2022 NBA Finals: Golden State Warriors defeat Boston Celtics, take decisive advantage
The Golden State Warriors took a giant step towards winning the 2022 NBA Finals with a deserved 104-94 win over the Boston Celtics at the Chase Center in Game 5 of the series to take a 3-2 lead.
Having seen Steph Curry drop 43 points on them in Game 4 at the TD Garden, Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka set his team up to stifle the Chef by face guarding him and it worked to perfection as they limited him to 16 points on the night. The Golden State Warriors were, however, able to do damage in other ways.
The Warriors got off to a terrific start in front of a boisterous home crowd as the Celtics looked nervous and unsure in the opening stages, and this set the tone for the first half. The home side held a 27-16 advantage in the first quarter before an improved second quarter showing from the Celtics saw them limit the damage and they headed into half-time trailing by 51-39 points.
Through the first four games of the series, the Celtics have been battered in the third quarter each time, but it was their turn to do the battering this time as they claimed a 35-24 lead to cut the Warriors’ lead to just one point. The Warriors, however, showed cool heads to recover in the fourth quarter and defeat their opponents by 10 points on the night.
Despite having an extremely slow start to the game, Jayson Tatum recovered significantly and led all scorers with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Marcus Smart scored 20 points and Jaylen Brown could only contribute 18 points as they struggled offensively.
For the Golden State Warriors, Andrew Wiggins showed up in the absence of Curry, ending the game with 26 points and 13 boards, while Klay Thompson scored 21 points.
This is the first time in this post-season that the Celtics have lost two straight games, and they would look to arrest the slump as the series returns to Boston for Game 6.
