The Boston Celtics, battered by the Warriors and trailing by 15 points, won Game 1 after a monstrous last quarter, won 40-16 (with a 3-pts from the Warriors in the last seconds), including a terrible 17 -0 to take orders in front of standing ko locals. Boston eventually wins 120-108. This gap of 24 points in the last quarter is quite simply a record in the history of the finals. Boston shot 9/12 from behind the arc in the quarter.
Jaylen Brown (24 points at 10/23, 7 rebounds and 5 assists), sounded the charge at the start of the last act, then Al Horford (26 points at 9/12, including 6/8 at 3-pts, 6 rebounds and 3 assists) and Derrick White (21 points at 6/11 including 5/8 at 3-pts, incandescent, took over! All that with a Jayson Tatum in a nightmare, limited to 12 points at 3/17. Boston shoots at 50.6%, including a whopping 21/41 from a distance Opposite the Warriors lost their basketball in the last quarter, stuck in the green defense Steph Curry had started strong with 21 points in the first act, but finished with 34 points at 12/25 including 7/14 at 3-pts while Andrew Wiggins adds 20 points at 8/15 and Klay Thompson 15 points at 6/14.
The start of the game was played at a fast pace with good skill on both sides, especially from a distance. If the Warriors raced in the lead, with good positions and a very hot Steph Curry, Boston hung on, notably returning their first 4 baskets from afar. They did it all that first quarter despite a huge Steph Curry, who hit 6 of his first 7 shots at 3-pts, constantly finding positions, to lead 29-22. White at 3-pts and Tatum on a 2+1 put the greens back to 1 point before a final award-winning shot from Steph, 32-28 including 21 points for Curry.
The Warriors continued to find good positions and finally made a first break with in particular the award-winning shots from Porter and Klay to lead 47-37. But out of time out, spurred on by Brown and Smart, the Celtics responded with a 10-0 to put the two teams tied. There was a drop in skill at the end of the first half and it was finally Boston who took the lead 56-54 despite 8 small points from Tatum and while opposite Steph Curry did not score quarter.
The Warriors made a great start to the second half with 5 first points from Wiggins and Curry to set the tone. Very present in the offensive rebound, the locals flew in the wake of Curry, Klay, Wiggins and Poole, with award-winning shots to take the advantage 87-72. But there was a lot of waste at the end of the quarter and thanks to the White and Brown duo, Boston reduced the score a little, 92-80 with a 38-24 Warriors on the quarter.
With Curry on the bench and the Warriors struggling on offense, Brown took charge for Boston and spearheaded a 9-0 that fully revived the game with a 3-point comeback. Steve Kerr had to put Curry back into play, which was good for the Warriors offense. The leader allowed the greens to be pushed back somehow for a few minutes, but the locals finally gave in under the green battering. The latter, on fire, scored their first 6 shots at 3-points in the quarter in the wake of an untenable White – Horford duo! They put 5 in a row, result, a terrible 11-0 to take the lead 111-103. Smart added 2 3-point shots to make that run 17-0… Game Over. The Warriors couldn’t find the basket for more than 5 minutes.
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