NBA Finals: The Celtics lead and the Warriors lose 1 Game

NBA Finals: The Boston Celtics scored 17 straight fourth-quarter points to suffer a surprise home loss to the Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

Despite Stephen Curry’s NBA Finals record of six first-quarter 3-pointers and an impressive third quarter, in which Golden State led Boston by 14 points, the Warriors fell in surprising fashion in the final minutes and the title series in Game 1 of 120. Lost. -108 to the Celtics.

Golden State’s double-digit lead entering the final quarter evaporated with the Celtics’ Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Derrick White combining to lead an explosive 17-0 run that handed Golden State its first home loss of the 2022 playoffs.

After the Warriors won 38–24 in the third quarter, Boston bounced back and beat Golden State 40–16 in the fourth to take a 1–0 lead in the Best-of-Seven Finals Series.

The Warriors took a 103-100 lead on the Curry Bucket with 6:05 remaining, but Golden State did not score again until Klay Thompson scored a lay-up with 1:09 remaining. During a nearly five-minute drought, Horford and guard Marcus Smart scored a pair of 3-pointers to push the game out of reach.

“His confidence is infectious, and he started making shots,” Curry said after the loss. “Those are little speed swings that you can step on the gas and take away a team’s confidence. You have to capitalize on that.

“We didn’t do it in the third quarter, after the last minute or so, and then to start the fourth quarter. And then you just live and die with the shots they can make. They got us on that tonight.” I’m sure those experiences helped, but we can do something about it.”

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The Warriors-Celtics matchup pits the NBA’s best offense against the league’s best defense led by Curry, Thompson, and Andrew Wiggins, anchored by Horford, Brown, and Smart.

Boston’s size and physicality proved to be a problem for Jordan Poole, who struggled to find an offensive rhythm. But not for Curry, who zoomed across the court for an open look amid a record-setting first quarter.

Teams scored 40 3-pointers for an NBA Finals record, with the Warriors hitting 19-for-45 from 3-point range compared to the Celtics’ 21-for-41 – their nine shots from deep in the fourth. were created. quarter.

“They made 21 threes, they were moving the ball really well, and they kept us on our heels,” said coach Steve Kerr. “Give them credit. They dropped every big shot in the fourth quarter. Boston was – just played a great quarter. They came in and won.

Despite Curry’s blast in the first quarter, the Celtics managed to keep pace with the Warriors for most of the game as Golden State never led more than 10 until the middle of the third quarter when the Warriors began to pull. . Boston used a 3-point flurry to come back as White and Horford combined to hit four consecutive fourth-quarter three-pointers amid the Celtics’ extended run.

“They stayed within striking distance, and they shot late,” said Drummond Green, who made only two of his 12 shots for four points and got 11 rebounds. “Then we’ll be fine. We’ll figure out ways we can stop getting all three of them and take them away.”

The Celtics, who kept Curry without a score in their final six minutes of the first half, entered the locker room to take a 56-54 lead with a 10-point Golden State advantage.

Curry finished with 34 points and scored seven 3-pointers, Wiggins scored 20, and Otto Porter Jr., fresh from a leg injury, added 12 off the bench, but the Warriors’ offense was snowed off the field during the fourth quarter. Gone. fall down.

The Celtics are the first team since this season to defeat the Warriors at the Chase Center, where the Warriors are now 9-1 in the playoffs.

“It’s first to four, not first to one,” Thompson said. “We all have been through situations like this. And we realize that it will take — it’s going to be very hard. The best part about it is we have another opportunity Sunday.”