Days before the Boston Celtics took the court for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, first-year head coach Ime Udoka told reporters that he wasn't worried about his team's lack of experience on the game's biggest stage. He also said that his players aren't overwhelmed by the stakes, or intimidated by the pressure of battling the Golden State Warriors, hellbent on continuing their dynasty.
Call it standard coach-speak from Udoka, but his comments were proven to be true by the Celtics on Thursday. Despite trailing by 12 points entering the fourth quarter, the team miraculously ignited an offensive surge, outscoring the Warriors, 40-16, to complete a thrilling 120-108 comeback victory inside Chase Center. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Celtics became the first team in league history to win a Finals game by double-digits after trailing by double-digits entering the final period. Inexperienced be damned.
"What really struck me about Game 1 isn't that Boston had this historic fourth quarter and comeback. It was just how quickly it happened. And I've done a million games," Celtics radio voice Sean Grande told The Zach Gelb Show on Friday. "All year, they've had quarters like this and moments like this. But it all happened so fast. That's when it's difficult to process. And the hardest thing to do is, to contextualize things happening in real time, in a historical frame.
"And that becomes really, really hard when something's happening that we've never seen before... I get it, Golden State was the safe pick in this series and they were a popular pick -- because we can't process things until we've seen them... And this is all I'll say: having watched this team all season, the Celtics, since January, have played like the best team in the NBA. And they've played like a team that historically goes on to win the championship."
Boston, which clinched the East's second seed with a 51-31 record, will play Game 2 against Golden State on Sunday night, with tipoff slated for 8:OO ET. According to FiveThirtyEight projections, the Celtics now have a 92-percent chance to capture their first league championship since 2008, and if they do hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy, it'd be their league-record 18th in team history.
The entire Finals conversation between Grande and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.