Andrew Wiggins was the star of Golden State’s Game 5 victory, allowing the Warriors to weather a cold Steph Curry shooting night. The other star was Golden State’s collective mid-range shooting. It’s true, the Warriors shot just 8/38 on non garbage-time 3s. Glass half-empty for Boston: Golden State is probably going to shoot better in Game 6. Glass half-full for Boston: The Warriors shot nearly 80% on attempts between 4 and 14 feet and 55% on long mid-rangers per Cleaning the Glass. That doesn’t seem sustainable. I mean:
Even Draymond Green is baffled at the end of that Klay Thompson make.
Golden State has found a way to scrounge points all through this series, despite Boston’s best efforts. To be clear, the Warriors have not blown the doors off of the Celtics defense. They have averaged an offensive rating of 113.3 through these Finals, on-par with Indiana’s 15th best regular season offense. Two things are remarkable: that they have achieved a good enough offense against this Boston defense, and that they have been consistent through all five games. Thank Steph Curry for that.
Steph’s impact is obvious when he is raining threes and dropping 43. The Warriors have figured out how to leverage his impact on a defense even when he isn’t scoring. Steph had just 16 points in Game 5, but the Warriors were +15 during his time on the court (second only to Gary Payton II’s +16). Two plays from early in the game are instructive. On the game’s opening possession, the Warriors got Al Horford switched onto Steph. Horford face guards Steph, almost pushing him out of bounds beneath the basket. So Steph cuts over to the weak side of the floor, dragging Horford with him. Draymond and Otto Porter Jr. execute a simple pick and roll. Ordinarily, the weak side low man would rotate over on Porter’s roll…but that man is Horford in this case, determined to keep Steph in check at all costs. That leads to a Porter layup (albeit over a good contest from Jayson Tatum).
Boston took its first timeout on a Draymond dunk a few possessions later. The dunk came off of Draymond’s signature fake-handoff. Again, one would ordinarily expect the weak side low man - Jayson Tatum here - to rotate over and help on Draymond’s drive. But Tatum is face guarding Steph and…
We often hear about Steph Curry’s gravity; this is what it looks like even when he doesn’t have the ball in his hands. He may not have scored 43, but Steph was still the engine driving Golden State’s offense in Game 5.
The Warriors put up an offensive rating of 107.5 though; they don’t win Game 5 without their defense. As in the Game 4 win, Golden State’s rotations were tight and played a big role in forcing 16 valuable Boston turnovers. Much as Steph drives Golden State’s offense, Draymond Green is the beating heart of the Warriors defense. Draymond had 3 deflections, 1 steal, and countless instances of timely help. Watch him rotate over into the lane as soon as Jaylen Brown engineers a switch onto Jordan Poole here. Once Brown gets past Poole, Draymond is in perfect position to contest the shot. Draymond contested 9 shots in Game 5, second on the Warriors to only Andrew Wiggins (13) per NBA Advanced Stats.
Shoutout Nemanja Bjelica there for sinking down onto Robert Williams III. Williams is strong enough to still push Bjelica away, but that initial bump is the difference between Williams being in position for the lob and not. Bjelica has held up surprisingly well on the defensive end in this series, something that many did not see coming.
Another example of Draymond’s alertness as the helper: Andrew Wiggins has done a fine job on Jayson Tatum all series long, but Tatum is still good enough to spring free on occasion. Draymond is alert to the threat of Tatum and splits the difference between his man, Williams, and Tatum perfectly on this drive.
That early positioning obviates what might have been a Tatum layup. Again, shoutout Andrew Wiggins for alertly switching onto Williams once Draymond commits to Tatum.
Golden State’s stars find a way to impact the game even when the counting stats don’t reflect it. And they are now one win away from a fourth title.