As ridiculous as Steph Curry played and as notable as Draymond Green’s fourth-quarter benching felt, Friday night’s massive Game 4 victory in the NBA Finals wouldn’t have been possible without the Warriors’ supporting cast.
OK, it might not be fair to label Andrew Wiggins, Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole as “supporting cast” members at this point. Wiggins is a max contract player, Looney has two rings and been a boss at times throughout the playoffs, and Poole is ascending to stardom.
This team still runs through Steph, Draymond and Klay Thompson, though. They’re the stars of the show with three titles and going to be cast in bronze outside Chase Center one day.
Steph put on a superhuman display in Game 4, dropping 43 points in a 107-97 victory over the Boston Celtics to even up the series. But he needed help. Draymond is struggling with three duds in four contests and Klay is still searching for that big game.
Like he’s done all postseason, Wiggins did the dirty work and hit timely shots in Game 4, but he brought it to another level. Wiggs grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds and scored 17 points in the most important game of his life. He also helped keep Jayson Tatum (23 points on 8-of-23 FG) and Jaylen Brown (21 points on 9-of-19 FG) relatively under wraps.
“We all just got to do our part,” Wiggins said. “We have a lot of guys that can go in the game and affect the game in different ways, and right now, everything is needed. Whatever anybody has to give, you don't want to look back a couple weeks from now and be like, I should have done that, I should have done that. You've got to leave it all on the floor.”
Wiggins’ +20 in plus/minus was only surpassed by Looney. Though Otto Porter Jr. got the start instead of Looney, the Warriors center logged a game-high +21 in his 28 minutes. Loon scored six points and grabbed 11 rebounds (four offensive) while making opportunistic shots near the bucket.
Looney has made a big impact through four games of the series, leading all players with a +36 cumulative plus/minus. In the Game 2 victory, he went a perfect 6-of-6 from the field for 12 points and seven rebounds.
Looney and Poole were used in a three-man mini rotation with Draymond on the floor in the fourth quarter, which was a big late-game development. But Poole helped spark the Warriors with 10 of his 14 points during a six-minute spurt in the first half when Golden State found itself in the gauntlet against the Celtics’ tough defense.
Poole keyed the Warriors’ exhilarating Game 2 victory with his epic halfcourt shot to end the third quarter. Golden State will be back at Chase Center Monday night for Game 5 with homecourt advantage
“All three of those guys have been big for us all playoffs long,” Green said, “and they showed it again tonight.”
