wiggins has become an invaluable two-way winger for the Warriors, and a career night at Game 5 brought Golden State within game one of another NBA title.
Given how much went wrong in Game 5, the Warriors might consider themselves almost lucky with a 3-2 lead in the Finals. After dominating the third quarters of this series (and for the past eight years), Golden State was crushed by the Celtics in the third quarter on Monday; Robert Williams dominated the paint defensively while each of Golden State’s top men had serious trouble, so much so that 38-year-old Andre Iguodala scored four minutes into the center. Jayson Tatum had one of his best scoring games in the series even against an excellent defense; Warriors tried 42 percent of their 3-shots and made only 21 percent of them; And Steve Curry, following a 43-point blast in Match 4, scored just 16 points from 22 shots while failing to make 3-pointers for the first time in his playoff career.
However, somehow, there was Curry on the bench as the final seconds of the game elapsed, laughing from the cold firing streak as the Warriors finished off with a comfortable win.
The Celtics changed their defense against Steve Curry, and Andrew Wiggins stepped up
Curry and Boston’s defenses did the best of each other in these finals, as each continually raised their level of play to overcome the other’s dominance. Boston used a relatively conservative approach to Curry during the first four games of the series (although the conservative plot against Curry amounts to what most players would consider a kitchen sink), staying in cover pick-and-roll that forced Curry to live off tough draw 3s and allowed the Celtics to Suppressing the Golden State’s free-flowing attack. On Monday, Boston finally resorted to hitting Curry in a pick-and-roll, forcing the ball out of his hands and daring the other Warriors, who struggled on offense in the series, to overpower them.
Obviously, these other warriors were up to the challenge. Curry had his worst game of the playoffs, but the attention he paid from the defense opened Golden State’s attack in a way that it hadn’t before Game 5. Curry finished with eight assists in the series while Draymond Green netted his second goal – the highest total in the series and broke Klay Thompson in his best game of the post-season. Jordan Bull scored 14 points in 14 minutes and Gary Payton II picked up six easy baskets just by playing inside the offense.
The most central of the Golden State backers was Andrew Wiggins, as his transformation into an invaluable winger culminated in the best game of his career Monday night. Despite his struggles from behind the arc, Wiggins finished with 26 points and 13 rebounds in Game 5, but more impactful than his stat streak was the balance and assurance he played on both ends.
Wiggins decisively attacked the loopholes Curry created, showing a keen sense of when he could hit his points and when to keep the ball moving. He took the shots that were given to him, but often times he used them to look better. Defensively, he served as Tatum’s primary defender, as with all series, and Tatum couldn’t generate much of a clean look against Wiggins during the final 15 minutes of the game (in fairness, Tatum looked exhausted as well):
Wiggins was criticized – and fairly – early in his career for his choice of shooting, defensive apathy and poor sense of the game, but he deserves just as much praise for the way he has transformed himself into a vital two-way component to a potential NBA champion. When he arrived at Golden State two seasons ago, the idea of an athletic winger in his mid-twenties able to make space on land, defend on the perimeter and divert easy glances around the edge was exactly what the Warriors needed.
But in his first year in office, Wiggins was an inconsistent and often indifferent defender, who struggled to comprehend the improvisational concepts of the Golden State’s instinctual attack. He’s been hitting straight into ball screens, Green chews him up for missed spins and misses easy passes or screens that could set up Curry 3s.
Those readings come naturally now, and Wiggins has found a better balance between catching his shot and staying within the flow of the attack. Instead of forcing jumpers when his initial appearance failed, Wiggins learned to move the ball, seek out bowlers, and make himself an option without the ball:
In many ways, these Warriors are like the Beautiful Game Spurs teams of mid-2010s, and there are shades of young Kawhi Leonard in the way Wiggins defended opposing stars, relentlessly smashing the boards and finding points within the offensive flow throughout the playoffs. . He’s not the same defender of even that burgeoning version of Cowhie, nor is he on the same developmental path (Wiggins is four years older than Leonard in 2014).
However, he plays a similar role as a sporting cog in an experienced and experienced team capable of guarding multiple positions and generating attack when necessary. Wiggins is one of the few reliable warrior ball creators, and in Game 5 he used his technique of ball handling and touching edge to attack dribbling while Curry captured the bulk of the Celtics’ attention. Mid-range draws that have undervalued Minnesota are now required backup options when the Golden State offensive comes to a halt:
We may see Boston revert to a more traditional Curry approach in Game 6, which will likely reduce the openings Wiggins will have to attack. Even as Curry lit up the Celtics in pick-and-roll, Golden State’s half-court attack still struggled with plenty of action flowing straight through a single player. That’s not the Warriors’ preferred approach, and forcing them to this approach allows Boston to play more on its terms.
There are no right answers against Curry, who, to some extent, resolved everything the Celtics had shown him, and the Warriors’ offensive versatility is partly why they looked more comfortable as the series progressed while Boston looked increasingly shaky. This series featured two very resilient teams that beat sprints and absorb punches, both game to game and quarter to quarter. The Celtics, who have thrived in the face of elimination this post-season, are now left with no choice but to bounce back.
More tips from Game 5 of the NBA Finals
Transitions and transitions
We doubted by reaching the finals that any team controlling the ball would dominate the series, and that was proven right by five games. Through four matches, Boston recorded 60 spins to Golden State’s 59, with 13 more live ball spins than the Warriors. On Monday, the Celtics coughed the ball 18 more times, including nine live balls, while Golden State gave up the ball only six times (two live balls). This helped the warriors gain an advantage in moving, as they did A feature set in the series. The two teams have nearly identical offensive ratings at Halfcourt properties, but Golden State scored roughly four bonus points per 100 properties in the transition for the series, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Much of the discourse on Boston’s post-season rotation issues focuses on Brown, Tatum and Marcus Smart’s confusion with the ball, and while they have been careless at times, this framing doesn’t pay enough attention to Golden State and Miami’s defensive activity. The Warriors don’t press the ball or block the passing lanes as the Heat did, but their assisting defense and spins are second to none in the NBA, and they’ve convincing hard passes and spiky paint raids.
Curry is a lane thief, Thompson has bolstered his defensive activity in the last two games, and Greene and Payton II have some of the best hands in the NBA. The Green, Payton, Wiggins, and Kevon Looney quartet is a formidable unit to contend without a surgical baseball therapist.
This would keep Payton II – who played 26 minutes in a game five playoff – steady in the rotation as long as the streak continues. His defensive play in Game Five hampered Boston’s attack and raised transitional opportunities for the Warriors, and Payton’s height and strength gave Kerr another nearly viable option for Brown and Tatum.
It also scans, moves the ball and presses the edge when attacking, making warriors more dynamic than when Iguodala or Otto Porter Jr. on the earth. The baseline Payton cut on his tiptoes behind Smart was a prime example of how random points are found over the course of the game:
Draymond, revitalize
Game 5 was perhaps Green’s best offensive showing of the series, which is why the Celtics might be wise to return to playing Curry more traditionally in Game 6. Especially in the first quarter, Green was reckless when Boston sold off Curry and Thompson, who offered opportunities not Not only for him in scoring but also for easy looks for others:
Green also set a frantic defensive tone for the Warriors, who were kept on streak for roughly 20 minutes into the bout. However, Golden State could still be more disciplined against the Boston playmakers. Wiggins awarded Boston six points by going under a pair of screens against Tatum in Game 5, and the Warriors would likely stand in their control against Smart and make him shoot a contest instead of taking him off the line and putting themselves in a spin.
With the exception of Green, the Golden State defenders were also willing to let Brown get into his right hand. Many Boston half-court combos are designed to get Brown to attack right, but when he’s on an island, the Warriors can be more disciplined about forcing him on the weaker side. Tatum is a better driver who goes to the right and is a better shooter to the left, making it difficult for him to shade in either direction, but he struggled really hard on left driving. The Golden State would be wise to sit on his right side and crowd his space, or remove his left hand, give more cushion and live with steps back from left to right.
Another clever play
Boston produced a good appearance by posting Smart against Poole, and it’s a good bet they’ll be back for that in Game 6. Golden State were reluctant to switch defensively challenged Poole to Tatum or Brown, so the massive Celtics decided to do so. Go into it with Smart, who can use his power to bully Poole in pass situations or pass him to play when warriors offer help:
The strain on Golden State’s defense helped trigger Boston’s drive-and-kick attack, but the Warriors put the clamps back on when Poole was out of play. Smart’s physicality humiliated Boston at times in the series, but he wasn’t able to consistently force his will into the paint because of how well Green and Looney’s spins were. The Celtics scored a dismal 80 points for every 100 half-court possessions in the game 5And she scored just 94.3 per 100 on that series in Halfcourt—slightly better than Cleveland’s 20-ranked mark in the regular season. Playing through the post isn’t a panacea for these problems, but it may help open things up for Boston.
Depth Variation
The Golden State’s depth advantage is starting to emerge as this cumbersome chain continues to be worn. Depending on whether Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard play well, Odoka has between six and eight reliable players available, and with Robert Williams clearly limited by a knee injury and Al Horford limited by the age of 36, both Tatum and Brown played 44 minutes. Monday night, including the entire fourth quarter. That might be fine with so few games left in the season, but both have shown signs of fatigue over their last two competitions.
Calling Derek White’s minutes may help alleviate that problem, and Boston will likely rely on him more anyway. Odoka wisely stole some extra relief for Tatum in the first quarter on Monday, and he should look to do the same in the third or fourth quarter from now on. (Curry may also have gotten a little damaged in Game 5; he missed most of his three duets from the leading edge.) But the Warriors, who have nine or 10 serviceable bodies, clearly have the best player and deepest team in the series. . The longer it lasts, the more it works in their favour.
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