The entire Boston Celtics roster entered Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the revamped Golden State Warriors without a single minute of experience on the league's biggest stage, under the brightest of lights. But their relative naivety proved to be a moot point in the fourth quarter, as they happened to perform like and resemble a defending champion, comprised of winning veterans.
Trailing by 12 points entering the final period, the Celtics flipped on a stunning switch inside Chase Center, and outscored the Warriors by 24 points to clinch a dramatic 120-108 road victory on Thursday. According to ESPN Stats, Boston became the first team to win an NBA Finals game by double-digits after trailing by double-digits entering the fourth quarter. Their surge also occurred without help from superstar Jayson Tatum -- he didn't score once in the last quarter.
"I was scratching my head over the last few days, hearing how many people thought this Finals was going to be a mismatch, that Golden State was going to dominate," Audacy NBA insider Ryan McDonough told the Reiter Than You show on Friday. "If you're Golden State, you're not feeling great this morning, and not just because of the loss. If you look at the Celtics' best player, Tatum, he's almost certainly not going to go 3-for-17 from the field again.
"Now we saw him last night adding the playmaking element, which hasn't only unlocked his game, but unlocked this entire team. They won going away after a huge fourth quarter and without their best player being efficient in any form or fashion.... If you're Jayson Tatum, he's probably feeling better than anyone this morning... I'm sure that gives him a lot of confidence, that his teammates have his back and he doesn't have to do everything for this team to win."
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Tatum's shooting performance in Game 1 wasn't memorable. The 24-year-old scored just 12 points, his second-lowest mark in the playoffs, on three-made shots across 42 minutes of action. But he delivered as an essential facilitator, recording a team-high 13 assists with a plus-minus of plus-13. The Celtics' top scorer was actually veteran center Al Horford, who racked up 26 points in his first-career Finals game. Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart combined for 42.
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 NBA-record 18th in history.
The entire NBA Finals conversation between McDonough and Reiter can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow the Reiter Than You show on Twitter @sportsreiter and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.