Boston came up clutch late as Warriors wilted
SAN FRANCISCO >> As the fourth-quarter minutes expired and the Warriors kept missing shots, the Celtics came alive to rally for a Game 1 win in Chase Center's NBA Finals debut.
Not the ending the Warriors expected, not after yellow streamers rained from their roof to celebrate the Western Conference championship a week earlier.
How did they blow a 15-point, secondhalf lead?
Celtics coach Ime Udoka pointed to Boston's top-ranked defense, and a fiveminute scoreless stretch by the Warriors backed up his claim. The Celtics went on a 17-0 run on 6-of-11 shooting (5 of 8 from 3-point range) while the Warriors shot blanks (0 for 5 from the field, including 0 for 3 from deep) from the 6:04 mark to 70 seconds remaining.
“That's who we've been all year — tough, grinders, resilient group that knows we can always rely on our defense to buckle down when we need it,” Udoka said. “... Didn't have a great three quarters. Locked down when we needed to.”
Boston went on lockdown, specifically, with a smaller lineup that tried to force the Warriors' shooters inside the 3-point arc. The Celtics switched up their manto-man defense, and that foiled the Warriors, whose offensive rebounding keyed a 38-24 third-quarter swing.
“We wanted to get aggressive and go small, small, small,” Udoka said. “This is what we rely on all year, one-on-one defense.”
Said guard Derrick White: “We had to come together and slow them down. We changed defense up a little, made them work, got the stops. It was a lot of fun.”
The Celtics overcame Jayson Tatum's 3-of-17 shooting night and picked up the slack elsewhere, led by Al Horford (26 points), Jaylen Brown (24 points), Derrick White (21 points) and defensive master Marcus Smart (18 points).
“The guys kept finding me time after time, and also Derrick White made tough shots, too,” Horford said. “Get the looks, knock them down, that's that.”
“That kind of blew the lid open for them,” Klay Thompson said of the Celtics' 17-0 run.
Horford credited the overall, fourthquarter spark provided by Brown, a Cal product who had 10 points in the opening five minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Warriors' offense dried up and resembled nothing like its opening-quarter outburst, when Steph Curry scored 21 of his 34 points.
The Warriors tied an NBA Finals fourth-quarter record in getting outscored by 24 points, according to ESPN.
“When you're making shots, that's a boost. And when you're missing shots, it's a Debbie Downer,” said Draymond Green, who went 2 of 12 from the floor and 0 for 4 on 3-pointers. “They made them, we missed them.”
Another factor to Boston's comeback: opening-night nerves. Every Celtic was making his career debut in the NBA Final.
“Getting those opening-night jitters out, that settled as the game went on,” Udoka added. “We don't expect JT to have a tough shooting night like that again. I don't know if that's attributed to their defense. It shows who we are as a team.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr credited the Celtics' offense for the comeback, saying: “I mean, they made 21 3s. They were moving the ball really well, and they had us on our heels. They made a good push to start the fourth, and they kept that momentum going. Just played a brilliant quarter. They came in and earned the win.”
Smart said this was simply following the Celtics' season-long script.
“We've been counted out all year, rightfully so. We've had moments,” Smart said. “But we continue to fight.”
Tatum salvaged his off-shooting night with 13 assists. And, afterward, he perhaps provided a pep talk for the Warriors.
“Our last two series, we lost Game 1,” Tatum said. “You've got to stay mellow, stay balanced, especially this early. It's far from over. It's one game. We have to be ready for them to respond. They're going to come out and make adjustments. We have to be prepared.”