Stephen Curry is enchanted on Friday night. If the Golden State Warriors go on to win their fourth NBA championship in eight seasons, It will be one of the most memorable championship performances in tournament history. Curry, a talented generation and one of the NBA’s most popular players, answered when his team needed him most.
All right, though, Curry needs someone out there with the same vibe as him, someone who isn’t ready for the season to be at home next Monday. With Draymond Green struggling for most of the match, and Klay Thompson not providing much offensive support until the second half, the Warrior in battle alongside Curry all night was Andrew Wiggins.
Wiggins grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds as the Warriors beat the Boston Celtics, 107-97, to connect chains with two wins each. It’s not just overall, it’s his activity throughout the night. Wiggins has brought Jayson Tatum in line with all the series as the main defender in the Celtics All-NBA all-star squad. For the series Tatum is shooting 34.1 percent from the scene – one Finals record low for a player with 20 or more attempts on average. In game 4, he took a few breaths while Nemanja Bjelica defended Tatum, and then Wiggins came right back to take on yeoman’s defence while Tatum shot 34.8% from the field. Wiggins also led the Warriors by a few minutes by just over 43 – three minutes more than Curry – and was the Warriors’ second-highest scorer until the end of the fourth quarter with 17 points.
And Wiggins did so in the most important game of his career, as he was doing it all post-season with a strong knockout performance against the Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks. Can understand why he told Yahoo Sports, “I’ve always been a competitor and wanted to win. That should never be questioned”.
That’s what people wonder about him most since he was a top recruiter during his freshman year at Kansas. A player who comes off the field too quickly is like someone pressing a button, he will have to go through a long period of inactivity on the field. It continued in the NBA during his time with the Minnesota Timberwolves as their No. 1 overall pick in 2014. He’s had a number of 20-plus-game seasons, but his defense has been regularly beaten. more error is it added and not. one might think he would win 16 rebounds in a game.
Then there’s the infamous Jimmy Butler script. Remember, it was 2018 when the first deal with the Miami Heat fell through and Butler showed up to practice and own it. He cursed the entire team, while dominating the opening match with the third string players and taking only one shot. After breaking up his former team, he spoke with former ESPN host Rachel Nichols about his problems with the organization. His problem is that his more talented younger teammates don’t play as hard as he did.
“Who is the most gifted player on our team? Toupee, “ Butler told Nichols. “The wig has the longest arm, the biggest arm, can jump the highest, can run the fastest. But who is the hardest player to like? I. I play my best. I play really hard.”
It’s entering the fifth season for Wiggins. In his seventh season, this former No. 1 was awarded to the Golden State Warriors.
It takes a professional level of both fitness and competitiveness to be in the NBA. Some players get ahead of one over the other. Butler gets more of a competitive edge and that’s why he’s so upset with the Timberwolves. Wiggins, for most of his career, was the opposite. Butler feels that makes him a better player, and he’s still a better player than Wiggins.
However, in the first half of the regular season and after the 2022 NBA season, we saw a Butler-like effort from Wiggins. Without him, at best the Warriors’ season would have ended after four sweeping games against the Celtics. As great as Curry was, Great final MVP, team sports will not work without assistance. Wiggins is giving him, the Warriors and the Celtics all he has in every possession. It doesn’t erase what happened before in his career, but it will change the way people talk about him in the future.
