With their backs up against the wall and facing a scenario where they could have gone down 3-1 in the NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors responded in Game 4 against the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
Entering this game, the Warriors had been picked apart in the first quarter, oftentimes starting out the game slow and having to fight their way back from a big deficit.
However, the Warriors looked strong in the first quarter, trailing by just one-point after the first 12 minutes of play and they looked especially good on the interior, an adjustment they made from Game 3
While the Celtics went on a little bit of a run in the second quarter, the Warriors still held their ground and were starting to get things going, especially Stephen Curry who ended the half with a game-high 19 points.
Over the final twelve minutes of Game 4 on Friday night, Curry continued to give the Celtics’ defense fits and the Warriors as a whole were putting in work on the offensive and defensive glass.
Golden State ended up outrebounding Boston 55-42 in Game 4, helping them hold on and even up this series at 2-2 after a 107-97 victory on the road.
With everything tied up at 2-2, the 2022 NBA Finals is now a “Best-of-3” series with the Warriors owning home court advantage.
Game 5 on Monday night could very well determine the winner of this series and some things that happened on Friday night could be very telling as to what we should expect to see.
In order for Golden State to win two of the next three games and win their fourth championship in the last eight seasons, Andrew Wiggins will need to continue to be a two-way factor like he has been