BOSTON – Stephen Curry put up another magnificent performance, he scored 43 points to lead the Warriors past the Boston Celtics 107-97. The Celtics dominated the first half until Curry exploded in the third period. Golden State heads back to Chase Center with the NBA Finals tied 2-2.
“Just stunning,” said Steve Kerr. “The physicality out there is, you know, pretty dramatic. I mean, Boston’s got obviously, best defense in the league. Huge and powerful at every position, and for Steph to take that — that kind of pressure all game long and still be able to defend at the other end when they are coming at him shows you, I think this is the strongest physically he’s ever been in his career, and it’s allowing him to do what he’s doing.
Curry finished with 43 points and 10 rebounds in Game 4 tonight. At age 34, he’s the second oldest player in NBA Finals history to record a 40-10 game behind only LeBron James in 2020 (at age 35). Curry is the 11th player in the NBA history to score 30 points in at least 50 postseason games.
It marks his 13th career 30-point game in the NBA Finals, matching Kobe Bryant for the eighth most in Finals history. Curry went 7-for-14 from the arc and now has 80 total 3s in 2022 NBA Playoffs. This is the fourth time Curry has hit at least 80 three-pointers in a single postseason. The only other player with 1 such postseason all-time is Klay Thompson.
“I think I have seen him show that much emotion, and the heart on that man is incredible,” Thompson said. “You know, the things he does we kind of take for granted from time to time, but to go out there and put us on his back, I mean, we got to help him out on Monday. Wow, just showed why he is — shocking he wasn’t a First Team All-NBA guy, but whatever, next year.”
Thompson made four 3s and scored 18 points. Andrew Wiggins was the “wing-man” tonight with 17 points and 16 boards. The Warriors outscored Boston 28-19 in the fourth quarter, this the first time Golden State has dominated the fourth in this series. The Warriors also outrebounded the Celtics 55-42.
“It was a hard-fought win,” said Curry. “I think the first quarter really set the tone. Even though we were down one, it was a night and day difference between Game 3 and Game 4 how we came out defensively, and that just gives you enough life to withstand some rough patches. And then, you know, find some runs. We get some stops, get out in transition, guys get involved. And you give yourself a chance to win it down the stretch.
Proud of everybody in terms of our physicality, our focus, perseverance throughout the game. 2-2 is way better than 3-1 going home. Job well done tonight.”
Photo by Warriors/Twitter
