Andrew Wiggins soars to new heights, leads Warriors in Game 5 of NBA Finals

After Stephen Curry scored 43 points in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Warriors teammate Andrew Wiggins expressed his amazement.

“All you can do is watch,” Wiggins said. “When Steph has the ball sometimes, you just watch and see what he does.”

Wiggins did far more than watch Monday.

On an off night by Curry, Wiggins led Golden State to a 104-94 Game 5 victory with 26 points and 13 rebounds. Wiggins capped his legendary night with an emphatic dunk:

OH MY WIGGINS‼️ HAVE A NIGHT‼️pic.twitter.com/prody1IIzp

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) June 14, 2022

The message sent by the slam?

“We’re here,” Wiggins said in his walk-off interview on ABC. “We’re here, and we’re hungry.”

Wiggins uniquely so.

The Warriors’ other top players – Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green – have all already won three championships. Wiggins, 27, had played in the postseason only once before this year – a meager first-round loss with the Timberwolves in 2018.

Golden State traded D'Angelo Russell for Wiggins in 2020, when Wiggins appeared to be on a severely negative-value contract. In fact, Wiggins’ max extension from Minnesota had become a running joke. Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor offered the lucrative deal only after looking Wiggins in the eyes and getting the forward to promise to improve… just to see Wiggins’ production frustratingly fall off a cliff as soon as he put pen to paper.

When Wiggins arrived in the Bay Area, Warriors coach Steve Kerr immediately tried to temper expectations for the highly paid former No. 1 pick and Rookie of the Year. “We’re not asking him to be a star,” Kerr said.

Well, Wiggins became an All-Star this year. On a good team, he fit in with his defense and complementary scoring. Though fans voting him in received a lot of