It's hard to imagine a much better fourth quarter than what the Celtics conjured up this evening at the Chase Center in Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals vs. the Warriors. Boston trailed by 12 points (92-80) going into the final frame before they went absolutely bananas and outscored shell-shocked Golden State 40-16. The C's took Game 1 by a score of 120-108, proving that their lack of rest after the Eastern Conference Finals compared to the Warriors (who had a few more days off after beating Dallas in the Western Conference Finals) did not matter at all. Boston improved to 8-2 on the road this postseason while they also handed Golden State their first loss (9-1) on their shiny home court in the 2022 playoffs. Game 2 is Sunday night (8, ABC) back in San Francisco. FYI, only two teams in NBA Finals history have ever lost Games 1 & 2 at home and as you would assume, neither went on to win the series.
There were many standouts for the Celts but none was better than their ageless power forward Al Horford (team-high 26 points, 6 rebounds) who hit a career-high six three-pointers. Shooting guard Jaylen Brown heated up in the second half and finished with 24 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals. Point guard Marcus Smart added 18 points, five rebounds and two steals while small forward Jayson Tatum was ice cold in terms of shooting (3-of-17) so he was held to 12 points but he notched a career-high 13 assists and added five rebounds. Backup point guard Derrick White had another brilliant performance off the bench as he was a game-high plus-25 with 21 points (5 3-pointers!) in 32 impressive minutes.
In the first quarter, Golden State's future Hall of Famer and the best shooter in NBA history point guard Stephen Curry (game-high 34 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals) was unreal with 21 points including an NBA record six three-pointers. Once Boston figured out that maybe they should cover him and not allow so many wide open looks, he went scoreless in the second quarter and was held to 13 points in the second half. Once Curry cooled off, there wasn't really another Warrior capable of stepping up offensively. Small forward Andrew Wiggins (20 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks) has definitely improved, shooting guard Klay Thompson (15 points) is understandably working his way back from two ACL tears in consecutive years while power forward Draymond Green (11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals) still can't shoot whatsoever (2-of-12 from the floor including 0-for-4 on 3s and 0-for-3 on FTs). The ghost of small forward Otto Porter Jr. put up 12 points off the bench for Golden State.
Golden State led 32-28 after the first quarter but Boston picked it up in the second quarter (28-22) to lead at halftime by two points (56-54). Things started to look bleak in the third quarter when the Warriors led by as much as 15 points and they outscored Boston 38-24. Just when you thought that it was beginning to get out of hand, the C's kept chipping away and hitting three-pointers to stay within shouting distance. Still, nobody could have expected that stunning turnaround in the fourth quarter. Boston shot six percent better from the field (50%-44%), they hit two more three-pointers (21-19) and two more free throws (13-11) and dished out nine more assists (33-24) than Golden State. The C's scored eight more points in the paint (34-26) than the Warriors and 11 more points off turnovers (21-10). It'll take more than one loss to rattle Golden State though since Curry, Thompson and Green were all part of three championship squads in recent seasons with the Warriors. Boston will have to play even better to steal Game 2 and come home with a dream 2-0 lead in the series. You can count on the Warriors playing a much better and more complete game than this on Sunday night.
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