We're going back to Boston, but the advantage belongs to the Golden State Warriors after a crucial 104-94 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
To state the obvious, we entered Monday's matchup with the series tied 2-2 and the knowledge that one team would leave the Chase Center one win away from hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy, while the other would have its back against the wall.
The combined score throughout the first four games was 422-421, with the Warriors holding the ever-so-slight advantage.
While Games 1 and 4 were similar in that the road teams used impressive fourth-quarter runs to secure wins, Games 2 and 3 were similar in that they were both relative blowouts.
In other words, trying to predict how this series would play out has proved futile thus far. So we shouldn't have been entirely surprised that it was a standout performance from Andrew Wiggins -- rather than a Game 4 encore by Stephen Curry -- that led the Warriors to the win.
When Boston has 15 or fewer turnovers, and Jayson Tatum has seven or more assists, it's Condition Green. When the opposite happens, it's Condition Gold.Well, in Game 5, Boston had 18 turnovers, and Tatum had four assists.
That the Celtics lost the "Stephen Curry Regression Game" -- when Curry went 0-for-9 from 3 after going 24-for-50 in the first four games -- is going to haunt this team for a long, long time if the Celtics can't find a way to win the next two games.
Andrew Wiggins. The 27-year-old former No. 1 pick stepped all the way up in Game 5 on both ends of the floor. Naturally, NBA Twitter reacted accordingly.
After knocking down a 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer, Jordan Poole walked to the corner of the court and screamed back at fans as they cheered him on. He high-fived several of them before punching the air and returning to his teammates.