Transcendent Stephen Curry scores 43, lifts Warriors to level series with Celtics
With the Celtics’ defense smothering the split actions, the off-ball movement and relocation, the back-door cuts and everything else in the Warriors’ bag of
With the Celtics’ defense smothering the split actions, the off-ball movement and relocation, the back-door cuts and everything else in the Warriors’ bag of tricks to get a defense scrambling, Steve Kerr turned the Golden State offense over to the one thing that has been working in these NBA Finals — Stephen Curry.
And when it mattered most, Curry was transcendent.
Curry had more picks set for him in Game 4 than he had in any game this season (48 according to preliminary tracking data), putting him in position to hunt mismatches and create the team’s offense. Curry responded with a legendary performance: 43 points, including 7-of-14 from 3, plus 10 rebounds.
“Just stunning,” Steve Kerr said of Curry. “The physicality out there is, you know, 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.”
Combine a red-hot Curry with better Warriors’ defense in the final eight minutes of the game — even with Draymond Green on the bench for part of it — which forced the Celtics into too much isolation and settling for 3s, and that was all Curry and the Warriors needed.
Rating: 5