BOSTON – For two days, Golden State striker Draymond Green saw this in his teammate Stephen Curry. The fire Curry is playing with is not always obvious to outsiders, but Green felt it boiling inside.
Their team lost in the NBA Finals 2-1 and Curry would not allow them to lose Game 4.
On Friday night, everyone else saw the emotion as well.
After one of his two three points in the first quarter, Curry screamed in the crowd full of Boston Celtics fans who showed up early to chase him and his teammates. He had a long way to go in the game, one of the best in his illustrious career, but he called to send a message.
“I felt like we just had to let everyone know we were here tonight,” Curry said.
He added: “You can want it so badly that you get in the way a little bit and everyone feels a little bit of pressure, and it can be the other way around. I wanted to try to use this in a positive way to start the game. “
On Friday night in front of a hostile crowd in Boston, Golden State tied the series with the Celtics 2-2 and regained the advantage on the home court. Golden State won 107-97.
Curry scored 43 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, becoming only the third Warriors player to have at least 40 points and 10 rebounds per game in the NBA Finals; Rick Barry did so in 1967, and Kevin Durant in 2018. Curry, Michael Jordan and LeBron James are the only players aged 34 and over to score 40 or more points in an NBA Finals game.
As Golden State increased their lead in the final minutes of Game 4, Celtics fans began to leave. When Curry was on the free throw line with 19.1 seconds left in the game, an MVP chant could be heard in the upper deck of the arena.
The series will return to San Francisco for Game 5 on Monday, followed by Game 6 in Boston on Thursday.
The crowd booed the Golden State players, starting in their pre-match warm-ups.
When Clay Thompson appeared on the court an hour before the match, a group of fans in the lower cup booed him. He recognized them with his hands and encouraged them to become stronger. Green appeared a few minutes later and caused an even louder explosion of boos. Two nights earlier, Thompson had criticized the crowd for chanting obscene words at Green.
The Celtics came into the game with the desire to hand over to Golden State the first consecutive losses in this year’s playoffs. Before Friday’s game, Golden State won all five games that followed losses this postseason.
But Boston realized the fierce grip that could keep the lead at 3-1 in a series of the top seven.
“We understand that we have a chance to do something special, to put some pressure tonight,” said Celtics coach Ime Udoka before the game.
The Celtics gained confidence from the way they played in the last game.
“We have to repeat what we did in game 3,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said on Thursday. “We have slowed down. We reduced our points for a second chance, the offensive fights. We just controlled the game, the game we wanted to play. ”
Golden State made a change in its starting lineup for the first time in this series in Game 4, replacing Keven Looney with Otto Porter Jr.
The playoffs this season were characterized by breakthroughs and the Celtics played in several of them, including the three that came during the finals. Boston won game 1 with 12 points, lost game 2 with 19 and won game 3 with 16 points.
But in the beginning, Game 4 showed a promise that it could be a highly contested match that will remain interesting until the end.
Boston’s Curry and Jason Tatum scored 12 points each in the first quarter.
“Everyone was emotional tonight,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr. “Down 2-1, we had to come out with some despair and more physical strength than we showed in game 3. So it was a feeling of aggression and emotion in the whole team. It started right from the top of the opening.
“Steph obviously doesn’t usually show much emotion, but one night like tonight justified it.”
The first quarter ended with Tatum passing the ball to Robert Williams III, who threw it to Grant Williams in a corner for 3. 3 on Grant Williams gave Boston a 28-27 lead in the second quarter.
By halftime, the lead had changed six times and the score was five times.
It was the turn of Celtics guard Jaylan Brown to shine in the second quarter. He scored 10 points and Boston was nine points ahead of Golden State when he was on the court this quarter.
Boston slightly increased their lead to halftime to 54-49.
But Golden State would not go quietly, especially not with Curry. He scored 33 points early in the fourth quarter after scoring 14 in the third.
The match was tied at 86 with eight minutes left.
Thompson scored his fourth foul at 5:33 by the end of the match. His crowd chanted the same obscene chanting they had directed at Green in Game 3, but replaced Draymond with Clay. About a minute later, Thompson’s 3rd gave Golden State a 95-94 lead.
Boston scored only once in the last five minutes of the game.
There was some doubt after Game 3 that Curry would be available for Game 4 because he injured his leg while accumulating while fighting for a loose ball. Curry was involved in the shooting of Golden State on Friday morning and received permission to play.
After Curry’s performance on Friday night, the second-highest final match of his career, the first question Kerr was asked at the post-match press conference was insolent about how he thought Curry’s leg held up. Kerr laughed.
“I think he really worked there,” Kerr joked. “He really struggled.”
Thompson was also asked first about Curry when he took the podium after the game.
“This man’s heart is amazing,” Thompson said. “You know, the things he does, we take for granted from time to time, but to get out there and put us on his back, I mean, we have to help him on Monday. Come on. “
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