Canadian Andrew Wiggins will play a key role in the NBA Finals
Former No. 1 pick has finally found the right situation with Golden State
This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing here.
The Golden State Warriors vs. Boston Celtics matchup is an excellent one. It pits this era's premier team (Golden State is playing in its sixth Finals in eight years and going for its fourth title in that span) against one of the NBA's most iconic franchises (Boston is tied with the Lakers for the NBA record of 17 championships). It should be a close one too: the betting odds imply that the Warriors, who own home-court advantage for a potential Game 7, have about a 57 per cent chance of winning the series. Plus, a Canadian player will have a significant say in who ends up hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
To get you caught up, here are some things to know ahead of Game 1 tonight at 9 p.m. ET in San Francisco:
The vintage Warriors are back.
But then the Warriors changed too. After blowing a 3-1 lead and losing to LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2016 Finals, Golden State added superstar Kevin Durant to what was already the NBA's best team. Suddenly, the Warriors weren't so lovable anymore. They rattled off back-to-back championships in 2017 and '18, but the spark was gone. Golden State was simply too stacked to root for.
By the time their fifth straight Finals appearance ended with a defeat to the Toronto Raptors in 2019, it was time to break up the band. An unhappy Durant, who tore an Achilles early in that series, fled for Brooklyn while sharpshooter Klay Thompson, who tore an ACL, would end up missing the next two full seasons after suffering another devastating injury. Curry played only five games in 2019-20, and the Warriors missed the playoffs that year and the next.
You'd never know it by looking at him, but the boyish superstar is now 34 years old. And yet, the greatest package of long-range shooting and ball-handling the NBA has ever seen remains one of the very best players in the league. He averaged a team-high 25.5 points this season and continues to warp the game in his team's favour every time he touches the floor with his astonishing shooting range and tireless movement. The two-time MVP and three-time champ's legacy is already secure. Curry reimagined basketball. Long after he's gone, his imprint will remain on the sport. But this could be his last great chance to fill the only real hole in his resumé: the lack of a Finals MVP award.
The Celtics might be the better team.
The Man for the Celtics is Jayson Tatum, a 24-year-old wing with tremendous size and skill. He tops all players in this series with 27 points per game in the playoffs — about a point ahead of Curry. Boston has an excellent sidekick for Tatum in 25-year-old Jaylen Brown, who's averaging 23 points. Pesky point guard Marcus Smart, the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year, is chipping in 15.5.
Canada's Andrew Wiggins will play an important role in this series.
In today's offence-friendly NBA, opposing superstars can't really be "stopped," and no one guards them one-on-one. Defence is a team effort. But teams will still give someone the prime responsibility of making the best guy on the other side work for his points so he can't completely destroy them. In the Warriors' Western Conference final series vs. Dallas, the job of bothering Luka Doncic fell largely on Wiggins. The playoff scoring leader still averaged 32 points in the series, but Wiggins and the Warriors held him to under 39 per cent shooting in three games and Golden State breezed to victory in five.
Wiggins has had an interesting career. Drafted No. 1 overall by Cleveland in 2014, he was quickly shipped to Minnesota in a trade for Kevin Love that seemed like part of the deal for attracting LeBron James back to the Cavs. Though immensely talented, Wiggins was incapable of being a true go-to guy for the Timberwolves, who finished well below .500 in four of his five full seasons with them. He won the NBA's Rookie of the Year award in 2014-15, but Wiggins lacked the efficiency and consistent effort to bloom into a real star. His shortcomings as an alpha were also apparent with the Canadian national team last summer, when a Wiggins-led squad got bounced by the Czech Republic in the semifinals of a last-chance Olympic qualifier in Victoria despite the tournament being all but set up for Canada to win.
But the Warriors have found the right role for Wiggins since acquiring him during their disastrous 2019-20 season. His job is to defend, rebound and chip in some scoring as a secondary option. Wiggins thrived this season, averaging a solid 17.6 points while having his most efficient offensive campaign as a pro and earning his first all-star selection. In the playoffs he's scoring 15.8 a game along with seven rebounds and getting rave reviews for his defensive work — particularly against Doncic. Now Wiggins will be the tip of the spear for the Warriors' efforts to contain Tatum.
