Celtics have a familiar feel
SAN FRANCISCO — When the Warriors look at the tape of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, they’ll see the present and the past.
They’ll see the Celtics, the 2022 version. They’ll also see a team that looks a lot like the 2015 Warriors.
Consider the parallels: The 2015 Warriors had a first-time, first-team All-NBA player in Stephen Curry, a first-year coach in Steve Kerr and a trio of young standouts — Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — serving as the franchise cornerstones.
The 2022 Celtics have a first-time, first-team All-NBA player in Jayson Tatum, a first-year coach in Ime Udoka and a trio of young standouts — Tatum, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown — serving as the franchise cornerstones.
Those Warriors won their NBA Finals debut, on the way to a championship.
These Celtics won their NBA Finals debut. The rest of the story will play out over the next week or two. But make no mistake: If there was any doubt about whether this Celtics team could contend for a title evaporated with a dazzling fourth quarter that fueled a 120-108 win over the Warriors in Game 1 of the finals on Thursday.
“It just says what we’ve been doing all year,” Smart said. “We’ve been counted out all year. Rightfully so. We’ve had moments. But we continue to fight. That’s who we are.”
In their first finals game in 2015, the Warriors erased a 14-point deficit to win. On Thursday night, the Celtics did that one better. They erased a 15-point deficit to win their finals debut. Nobody in a Celtcis uniform had played a second in a finals game before Thursday night.
“We have a lot of great guys here, guys that have really bought into what we’re trying to do,” Celtics center Al Horford said. “It’s just fun to see all that come together.”
It’s been well-chronicled how this has been a tale of two seasons for the Celtics, who were 25-25 in their first 50 games and have gone 39-12 in 51 games since, including the postseason. The Celtics handed the Warriors their third loss in the last 24 Game 1s by coming up with a massive fourth quarter, outscoring them 40-13 to turn a 12-point deficit into a 15-point lead.
All they won is a game. Not a championship. But a confident team coming into Thursday is now going to be even more confident coming into Game 2 on Sunday.
“I think everybody had nerves today from our side,” Celtics reserve guard Payton Pritchard said. “Like I said, it’s our first time being here. But it’s more being excited and ready for the moment. Just getting up and down, I think it went away quick.”
The Celtics got Game 1 despite a 3-for-17 shooting night from Tatum, who more than made up for that by finishing with 13 assists — more than any two players in the game combined. Horford, who had gone a record 141 playoff games without making the NBA Finals, scored 26. Brown and Smart combined for 42. Derrick White came off the bench and scored 21.
Everybody wearing green played a role. The 2015 Warriors broke out a slogan during their postseason run: “Strength in Numbers.” It has been the mantra of their dynastic run.
That saying looks to fit the Celtics now.