Warriors All-Star shining in NBA Finals
BOSTON (AP) Andrew Wiggins’ critics always focused on what they thought he wasn’t.
Not driven enough to be the No. 1 pick in the draft, they said. Just not good enough to be an All-Star starter, they argued.
One more victory by the Golden State Warriors and all that will matter is what Wiggins is: an NBA champion.
”He’s shining on the brightest of stages in the playoffs. You can tell how much he’s enjoying it,” fellow All-Star Stephen Curry said Wednesday. ”It’s just amazing to see things working out in his favor in terms of kind of dispelling all the narratives around him and who he is as a basketball player right in front of your eyes.”
The Warriors have won two straight games to take a 3-2 lead into Game 6 on Thursday, and Wiggins is as big a reason as any. The forward from Canada had 17 points and a career-high 16 rebounds in Game 4, then followed that with 26 points and 13 boards.
Wiggins had recorded consecutive double-doubles just once in his career before doing it in the two biggest games he’s ever played.
”It’s always great being able to showcase what you can do, what you worked for,” Wiggins said. ”So I’m just happy to be able to be here on the biggest stage and help my team win.”
Even those who wanted to dismiss Wiggins had to concede he could score. The No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft averaged 16.9 points when he won Rookie of the Year honors, and he never scored fewer than 17 per game again. But that rarely translated to winning, with Minnesota only making one playoff appearance while he was there, and it was easy to wonder what there was to Wiggins’ game besides the points.
Turns out, there’s a lot.
Coach Steve Kerr is surprised by how well Wiggins rebounds. On defense, the 6-foot-7 Wiggins has taken on the tough assignments, doing his best to contain Dallas All-Star Luka Doncic in the Western Conference finals and now taking his turns on Celtics swingmen Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
It’s a versatility the Warriors say they knew was…
Source : yahoo
