Apparently the ankle of Stephen Curry is perfectly fine. Curry exploded for 43 points (24 in the second half) on Friday night, as the Golden State Warriors evened the best of seven NBA Finals 2-2 with a 107-97 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 4 at TD Garden.
Boston took advantage of some cold shooting early by Golden State, racing out to an 11-4 lead on a Jayson Tatum three-pointer with just under three minutes played in the first quarter. The Warriors started 1-7 and 0-4 from the three-point arc before they found their mark. Curry hit back to back threes to give the guests their first lead 23-18, part of an 8-0 run. Grant Williams regained the lead for the Celtics 28-27 with a last second three-pointer before the horn. Jordan Poole came off the bench for Golden State and tallied 10 points in nine minutes, including a pair of three-pointers to start the second period to make it 33-28 Warriors. Boston was able to take the lead back though before the break, as they scored 10 points in a row helped one of their best bench players in Derrick White who also scored 10 points in the half turning a three point deficit into a seven point advantage. The C’s would lead 54-49 at halftime.
It was a back and fourth third quarter, and Curry did his thing putting in 14 points on the strength of four three-pointers for Golden State. The Warriors took their first lead since early in the second quarter 76-75 on a cut to the basket for a dunk by Gary Payton II off a nice feed from Poole, and held that same one point edge 79-78 headed to the final 12 minutes. It was once again back and fourth as the last period began. Boston led 94-90 with 5:18 left to play on a Marcus Smart three from the perimeter, but then they picked the wrong time to go cold from the floor as the guests would score the next 10 points. Golden State took the lead for good on a Klay Thompson three-pointer just 52 seconds later 95-94. After Curry extended it to 100-94 with his seventh three-pointer of the night, Al Horford answered with one of his own for the Celtics to slice it to a three point deficit with still 1:32 remaining. The Warriors put it away with a Kevon Looney layup and 5-6 from the line by Curry in the final 1:04 to head back home tied up in what is now a best of three series. Boston shot 1-8 from the field in the final 5:18 in the defeat.
Curry added 10 rebounds and four assists to his game high points total, shooting 14-26 from the floor (7-14 three-pointers). The star guard, who accidentally had his ankle twisted in a scramble with Horford for a loose ball near the end of Game 3 and was hobbled, played over 40 minutes. Thompson had 18 points, Andrew Wiggins 17 points and 16 rebounds, and Poole finished with 14 points for Golden State. Four players scored in double figures in the loss for Boston led by Tatum with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. Jaylen Brown had 21 points and six rebounds, Smart 18 points, five rebounds, four assists, while White ended up with 16 points. The Warriors outrebounded the Celtics 61-49, and 16-11 on the offensive glass. Another pivotal game is set for Monday night in San Francisco at the Chase Center with tipoff shortly after 9 p.m.
