In the most must win of must win circumstances, Wardell Stephen Curry II stared into the green abyss that is TD Garden and he didn’t blink. The arena was going mad with deafening noise around him from the moment he stepped on the floor. A Boston fanbase desperate for their first championship in over a decade was so close they could taste it. All the Celtics had to do was stop 30 from going for 30 and they would put a 3-1 stranglehold on the series. However, the dish that Chef Curry was serving up was not what gang green ordered. Chef Curry with the pot was serving up sweet revenge and you better believe it was served as bitterly cold as a Boston winter. Whenever the crowd is at a deafening frenzied fever pitch and Curry hits a deep 3 to silence the fans, I call that a “Stephening” of the crowd. That’s exactly what Steph came out and did early by dropping 12 points in the first quarter to keep his team in it when Boston was dominating early but unable to pull away.
We’re used to seeing special performances from Stephen Curry, but we’re not used to seeing him have to carry his team to a championship. Steph is an all-time great and the undisputed best shooter of all-time, but he has typically played on very balanced teams where the burden of winning a title was shared. His teammates, namely Klay, Iguodala, Draymond, and Kevin Durant have always produced in the playoffs and in the Finals. Hence, why Steph doesn’t have a Finals MVP trophy in his vast trophy collection. It’s not a knock on him. Steph is a proven clutch playoff player that would have excelled in any era. Some of his skills are so unique, they are virtually not duplicable. However, in these Finals, Steph has not gotten a lot of help and has had to put the team on his back against one of the best defensive teams that we have ever seen.
Boston’s defense has done the tough job of making Jordan Poole look human again after his breakout regular season. They have frustrated Klay Thompson greatly and they have made Draymond look like he offensively belongs in the Australian league running point forward for the Perth Wildcats. Robert Williams bullies the paint and protects the rim like a Targaryen’s dragon. The Celtics force the Warriors to shoot more outside jump shots than even the usually outside jump shot happy Warriors want to take.
Golden State was crushed on the glass in game 3 and if they wanted to have a chance in game 4, they had to do a better job on the boards. No rebounds, no rings. The Warriors answered the call as Wiggins grabbed a career high 16, Looney had 11, and even Stephen Curry joined the party with 10! One could say that’s where Boston lost game 4. Besides the numerous turnovers and transition points the Warriors scored, Boston gave up 16 offensive rebounds and lost by a decisive 55-42 margin in total rebounds to the diminutive Golden State Warriors. That can’t happen when you play with as much size as Boston does, but the Warriors simply outhustled and outmuscled them Friday night. They wanted it more.
Jayson Tatum got off to a better scoring start in this game on Friday night, but he ended up scoring only 23 points on 23 shots. He was highly inefficient. Jaylen Brown chipped in 21 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a legendary performance by Curry and get the job done. Curry just wouldn’t allow his team to lose and go down 3-1. Curry was more demonstrably emotional than he normally is. Yelling at the Boston fans after making big shots early and late in the game. Even uncharacteristically berating the referee for not calling fouls on back-to-back threes where Curry wanted an and one. No technical foul came but the buckets kept raining as Curry hit 7 threes and dropped a 43-piece special on the way to the win.
Game 4 was a pressure packed playoff performance in a pivotal predicament for 30. Steph Curry delivered in the clutch. Now it’s a best of 3 series with the series shifting back to downtown San Francisco for game 5 on Monday. The Warriors are chasing dynastic history and a chance to validate themselves as being able to win another one without Durant. The young Celtics are chasing a first title for their entire roster and number 18 for their storied franchise. It would be historic if they could break the tie with the Lakers and become the sole team with the most championship banners hanging in their rafters. I really can’t say for sure who will win it all, but if the next 3 games are anything like Friday’s game 4— it should be a lot of fun watching it play out!
