It was a tale of two halves for the Warriors in their 111-107 win over the Boston Celtics on Friday night at TD Garden.
The first quarter was all about Steph Curry, who looked like he shook off the pressure of setting the NBA’s 3-point record and was letting it fly. The second quarter was all about Wiggins.
Then the third quarter happened, and was the Warriors’ worst third quarter of the season, putting up just 14 points on 21 percent shooting. It’s not that the Celtics’ defense had a new level of intensity, but just that Golden State simply couldn’t knock down shots.
But the Warriors (24-5) got just enough juice — fueled by their defense — to avoid the Boston (14-15) onslaught to get the win.
Here are three takeaways from the night:
Vintage Andre Iguodala
In his third game back after missing 11 consecutive games, Iguodala gave the kind of performance that was often seen from him in 2016: A swiss army knife of a game where he did a bit of everything.
Iguodala finished with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting — including two 3-pointers — four rebounds, six assists and two blocks and two steals.
Earlier in the game, it was Iguodala’s facilitating that made the biggest impact. The stat sheet says Iguodala had six assists, but that doesn’t accurately capture the kind of passing and playmaking he did in Boston.
Iguodala had several impressive feeds, including one that didn’t count when he dished it down low to Nemanja Bjelica who was fouled.
In the fourth, Iguodala stepped up on offense to help the Warriors bounce back from their poor third quarter. In a span of four minutes, he hit a tough reverse layup, threw down a thunderous vintage Iguodala dunk and knocked down a three at the shot clock expired.
Wiggins shows his versatility
The Warriors needed someone to step up and provide the scoring they lost with Jordan Poole being out while in COVID-19 protocol.
Wiggins was the guy to do so and did it with all of the offensive skills in his arsenal.
Wiggins finished the night with 27 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the field, including 5-of-7 from three, six rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block.
He started the night aggressively, cutting to the hoop and playing active defense, but the second quarter is when Wiggins really started finding his rhythm.
Wiggins scored 18 points in the second and knocked down four 3-pointers.
Steph still not entirely himself
With the NBA’s all-time 3-point record securely in his hands, Curry could finally play without that added pressure.
Early on Curry played with ease, scoring 20 of his 30 points in the first half.
But then coming out of halftime, there was a shift and once again Curry couldn’t get his offense going. His night ended early when he fouled out late in the fourth quarter.
He had a lid on in the bucket — as did the entire team — going just 1-of-7 from the floor in the third. Curry struggled at the rim, in particular, missing numerous layups.
While he never got going again like he was in the first half, Curry found just enough. He knocked down the second chance 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to put the Warriors back up by double digits.
And while Curry was figuring out his offense, he found other ways to get involved, racking up five rebounds, four assists and one steal.
