Celtics make 4th-quarter comeback to win Game 1 of the NBA Finals
The Celtics outscored the Warriors by 24 in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics looked dead in the water in the third quarter in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The Warriors, who trailed 56-54 at halftime, outscored the Celtics, 38-24 in the third quarter, giving them a 12-point lead entering the final period.
As Steph Curry went to the bench to start the fourth, Boston kept its stars in. Ime Udoka’s moved paid off. Jaylen Brown scored five straight points before sending an alley-oop to Robert Williams to cut the Warriors’ lead to five.
Curry came back into the game right after that and both teams started making everything. The two teams made nine straight shots, bringing Golden State’s lead down to three with 6:05 left. Jayson Tatum’s blocked layup ended the streak. But the Celtics kept the ball, and with the shot clock winding down, Derrick White made a contested 3-pointer to tie the game.
Al Horford took over from there, scoring eight points on the Celtics’ next four possessions, stopping the Warriors in that stretch to take an eight-point lead with 3:40 remaining.
Boston continued to shut down the Golden State offense, which didn’t score again until there was 1:09 left. But Klay Thompson’s bucket was way too little, way too late at that point as the Celtics were up, 117-105.
Both teams called in their reserves shortly after, and the Celtics walked away with a 120-108 win to take Game 1.
Fourth quarter
3:47: Boston is able to make stops still and Al Horford keeps giving the Celtics points, scoring eight in a row to give the Celtics a 111-103 lead.
5:08: The shots keep falling for Boston. After stopping Curry’s floater, Al Horford made a 3-pointer to give the Celtics a 106-103 lead, their first lead since the early stages of the third quarter.
Golden State called timeout. Boston has scored on nine of its last 10 possessions, scoring 26 points in less than seven minutes.
5:34: The Warriors called Curry to come back in after the timeout and everyone started making shots!
Both teams combined to make nine straight shots. After Tatum missed one, the Celtics remained possession and Derrick White made another 3-pointer to even the game, 103-103.
9:35: The Celtics have made it interesting.
After Tatum missed a pair of shots to start the quarter, Brown made two shots in a row, one of which was a 3-pointer, to cut the Warriors’ lead to seven. After an errant pass gave the Celtics the ball back, Robert Williams had a thunderous slam off an alley-oop from Brown.
Golden State called for a quick timeout, leading 92-87.
Third quarter: Warriors 92, Celtics 80
An ugly third quarter all around for the Celtics has finally concluded. After Curry got his to start the quarter, Wiggins, Poole, and Porter all had multiple baskets.
Offensively, Tatum made just one shot, his first in 20 minutes of gameplay. In addition to the Celtics missing some open shots, Boston committed two untimely turnovers that allowed Golden State to extend its late to as much as 15.
As Boston was able to cut the lead back to 11, Andre Iguodala made a contested 3-pointer to help extend Golden State’s lead back to 14. Derrick White got fouled and made a pair of free-throws to get a pair of points back for the Celtics right before the end of the third.
5:19: The Celtics aren’t making it easy for themselves offensively right now. After calling a timeout, Brown missed a floater in the lane. On their next possession, Brown had to hoist a deep 3-pointer because the shot clock was about to expire. After forcing a missed shot, Tatum led Smart too far on the outlet pass.
Golden State leads, 73-64.
7:00: The good news for the Celtics? Curry’s missed his last three shots (two 3-pointers and a shot at the rim). The bad news? They can’t grab a rebound to take advantage of it. Golden State has four offensive rebounds in the last two minutes, leading to seven points. That’s also the lead Golden State has, 71-64, causing Boston to call a timeout.
8:20: Golden State’s playing like its first quarter-self. Curry made his first two shots of the quarter, including a 3-pointers while Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins added a pair of jumpers. The Warriors hold a 66-61 lead.
Halftime thoughts
- Steph Curry didn’t score in six minutes of play in the second quarter after scoring an astonishing 21 points in the first quarter. Ime Udoka told Lisa Salters after the first quarter that his team needed to improve its communication on how to guard the Warriors’ start. That appeared to happen in the second.
- Curry has three fouls going into the break. Expect the Celtics to target him more on the offensive end if only to try and get him to remain in foul trouble.
- Tatum’s shot poorly to start and has looked tentative at points with the ball. He has just eight points on 2-of-9 shooting.
- However, Tatum has seven assists to zero turnovers. He’s certainly making the right play when he’s passed the ball so far.
- Derrick White’s been left open from 3-point range by the Warriors. He’s punished them for it by making 2-of-4 from deep.
- The Celtics forced four of the Warriors’ eight first-half turnovers in the final four minutes of the half, which led to their best stretch of the game offensively.
Second quarter: Celtics 56, Warriors 54
The Celtics got aggressive on offense to close the half, and in turn, they take the lead going into the break. Smart made a driving layup while Brown and Tatum made a pair of free throws. Horford contributed, too, making a 3-pointer to help give Boston the lead.
On the defensive end, the Celtics slowed downed Curry, which helped slow down the Warriors’ offense. Curry didn’t make a shot in the quarter and the Warriors committed four turnovers in the final four minutes of the quarter.
5:01: Curry came back in and had a couple of nice moments of defense, holding his ground against Tatum in the post on one possession and forced a steal of Al Horford on the next.
Those two plays weren’t good enough for Golden State, though. Boston made a 10-0 run to tie the game at 47.
6:59: After Daniel Theis gave some shaky minutes, Ime Udoka went back to his starting group with Curry on the bench. Klay Thompson made a 3-pointer on the Warriors’ first possession down, but baskets from Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams cut the Warriors’ lead to six. While it didn’t bring them much closer, the Celtics’ lineup change didn’t make things worse with Curry on the bench, either.
8:37: Steph Curry’s been on the bench for the quarter to start, but that hasn’t made life any easier for Boston. Otto Porter’s made a pair of 3s to start the quarter while Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson have each contributed to help extend Golden State’s lead, 44-37.
End of the 1st quarter: Warriors 32, Celtics 28
It feels like a minor miracle that the Celtics are trailing by four at the end of one. Steph Curry is 6-of-7 from deep with an NBA Finals record 21 points in the first quarter. And for Boston, it’s just 11-of-25 from the field (5-for-13 from 3).
But the Celtics have largely held the other Warriors’ in check. Klay Thompson and Andrew Wiggins have the other 11 points for the Warriors. They’re letting Draymond Green shoot at will. He’s 0-for-5 in nine minutes.
2:00: The Celtics lost Curry again. He drained an open 3-pointer to give him 18 points and counting so far in the opening frame.
3:07: Curry is just shredding the Celtics’ defense right now. He’s got 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting. He just blew by Grant Williams to draw a foul while shooting, too. He only made one of two free throws though.
5:55: Steph Curry is doing his thing early on. He’s already made three 3-pointers, scoring 11 points. His latest, which came from 29 feet, forced the Celtics to call a timeout. Golden State leads, 20-14.
There’s already been 34 points scored roughly halfway through the opening quarter. Former Celtic Evan Turner has some thoughts on that.
7:50: Not the best start for Tatum as he just missed two free throws. Andrew Wiggins is off to a good start though, making 3-of-5 shots for six early points.
8:45: Marcus Smart is certainly ready for the Finals. He’s made two 3-pointers already. Jayson Tatum made a 3-pointer after missing his first two shots. Golden State holds an early 10-9 lead.
11:00: Poor first two possessions for Jayson Tatum, who missed a shot and then airballed another. Steph Curry gets the first bucket of the NBA Finals, making a 3-pointer.
12:00: The Celtics have won the tip and the NBA Finals are finally underway!
Pregame
9:03 p.m.: Journey guitarist Neal Schon just completed the national anthem while playing it on his guitar. Let’s get this thing started!
8:57 p.m.: Here are the starting lineups for each squad.
Celtics: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Robert Williams
Warriors: Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green, and Kevon Looney
8:45 p.m.: Only 15 minutes (or so) minutes until tip-off. This won’t be the first time the Celtics and Warriors have faced off in the NBA Finals. The two franchises faced off in 1964 for the world title. Boston won it all that year, defeating the San Francisco Warriors, 4-1.
8:30 p.m.: NBA commissioner Adam Silver is in the midst of giving his annual press conference at the Finals. He said a couple of things about the Celtics.
Silver called Tatum an “up-and-coming star” when sharing how excited he was for the start of the series. He also shared some thoughts on the Celtics’ rumored bid to host the NBA All-Star Game in 2025 or ’26.
“I encourage that application from Boston,” Silver said. “Wonderful city and we’ll be there soon.”
Boston hasn’t hosted the NBA All-Star Game since 1964.
8:15 p.m.: Jayson Tatum’s Game 1 outfit is certainly bringing out some strong reactions.
8 p.m.: Each side has a couple of big stats going their way for Game 1. The Celtics are an astonishing 7-2 on the road so far this postseason, and their plus-7.42 road net rating this season is one of the best in league history.
On the flip side, Warriors coach Steve Kerr is 22-1 in Game 1s over his eight-year coaching career. The one loss came against the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
7:45 p.m.: Not everyone will be available for Game 1. Two-thirds of ESPN’s announcer booth (play-by-play man Mike Breen and analyst Jeff Van Gundy) is out due to COVID-19. Chad Finn has more on that, here.
7:30 p.m.: Everyone is available for both teams in Game 1, including Celtics center Robert Williams. Celtics coach Ime Udoka told reporters that Williams will start, but he’ll try to play him around 20 minutes. However, Udoka said that Williams won’t have any restrictions.
7 p.m.: Here are some news and notes as tip-off is still hours away:
- Thursday marks the Celtics’ first NBA Finals game in 12 years, with the last one coming in 2010 against the Lakers. The Warriors have been regulars on this stage, playing in six of the last eight NBA Finals. Golden State’s won three of them, but hasn’t won one since 2018. The Warriors’ last two titles (2017 and ’18) came with Kevin Durant on the roster, adding further intrigue on whether Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson can muster a fourth title together.
- Oddsmakers believe the Warriors will win their fourth title in recent years to cement themselves as a dynasty. DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Warriors as -150 favorites to win the Finals, which is actually up from the -140 number they opened at. Golden State is a 3.5-point favorite to win Game 1.
- Starting point guard Marcus Smart (ankle) and center Robert Williams (knee) are questionable for Game 1. Smart’s played heavy minutes since he missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. Williams appeared to be hobbling at the end of Game 7, sitting on the bench for nearly the entire fourth quarter. There’s been local debate on if the Celtics should sit Williams, who tore the meniscus in his left knee in March, in Game 1 so he can have a full week of rest.
- The Warriors are expected to get guard Gary Payton II back for Game 1, The Athletic reported. Payton, who is one of the Warriors’ top defensive players, fractured his left elbow on May 3 when Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks struck him during Game 2 of their second-round series. Otto Porter Jr. (foot soreness) and Andre Iguodala (neck) are questionable for Game 1.
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