As the Golden State Warriors sit one win away from the NBA Finals, Stephen Curry has been their leading man, but in a series featuring the likes of Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, it's been Andrew Wiggins who has proven to be the difference-maker, leading the Warriors to victory in Game 5.
MORE: Warriors win Game 5 behind dominant Wiggins
With Curry struggling to find his shot in Game 5, going 0-for-9 from deep, Wiggins stepped in to fill the void, pouring in 26 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two steals to lead the Dubs to a 104-94 win at Chase Center to give them 3-2 series lead.
‼️‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/5oNnnyPQp3
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) June 14, 2022
Curry has one hand on the Finals MVP trophy, but right there with him as his No. 2 has been Wiggins, who in the span of a couple of years has gone from inefficient gunner with the Minnesota Timberwolves to a dominant two-way force, capable of swinging the momentum of multiple Finals games.
Over the past two games of the NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, Wiggins saved two of his best performances for the two most important games of his NBA career.
In Game 4, on the road in Boston Wiggins recorded 17 points and 16 rebounds, then tonight in Game 5 in San Francisco, he followed it up with an even more influential performance, recording back-to-back double-doubles for just the second time in his eight-year NBA career.
Andrew Wiggins last 2 games:
— StatMuse (@statmuse) June 14, 2022
41 PTS
29 REB pic.twitter.com/a8zSoOYTi3
His 26 points in Game 5 also marks the most points ever scored by a Canadian in an NBA Finals game.
From Minny to winning
Wiggins came into the league with as much hype as any prospect in recent years, dubbed 'Maple Jordan' as he was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
A trade sent him from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he was pegged as the future face of the franchise.
In six seasons in Minnesota, Wiggins shows flashes of that promise and averaged 19.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game on 44.8 percent shooting and 35.0 percent from the 3-point line, but struggled to shake the 'empty stats on a bad team' reputation after amassing a 166-276 record and making just one playoff appearance in that time.
Fast forward to February of 2020, the Warriors pulled off a deal to send D'Angelo Russell, along with Jacob Evans and Omari Spellman to Minnesota in exchange for Wiggins, a protected 2021 first-round pick (which turned into Jonathan Kuminga) and a 2021 second-round pick.
At the time, many questioned how the Warriors could turn Wiggins into a championship-level player.
Two years in, that deal looks like the heist of the century.
"Being here is just such a winning culture... they put you in position to succeed."
— NBA (@NBA) June 14, 2022
Andrew Wiggins' on the @warriors culture and the support he's received from the organization. pic.twitter.com/5axqxmc76J
Unburdened by the pressure of being 'the man,' Wiggins has been asked to simply do the things he does well as a cog in the Warriors' championship motor.
"That trust has been building for two and a half years now since he got here," Draymond Green said following the Game 5 victory. "A lot of people looked at that trade like, oh, that's another piece they can move.
"We looked at the trade from the very beginning like that is a guy who can fit next to a healthy group absolutely well.
"...He was an All-Star starter for a reason. He defended very well. He scored the ball very well and really just plugged right in.
I think the bigger the challenge has been that we've thrown in front of him, the bigger he's responded. That's a guy -- you want a guy like that, when the stage get big, they respond and play their best basketball, and that's what he's been doing.
Draymond Green on the trust they have in Andrew Wiggins. Some great perspective, and even something Tom Thibodeau told the Warriors after the trade happened: pic.twitter.com/imd2iWZDB7
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) June 14, 2022
Blessed with the gifts to be an elite defender, Wiggins never reached his potential as a defensive player in Minnesota, but Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has empowered him as a disruptive perimeter player, utilizing his length and athleticism against key matchups.
Earlier this season, Kerr described Wiggins as the 'key' to their renewed success.
“I think the Wiggins trade is the key to all of this," Kerr said.
"Our whole wing core was wiped out, defensively. So, the Wiggins trade allowed us to start to rebuild that wing defense. Wiggs has just been so good."
He’s gotten so much better over the past few years, and he’s a perfect fit next to our guys.
"I don’t know where we’d be without him defensively, with his work on Luka [Doncic] and every other top wing that [the Warriors] have to face. He’s just been brilliant, so, I think that move was kind of they that Bob [Myers] and the front office made to get us back to having a playoff roster.”
Defense wins championships
Wiggins is a gifted scorer, and while the Warriors don't run a ton of plays for him, he still finds ways to impact the scoreboard. From taking and making tough mid-range shots, to crashing the offensive glass and cutting to the basket, Wiggins is all hustle.
Meanwhile, Boston's offense revolves around the play of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, two explosive wings, capable of taking over the game on any given night. That's where Wiggins has made his presence felt.
Turnovers have proven to be the Celtics' Achilles heel throughout the playoffs and time and time again, Wiggins has made them pay, blowing up pick-and-rolls, playing the passing lanes and helping turn defense into instant offense on the fastbreak.
He leads the NBA Finals in shots contested, rebounds (9.4 per game) and is second only to Celtics center Robert Williams III in blocked shots (1.2 per game), with Kerr applauding his extra effort in the postseason.
"I think throughout the playoffs, really, he's rebounded well," Kerr said postgame.
"I think it's just a sense of what's needed and being on this team, where he's got veteran guys who are helping him to understand what we need from him, and he's just using his athleticism in a lot of different ways.
He's just been fantastic, not just in this series but throughout the playoffs.
"We knew we needed his athleticism and defense and his versatility. We had no idea that he would make this kind of contribution. But I think it's a reminder that for every -- almost every player in the NBA, circumstances are everything."
You kind of need to find the right place, the right teammates, that kind of stuff. Wiggs has been a great fit.
With an All-Star selection under his belt and the Larry O'Brien trophy within his sights, Andrew Wiggins is more than fitting in at the Warriors, he's become the second-most important player on a championship-caliber team.
