Warriors in Control, Win Game 5 vs. Celtics, 104-94

The Golden State Warriors have defeated the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, thus reaching a 3-2 lead in the series. This might prove to be a vital game in the entire matchup, because one team is in a position to fight to stay in the series. Boston was up two 2-1 at one point, but they will be forced to play for its life in Massachusetts, two days from now.

The Warriors took an early lead, but the Cs came back in the third period, indicating that this game could have a very tight ending. That didn’t happen because the Warriors burst at the opening of the fourth sequence, once they created a 13-0 run. That marked the end of all the hopes of guests, who didn’t have any solutions to stop the rivals.

The best player of this game was Andrew Wiggins, who is by far the biggest two-way contributor on the court for the Warriors in the series. And maybe the playoffs. The former No.1 pick had 26 points and 13 boards, and despite missing all of his six threes, he was the difference-maker.

“Coming into this year, he was an All-Star starter for a reason,” Draymond Green said about his teammate. “ The bigger the challenge has been that we’ve thrown in front of him, the bigger he’s responded. You want a guy like that.”

It is interesting that apart from Klay Thompson, none of the GSW starters managed to make a three-pointer. Steph Curry was 0-for-9, and he ended the night with 16 points and eight boards. In general, the hosts were 9-for-40 from three-point territory, and still, the Celtics couldn’t win.

Luckily for the home unit, Klay was there, hitting five threes and reaching 21 buckets in 40 minutes on the floor. Also, the guys coming off the bench need to be mentioned, Gary Payton II and Jordan Poole who had 15 and 14 points, respectively.

On the other side, Tatum had 27 points and 10 boards. He posted four turnovers, becoming the player with the most lost possessions in one postseason season. Marcus Smart had 20 points, also four turnovers, and was obviously frustrated in this one, having received a technical. Jaylen Brown posted a subpar game, 18 points, nine boards, but five turnovers and 5-for-18 from the field.

The Celtics’ bench was pretty bad, having only 10 points combined, with Derrick White making just one free thrown in 21 minutes of play.

Boston’s big players, Horford and Robert Williams, had 17 boards combined and 19 points, which isn’t that bad. Unlike before, the Cs had controlled the glass well, outrebounding the hosts 47-32, yet that didn’t help them too much.

Boston comes back to TD Garden and Game 6. They have no other option but to win, yet they have already faced such a situation in the past. For Horford, the situation is pretty clear.

“Definitely now, our backs are against the wall, and we have to see what we’re made of,” stated the veteran center.

The bookmakers think that the Celtics are favorites on their own court but that overall, the Warriors have better chances of winning the title. Boston was in a tough position already, once they had to go through Game 7 of the East finals when they beat the Heat in Miami to reach the finals.