Andrew Wiggins rewriting narrative, recasting image in Warriors’ playoff run

Wiggs rewriting narrative, recasting image in Dubs’ playoff run originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

Maybe now we and they and the whole NBA can enjoy Andrew Wiggins for what he is, a serene Canadian who likes to play basketball, adores his family and shines brightest when his heart beats fastest.

Game after NBA postseason game, series by series, Wiggins is feverishly rewriting the book that defined him for seven of his eight NBA seasons. He’s soft. He shrinks when needed most. His production is unreliable. He pleases only enough to disappoint. He’s not a winner. And, most disparaging, he doesn’t care.

Well, Wiggins made his first NBA All-Star team in February. And now, standing beneath the hottest spotlights he has ever known, he is reducing those unwanted labels to cruel smears.

“You don’t know how a guy is going to respond when they’re asked to do what we’re asking him to do at this stage of the season, in the playoffs,” Stephen Curry said of Wiggins. “You have the highest hopes. But he’s stepping up.”

Wiggins was at his spectacular best Sunday night, defending Mavericks star Luka Doncić, scoring 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds as the Warriors took a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals with a 109-100 victory at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

“You don’t win in the playoffs without guys like Wiggs,” coach Steve Kerr said.

This is perhaps Wiggins’ most impressive performance in what is becoming a stellar playoffs compilation. He has excelled at the dirty work, rebounding and embracing tough defensive assignments, following the game plan and, along the way, creating indelible moments, the most memorable of which came in the middle of the fourth quarter.

With the Warriors up eight (91-83), Wiggins took a pass from Curry on the right wing and burst toward the rim, where Luka was waiting. Wiggins took flight, up and over Luka, flushing the ball through the rim with enough force to scare a hit man. With the building…