Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart (36) drives around the Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) as the Celtics forward Jaylen Brown (0) puts on a block during first half action at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Mon Jun 13, 2022 (AP News photo)

Warriors Take Series Lead Beating Boston 104-94

By Barbara Mason

It has come down to a game five for the Golden State Warriors and while this is not mathematically a must win, the team does not want to go back to Boston trailing in the series. They won’t have to worry about that after putting away the Celtics with a ten point 104-94 win to go up 3-2 in the series on Monday night at Chase Center.

The Warriors came out with a vengeance in the first quarter leading after 12 minutes 27-16. The Warriors only had two turnovers to the Boston Celtics four and Golden State’s defense was absolutely terrific to start the game. Draymond Green had a great start and the familiar fire was back.

The Celtics started to heat up in the second quarter and it only took Boston three and a half minutes to cut the Warriors lead in half. The Celtics began to hit shots and organize putting Golden State a bit out of rhythm.

Everything that went right in the first quarter came to a screeching halt in the second quarter. In the final four minutes of the quarter the Warriors got back on track leading at the half 51-39 in this roller coaster of a game. Andrew Wiggins was the high scorer for the half with 16 points and a nice defensive effort with seven rebounds. After a slow start Stephen Curry finished the half with 10 points.

Jaylen Brown was two of ten in the half and the Warriors were doing a great job containing him. The Celtics had nine turnovers which really hurt them. Golden State had to keep the pressure on in the second half.

Boston flipped the switch to start the third quarter. They scored five unanswered baskets and cut Golden State’s lead to two points in less than two minutes. At 6:49 the Celtics had tied the game at 55. The first lead of the game for Boston came at 6:27 and the Warriors were barely hanging on in this game. Golden State was able to take back the lead, albeit a slim one, 75-74 as the third quarter came to an end.

Golden State came in with great energy in the fourth quarter and with under four minutes left in the game the Warriors had a 93-82 point lead. In game four it was the Curry show and in game five Andrew Wiggins took over with 26 points and an amazing 13 rebounds. The final was 104-94 and Golden State had taken a 3-2 series lead going back to Boston.

It was a tough night for Curry. He went 0-9 from downtown and finished with 16 points. You could see the disappointment etched on his face but his teammates rallied around him and they lifted the team to their first series lead. Klay Thompson had 21 points and Draymond Green had a great defensive game and finished with eight points.

This was the first time that Boston had lost back to back games. The Warriors put together some great quarters and when push came to shove they finished this game. The Warriors didn’t come this far just to come this far and they played like it. There were some ebb and flow moments but they rode it out to get within one game of being the world champions.

Game six will be in Boston on Thursday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 PM.