Boston Three Party ruins Game 1 for Warriors as Celtics win 120-108
Boston Three Party ruins Game 1 for Warriors as Celtics win 120-108
The Dubs took a 92-80 lead after the third quarter, but were outscored by 24 points in the fourth... daaaaamn.
My wife is what I’d call a casual Golden State Warriors fan. She knows GSW player names and what they’re good at, she knows the rival players to boo, and she knows turnovers and excessive hero ball are to be frowned upon.
But she’s not gonna use a single second of her life to be bummed if the Warriors lose. That’s just not her path. She’s a caring soul who knows that it means a lot to me though. So after Boston Celtics ripped the heartbeat out of Chase Center last night in a 120-108 comeback Game 1 win and left me resorting to calisthenics to get the frustration out of my bones, she sympathetically asked me what I thought went wrong for the hometeam.
I paused in between the haggard grunts of a cathartic set of resistance band shoulder presses to mull it over. Resignedly I responded, “Boston is a hella good team…but I didn’t expect them to shoot like that!”.
WHAT A TURN OF EVENTS
This was shaping up to be a classic Golden State home playoff performance. Red-hot Stephen Curry? Check. He set the NBA Finals record for most three-pointers in a quarter and scored 21 points in the first frame!
Golden State even walloped Boston in the third period with a dynastic trademark third quarter domination, outscoring the men in green 38-24. The Dubs took a 92-80 lead into the fourth quarter at home in Chase Center where they had never lost a postseason game.
But Boston roared back with a monstrous final quarter, outscoring the Dubs 40-16 in the final period.
Quite frankly I had to admire their resolve and grit. We’ve seen a plethora of postseason opponents wilt after a third quarter barrage, but these Celts are a worthy foe who have real championship expectations.
Also, Boston’s shooting was RIDICULOUS: 21-of-41 from beyond the arc, 9-of-12 from deep in the fourth quarter.
So this morning I just want to go back through each of those fourth quarter daggers to determine whether Boston is the greatest shooting team of all time (thought that was us) or if the Warriors can adjust.
Boston’s game changing 4th quarter bombs (with timestamps)
8:23 - Derrick White penetrates the paint, Otto Porter Jr. gets caught ball watching as his man Brown slides to the corner. White’s pass finds Brown in rhythm, and he buries a triple.
94-92 Warriors, concern level rising.
7:08 - Jayson Tatum drives on Andre Iguodala which draws Draymond Green over. Porter Jr. drops down to pick up Green’s man rumbling to the rim, leaving Payton Pritchard wide open on a corner three.
99-97 Warriors, why the heck are they giving up THAT shot?
6:21 - Brown backs his way into the paint where he draws a double-team from Klay Thompson and Porter Jr. eight feet from the basket. Andrew Wiggins is caught in no man’s land trying to zone up both Tatum and White. Brown finds White on the wing, Wiggins can’t quite close the gap, and White buries a smooth trey.
101-100 Warriors, okay so we just gonna choke away the lead at home huh? Haha man you Dubs sometimes really play around too much lolol.
5:39 - Brown attacks OPJ around the FT line before whipping a pass out to White in relatively deep three-point territory. Curry jumps towards White to recover and gets in his airspace, but White pulls up once Curry lands and drills a monstrous three with the shot clock winding down.
103-103 tie, that was a helluva shot I ain’t even gonna lie. These dudes came to PLAY but they can’t keep this up…right?
5:09 - White attacks the paint, kicks it to Pritchard in the corner. Pritchard makes the next past to Al Horford who has Thompson zoning in between him and Brown at the top. As Thompson carefully slides over to contest the shot, Horford is already launching up a bomb. BANG.
106-103 Celtics, I knew Horford could shoot pretty well for a big dude but that shot was ballsy! And damn this Celtics’ ball movement is carving up GSW’s zone.
4:45 - Warriors turn the ball over, Celtics come down and light us up for another Horford three.
109-103 Celtics, sigh.
Wellp, I did not have Boston center Horford nailing six treys on the road of the NBA Finals, and it certainly didn’t help that White went 5-of-8 from downtown himself. Heck, Marcus Smart shot 4-of-7 from deep. The Warriors flat out have to do a better job of limiting those open opportunities.
If GP2 cant go it has to be moody time, only way poole should play over 25 minutes is if hes locked and hitting shots, poole is like curry you can tell if hes on or off through a quarter or two
Not related to Finals. This guy Christian Braun seems like he could fit in with what the Warriors do and be a role player next season. I’m not sticking my flag into “draft him or bust“ territory or anything like I did with Moody/Wagner, but he seems mocked around 28 and I could see the vision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_b9nRgQs44