Kurtenbach
had just clanked a wide-open 3-pointer at the top of the key. The Warriors, who had been turning defense into great offense all quarter, were poised to run the other way.
The death knell was imminent. And then 22-year-old Jordan Poole, tasked with pushing the team up the floor, handed the ball right back to Tatum. Boston laid it in and stopped the Warriors' avalanche of momentum. The Celtics gave themselves a chance going into the fourth quarter.
Man, did they ever take it. Boston's 17-0 fourth-quarter run stole Game 1 of the series from the Warriors, 120-108.
It was a jaw-dropping turnaround. The Warriors were, well, Warriored, as Boston knocked down 3 after 3 with beautiful ball movement and swarming defense.
Warriors forward Draymond Green said after Game 1 that the Warriors “dominated the game for the first 41, 42 minutes.”
I'm not sure that's true of the game I watched, but regardless, an NBA game is 48 minutes.
In those full 48 minutes, Boston shot better, it played better defense; its lineups went deeper, and it was the more composed team in Game 1.
That's an inauspicious start for Golden State.
The issues that showed up for the Warriors and helped them lose Game 1 — the things they can control — are not novel.
And for them to spiral the way they did Thursday puts serious pressure on the Dubs heading into Game 2 on Sunday.
It puts serious pressure on the Warriors' youngest rotation player, Poole, who was downright unplayable on Thursday.
He finished Game 1 with four turnovers and only two made field goals. Boston outscored the Warriors by 19 when he was on the floor.
So while Curry dominated for the first three quarters, Poole negated the superstar's good work.
And that third-quarter turnover — that lifeline to the Celtics — was a microcosm of his game. It seemed significant at the moment. (The Warriors were doing fine with Poole struggling!) But it proved monumental after Boston made its first seven 3-pointers of the fourth quarter.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr needs to wear this loss, too. He's been brilliant this postseason, but some of his lineup choices in Game 1 seemed to be more about loyalty than the matchups.
The vast majority of the Warriors' minutes were played with two nonshooters on the floor.
Great defenses, such as Boston's, don't necessarily shut down the opposing star. No, what they do is force the ball into the hands of players they want to shoot.
For Boston, that's Green, Andre Iguodala
and Kevon Looney.
Thursday, that trio took nearly a quarter of the Warriors' shots (20-of88) and made only 30% with Green going 2-for-12.
It's on Kerr to change his rotations to mitigate the risk those non-shooters present to the Dubs' offense. But, those struggles from non-shooters could be negated if Poole is a shooter moving forward in this series.
It's not a savory truth, but that doesn't undercut the veracity: The Warriors need Poole to be a positive-impact player to win a title.
This has been true for the first three rounds of the postseason, but it's particularly true against the Celtics, whose defense can jam up the Warriors' motion offense with relative ease.
The Warriors were far more direct in their offensive attack in Game 1. Curry was handling the ball and working off high screens, taking advantage of the Celtics' drop coverage to the tune of an NBA-record six first-quarter 3-pointers.
Poole is the only other Warrior who can run pick-and-roll like that. He is, truly, great at it.
So for him to be downright incoherent with the rock is jarring.
“It was his first Finals game. There's a lot of adrenaline, nerves. He'll settle in,” Curry said.
But Boston deserves plenty of credit for Poole's bad day, too. The Celtics are a highly physical team and they pushed the slight Poole around on both offense and defense, something we saw in the Warriors' semifinal win over the Grizzlies.
Oh yeah, the defense. Poole was atrocious on that side of the ball Thursday. It's been so bad for so many games in a row now that an ultimatum is necessary — if Poole is not scoring, he cannot play.
And yet there was Kerr putting him back into the game late in the fourth quarter, with the Warriors down eight points with 3:47 to play.
The Warriors still had a chance. Boston ramped it up into another gear with Poole on the floor, outscoring Golden State 9-2 over the next three minutes, as the Warriors had to switch to a 3-2 zone defense to protect Poole.
Yes, a zone defense — one that effectively gives wing players open 3-point looks — against a team that had, to that point, made 7 of 8 3-point shots in the quarter.
That's not a strategy for stopping Boston. That's a prayer. Those don't do much come the NBA Finals.
Poole was just in high school when the Dubs' dynastic run began. Now he's not just on this team, but a critical component of the Warriors' championship hopes.
Is it fair for that kind of pressure to be on a 22-year-old?
Probably not. If he didn't have such experienced teammates, you'd probably bet against him in this series.
But he does have Curry, Thompson and Green, and while two of them also need to up their games heading into Game 2, Poole cannot let them down again on Sunday.