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 its 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.
“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 and earned the win.”
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.
“They just pounced,” Kerr said. “They took advantage of every opportunity, they moved the ball well. They made 5, 6 threes in the fourth quarter. That’s tough to overcome. We’ll watch the tape, learn from it and see what we can do better. My guy reaction, what I just witness, is they just played a hell of a fourth quarter. You gotta give them credit.”
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.”
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