Celtics Blow Golden Opportunity in Game 4 Loss to Warriors
Leading 94-90 with less than six minutes to play, Boston allowed Golden State to go on a 10-0 run and the Warriors never looked back in evening up the series at 2-2.
The Boston Celtics will give the Golden State Warriors their respect for being a worthy challenger in the NBA Finals, displaying the kind of grit you would expect from a team that has been on this final stage of the NBA season six times in the last eight seasons.
But even with Golden State's Stephen Curry doing Stephen Curry-like things as far as shot-making from all points on the floor, the Celtics succombed to a scoring drought at the worst time - late in the fourth quarter - that would seal their fate in a 107-97 Game 4 loss.
After a Marcus Smart 3-pointer at the 5:42 mark put Boston ahead 94-90, the Celtics did not score again until the 1:31 mark when Al Horford hit a 3-pointer to cut Golden State's lead in half, to 100-97.
From there, the Warriors, having played solid defense most of the night, ratcheted up the intensity to force a couple of late-game miscues that proved too great for Boston to overcome.
And with the loss, the NBA Finals has been reduced to a best-of-three series as the series shifts to Golden State for Game 5 and then back to Boston for a series-clinching Game 6 for one of these teams.
Here are the Stars, Studs and Duds from Game 4 of the NBA Finals
STARS
Stephen Curry: Game 4 was the latest night in which Stephen Curry's scoring touch stood head and shoulders above all others. Curry would finish the night with a double-double that included a game-high 43 points on 14-for-26 shooting along with 10 rebounds.
Jayson Tatum: The turnovers were once again on the high side for Jayson Tatum, with six. But his play scoring the ball, his defense and his rebounding helped take some of the sting out of his miscues. Tatum would finish the night with 23 points on 8-for-23 shooting from the field. He also had11 rebounds and six assists.
STUDS
Andrew Wiggins: His defense has been strong throughout this series, and he's still managing to contribute offensively for the Warriors. In Game 4, he had 17 points to go with a game-high 16 rebounds.
Jaylen Brown: After a slower-than-usual start (he had just two points in the first quarter), Brown came alive at both ends of the floor for Boston. He would finish the game with 21 points on 9-for-19 shooting from the field.
Klay Thompson: He didn't shoot the ball particularly well early on, but Klay Thompson delivered when it absolutely mattered. Thompson would finish the game with 18 points, eight of which came in the fourth.
Draymond Green: Game 4 was yet another game in which Draymond Green's statistics were in a word, bad. But in the second half, the intangibles that we so often associate with Green and their impact on winning was clearly on display. He had two points on 1-for-7 shooting from the field, but Green also tallied a near double-double of nine rebounds and eight assists to go with four steals.
DUDS
IME UDOKA: The turnovers were once again an issue for the Boston Celtics. But more than the miscues was the penchant to play more one-on-one rather than keep the ball moving and pass up good shots for great ones. There was just too much at stake for Udoka to not micro-manage this game more than he would normally. Tatum and Brown on too many possessions got away from what worked in Games 1 and 3 which put the Celtics in early control of the series. You would love for the players to know better, but short of that, Udoka needed to be more forceful with what he needed them to do from an execution standpoint to get what should have been approached with a must-win mindset.