SAN FRANCISCO — For the first four games of the series, Steph Curry was basically the John Travolta GIF. Powered by determination, skill and experience, Curry asked his teammates to follow him into the fray with a Western Conference finals appearance on the line.
When he arrived, however, his cavalry was nowhere to be found.
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Facing a 3-1 deficit and in desperate need of a complete team effort, Curry’s supporting cast finally entered the room to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 121-106 Game 5 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday at Chase Center, living to fight again in Game 6 on Friday.
A rare sighting of bucket-happy Draymond Green, who tends to only show up in the most necessary of situations, was an early sign that help had arrived for Curry. He did it in Game 5 against the Kings, and then again in Game 2 against the Lakers — the Warriors’ only victory of the series prior to Wednesday — and in Game 5 he scored 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting.
There are few things that get Warriors fans as excited as a Draymond Green 3-pointer, and he delivered early to generate the Chase Center buzz that lasted throughout the game, sending a harbinger of evil intent in the Lakers’ direction.
Green scored eight points in the first quarter, finishing the half with 14 — more than he scored in all but 10 regular season games.
“I loved his approach to the game tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the Game 5 win. “He was aggressive right from the start — picked up a foul on the first play and didn’t care. Like, made no bones about it. He’s like, ‘I’m coming. I’m coming.’ I thought he was one of the keys, for sure. “
Coming along for the ride was Andrew Wiggins, who in Game 3 showed a glimpse of the player he became last postseason, but put up a lackluster Game 4 after which he admitted he needed to be more assertive. That wasn’t a problem in Game 5, as Wiggins scored 25 points on 10-for-18 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. Since Anthony Davis started on him defensively, Wiggins set a lot of screens to draw Davis out of the paint, leading to playmaking opportunities. Wiggins’ aggressiveness as a scorer drew multiple defenders, and he continually made the right read to either score himself, or get the…
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