Marcus Smart believes the Celtics ‘were there’ in contesting Steph Curry’s shots in Game 4
Curry scored 43 points on 14-of-26 shooting, making 7-of-14 3-pointers to help the Warriors win.
Warriors star Steph Curry might have had the signature moment of his career in Game 4 — and that’s saying something as he’s a three-time champ and a two-time MVP.
Golden State’s point guard scored 43 points on 14-of-26 shooting, making 7-of-14 3-pointers to keep the Warriors a game away from elimination and win Game 4, 107-97, to even the NBA Finals against the Celtics.
Curry was hot throughout, scoring 19 points in the game’s first half. But where he really made his mark was in the third quarter. With Golden State down five at halftime, Curry scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting, making 4-of-5 3-pointers, to help give Golden State a one-point lead entering the fourth.
Some of Curry’s makes during that 12-minute stretch were mesmerizing. His most memorable shot of Friday evening was when he made a 33-footer while Jayson Tatum appeared to make contact with him, but wasn’t called for a foul. Curry’s shot still went in and it tied the game, 73-73, with less than three minutes left in the third.
Curry didn’t have as many makes in the fourth quarter, but he made a pair of clutch buckets for the Warriors. His first came late in the shot clock with less than four minutes left when he was able to shake free from Robert Williams at the 3-point line and make a floater to give the Warriors a 97-94 lead.
Curry’s next make ended up being the dagger. With 1:42 left, Curry shook free off the ball from Celtics guard Derrick White, creating just enough space to get a 3-pointer off when White recovered, giving Golden State a 100-94 lead.
The shots on Tatum and White are part of the reason why Celtics guard Marcus Smart believes his team at least contested Curry’s shots well.
“We were there. He’s a great player; he made shots. He made a lot of the shots where we were contesting from behind,” Smart said. “We had somebody there and he was just making them. That’s what he does.
“We obviously have to do a better job of limiting that. We got to make it even more tough for him. It is what it is. We get another chance to do it again on Monday.”
Celtics coach Ime Udoka also shared that assessment: that the Celtics guarded Curry well but they allowed him to get too many shots off.
“At times we’re obviously focused on him, keeping others in check. But some of those were some crazy shots that were highly contested that he made,” Udoka said. “You look at the overall numbers, the attempts, getting those off, it is the number we don’t like, the 14 [3-point] attempts in general. He came out bombing early, had nine in the first half.
“Some of the 3s he hit were highly contested and you can’t do anything about those. When we did switch, it kind of got some cross matches and guys on the rim. Went after him a little bit later. They made some plays.”
The Celtics actually didn’t defend too poorly in the fourth quarter. The Warriors shot 9-of-19 from the field and committed five turnovers. But they also crashed the boards on their misses, getting six offensive rebounds that led to eight points. All eight of those second-chance points came in the final six minutes, with four of them coming when the Celtics had the lead.
Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins recorded a career-high 16 rebounds and had two offensive boards in the fourth. Udoka gave him credit for helping the Warriors beat the Celtics’ defense.
“We started switching a little bit more, take away the [3s], got them off the line,” Udoka said. “Obviously, that presents some cross matches there. In general, it wasn’t even the bigs on the smalls; it was more Wiggins crashing from the wing. They got some extra positions as far as that.
“Like I said, defensively other than the late free throws, we guarded well enough to win, even though Curry kind of got loose. Our offense wasn’t as good as it needed to be and it aided them on defense.
“Credit to them. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They weren’t going to come in and lay down. We had our opportunities, especially in the first half.”
The Celtics’ defensive approach worked if it was intended to limit the number of shots Curry took. He only had four field-goal attempts in the fourth. But Smart believes that makes Curry had early on, especially in transition, haunted them in Game 4.
“You got to be aware, especially at the end. That’s the one guy you can’t allow to beat you,” Smart said. “Like I said, obviously he made a lot of tough shots tonight on us. When you get a guy like that, some rhythm early on, those shots, the basketball hoops start to look a little bit bigger for him.
“We just got to make it a conscious effort to find him and Klay [Thompson] and their shooters, especially in transition.”
The Celtics will have a chance to do just that on Monday when they travel to San Francisco for Game 5. The winner will move just one win away from an NBA championship.
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