CALIFORNIA – Golden State Warriors relied on the game-long brilliance of Andrew Wiggins as they cruised to a 104-94 victory over Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the 2021-2022 NBA Finals on Monday night (Tuesday in the Philippines) at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Clinging to a 75-74 lead after three quarters, Wiggins opened the final quarter with a basket followed by consecutive hits from Jordan Poole as they build an 85-74 advantage.
The Celtics then cut the deficit to 78-85 after a conversion by Jayson Tatum but three inside conversions by Wiggins and layups from Stephen Curry and Gary Payton II widened the Warriors lead to 95-82.
The Golden State widened the lead further as a layup by Curry, a dunk by Wiggins and a three-pointer by Klay Thompson gave them their biggest spread of the match at 104-88.
Wiggins finished the game with double-double 26 points and 13 rebounds to go with two assists, two steals and a block as the Warriors moved closer to coronation after taking a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven finale series.
Thompson added 21 markers, Curry ended up with 16 despite missing all of his nine three-point attempts, while Payton and Poole contributed 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Warriors.
Golden State were scorching to start the game as inside hits from Wiggins and Draymond Green gave them an early 24-8 lead before it was cut down to 16-26 by Boston on consecutive shots by Tatum.
The Celtics chopped the lead further at 26-32 to start the second period but inside conversions from Wiggins and Green gave the Warriors the much-needed separation at 51-39 at the half.
Boston, however, opened the third quarter with a massive run to take the lead at 58-55 on a trey by Al Horford before widening it to 66-61 but back-to-back treys by Thompson and a trifecta from near midcourt by Poole gave GSW a 75-74 lead.
Tatum finished the game with double-double 27 points and 10 rebounds, Marcus Smart added 20 markers, while Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams III contributed 18 and 10 points, respectively, for the Celtics.
BOX SCORE:
GOLDEN STATE 104 — Wiggins 26, Thompson 21, Curry 16, Payton 15, Poole 14, Green 8, Porter 2, Looney 2, Iguodala 0, Bjelica 0, Lee 0, Toscano-Anderson 0, Kuminga 0, Moody 0.
BOSTON 94 — Tatum 27, Smart 20, Brown 18, R. Williams 10, Horford 9, G. Williams 3, Nesmith 3, Kornet 3, White 1, Pritchard 0, Stauskas 0, Morgan 0, Hauser 0.
Quarterscores: 27-16, 51-39, 75-74, 104-94./PN
