By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

 

MANY basketball connoisseurs erred, (including this writer) when we boldly predicted two consecutive victories for Golden State Warriors (GSW) against Boston Celtics being the host of their first two games of the best-of-seven series NBA championships. Our reasons, the Warriors will enjoy the ‘home court advantage’ and records say it is very, uncommon for them to lose their game on its own soil, then and until now, which majority of the spectators are basketball avid buffs, Filipinos. Admittedly, San Francisco, California is the city that is most clustered by immigrant Filipinos in the entire Uncle Sam’s land. Second is Los Angeles, California. I agree, sans doubt.

What was totally unexpectedly was to see the six-time NBA titlists Warriors lose the first joust by a rout score, 120 – 108!  That shocked the fans, including myself. But learning big lessons from the lapses in their play in the first game, the surging and never-say-die Warriors boosted by dominant Filipino fans, the Warriors avenged their dreadful bummer with a convincing distance of 19 points, 107 – 88 over the Celtics to even the score, 1-1, to the delight of the San Francisco crowd.

And as expected, with the Celtics as hosts of the third and fourth games, we saw it how the determined 17-time NBA rulers Celtics, broke the Warriors, 116-100, anew to take 2-1 lead. Unfortunately, the Celtics succumbed to the Warriors in the fourth match with a 107-97 victory to tie the series, 2-2, that saw Warriors’ three-point specialist Stephen Curry at the helm draining a remarkable 43 points. Then, the gritty Warriors scored its first back-to-back wins in the series last Tuesday (June 14), with an astounding come-from-behind 104-94 conquest at Celtics home court to seize the series lead, 3-2, despite a surprising anemic play of the league’s two-time MVP Curry.

Talisman Curry only scored 16 points from 5m at perimeter range and free throws. He’s 7-of-22 from the field, his poorest this season. Curry, shockingly was zero in nine attempts from 3-point distance, his forte. And it was the first time it happened to him in a championship match. It was the unheralded Canadian Andrew Wiggins who took the cudgels from Curry and delivered the superior Warriors’ play, pumping in 26 points, 13 rebounds with two steals and a block that shocked the Celtics before its throng of fans at TD arena. Being an NBA follower and Warriors avid fan, I knew it was Wiggins’ best game yet in his eight-year NBA career. As usual, the reliable Klay Thompson provided support with 21 marks including five three-pointers. Gary Payton, II and Jordan Poole also scored in double figures with 15 and 14 points, respectively. But obviously, it was Wiggins who was the number one maker of the game for the Warriors victory.

The sixth hostility will shift to Celtics court on Friday morning (PH time). As expected, despite the momentum that the Warriors are enjoying after their big win in the fifth game, pundits say Celtics are still slightly favored to win the skirmish because of home court edge. And if that happens, the venue will shift to Warriors Chase Center for the seventh and final game on Monday, (June 20) PH time. Of course, it will be a do-or-die for both teams but the Warriors will be the favorite to win for obvious reason.

By the time you read this piece, the championship is already over. Yes, I might eat my words but I’m confident the Warriors will be champions, again, for the seventh time.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. But made Himself of no reputation taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men. PHILIPPIANS 2: 6-7

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