The Golden State Warriors are one win away from continuing their dynasty with another championship following their 104-94 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
While Stephen Curry had carried the team to this point, the Warriors provided him with plenty of support in Game 5 led by Andrew Wiggins with 26 points. Wiggins had played in just five playoff games in his seven-year career before arriving in San Francisco.
The Splash Brothers Klay Thompson (21 points) and Stephen Curry (16 points) also played a key role in the home game against the Celtics. An unusual thing also happened in Game 5 as one of the best shooters of all time, Steph Curry, who has multiple 3-point records and just had seven threes in Game 4, went 0-for-9 from behind the arc.
The Warriors played an aggressive game and had a blistering start. Before the Celtics could even realise, they quickly moved to a double-digit lead at the end of the first quarter.
Celtics head coach Ime Udoka expressed his displeasure and said, "Yeah, hard to explain that start. I mean, we lacked the physicality early. They took the fight to us a little bit early. We were struggling to finish in the paint. So that was pretty evident early on."
The Celtics never seemed to have the rhythm. Jason Tatum led the Celtics with 27 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, but could not change his team's fortunes. They, however, managed to put brakes on the Warriors' third-quarter dominance by scoring 35 against the Warriors' 24.
The best-of-seven series moves to Boston for Game 6. Game 6 of the 2022 NBA Finals is on Friday, 6:30 AM (IST) onwards, and will be live on Sports18, VH1, MTV, Jio TV and Voot Select.
Golden State Warriors are just a win away from their fourth championship in eight seasons and seventh championship overall. On the other hand, Celtics would want to take home advantage and return to the Bay Area for a deciding Game 7 to lift their 18th NBA title.
( With inputs from ANI )
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