SAN FRANCISCO — A hushed crowd and humbled Warriors team looked flummoxed by the end of the fourth quarter on Thursday night.
What just happened? And who was the team on the floor for the final 12 minutes of the game?
After playing their brand of basketball for the first three quarters and building a 12-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Warriors had an absolutely epic collapse to end the game. The Celtics finished with a flurry and walked out of Chase Center with a 120-108 win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
While the Celtics couldn’t miss, the Warriors couldn’t get anything going in the fourth quarter. Boston outscored Golden State 40-16 in the final period, shooting 9-of-12 from 3-point land while the Warriors shot 7-of-17 and committed four turnovers. At one point, Boston ripped off a 17-0 run.
“Give them credit,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “They knocked down every big shot in the fourth quarter. Boston just played a brilliant quarter. They came in an earned the win.”
The Celtics turned a 12-point deficit into a 12-point win, becoming the first team in NBA Finals history to win by double digits after trailing by double digits in the fourth quarter.
If history is any indicator, the Celtics just took a huge step towards banner No. 18, as Game 1 winners are 53-22 (.707 win percentage) all time in the NBA Finals.
Still, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson didn’t sound worried after the game.
“It’s fine,” Green said. “You get a chance to do something else, do it in a different way, embrace the challenge. We’ve always embraced challenges, this is no different. We’ll embrace this one. It’s not a hit to the confidence at all. Not one bit.”
"It's never fun and it hurts on the big stage, obviously," Thompson said. "But, like Draymond said, there’s no reason to panic."
Steph Curry was unreal to begin the game, dropping 21 points while setting an NBA Finals record with six made 3-pointers in a quarter. He finished with 34 points to lead all scorers, while Andrew Wiggins added 20 and Klay had 15. Jordan Poole struggled throughout the night and added nine points but had a game-worst -19 in plus/minus.
The Celtics were buoyed by their role players on a night when star Jayson Tatum was relatively bottled up for 12 points. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 24, but it was Derrick White’s 21 points off the bench and Payton Pritchard’s productive minutes that ultimately broke the Warriors. Boston finished the night 21-of-41 (51.2 percent) from 3-point range.
As Draymond noted after the game, Al Horford (6-of-8), Derrick White (5-of-8) and Marcus Smart (4-of-7) shot well above their percentages from beyond the arc.
"They hit 21 threes and Marcus Smart, Al Horford and Derrick White combined for 15 of them," Green said. "15-of-23 from those guys so, we'll be fine"
The Warriors let the Celtics, especially Horford, get too many wide open looks. In general, Golden State seemed to be a bit late on defensive rotations while the Celtics went on the game-winning run.
With the win, Boston became the first team to top the Warriors this postseason in San Francisco.
“Just nothing to panic about,” Green said. “It’s the first one to win four games, not the first to win one.”
