Steph Curry opened up the game on fire as he scored 21 points in the first quarter. Boston doing drop coverage did not work, as Curry was getting wide open on those shots. Curry hit an NBA record six threes in the opening first quarter. They went back to switching, which slowed down Curry in the second quarter. However, Boston was still down by 4. The Celtics kept up with the Warriors in the first half, and they would eventually lead the Warriors by two at the half.
Al Horford led the Celtics, going 6/8 from 3 and scoring 26 points. Tatum struggled as he shot 3/17 from the field due to the box-and-one defense thrown at him the whole game; however, he did have 13 assists, creating good shots for his teammates. Defensive attention being taken away from Tatum allowed him to dish out assists to his teammates for threes. He didn’t score in the 4th quarter, but his teammates stepped up big time, hitting clutch shot after shot. Throughout the years, Tatum’s game has evolved as in previous playoff runs; Tatum would try to carry the offensive load by scoring a lot and forcing up many shots. In his NBA Finals debut, he didn’t think about forcing shots after struggling from the field. Instead, he focused on getting good shots for his teammates and being an unselfish player that does what it takes to help his team get the victory.
The Warriors pulled away in the third as they were up 12 until Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard brought them back by hitting some key shots. Boston hit three after three after three allowing them to pull away. Celtics never put the gas on the pedal and attacked the paint all game long. Celtics made a dominating comeback by outscoring the Warriors 40 – 16 in the 4th. Boston swarmed all over the place defensively, shutting off the three-point line for the Warriors. This caused the Warriors to score only 5 points in the final 6 minutes of the game.
The Celtics won the game 120 – 108 by 12 points handing the Warriors their first home loss this postseason. The Celtics are the first team to win a game by double digits after trailing by double-digit headed into the 4th quarter. Boston stealing a pivotal game where their best player didn’t have a good game was crucial for them as now they’re up 1 – 0 in the series. The Warriors took some risky shots to stop the momentum of Boston, but it didn’t pay off as they couldn’t hit them due to the smothering defense of Boston. Draymond Green had a pathetic performance by shooting 2/12 from the field and having 4 points. Jordan Poole also wasn’t effective, as he shot 2/7 from the field. Jaylen Brown did an excellent job containing Klay Thompson as he navigated through the screens and gave him a tough time. He only shot 6/14 from the field and had 15 points. The Warriors casually guarded the three-point line allowing the Celtics to make 21 threes. Game 2 for the Warriors is a must-win since they do not want to be in a 0 – 2 hole headed into Boston for Game 3, as it will not be an easy task to win road games in TD Garden in Boston.
Both teams have figured out how different the opposing team is and how uniquely they are different from each other. The Celtics have learned how difficult at times it is to trap and guard Steph Curry, while the Warriors learnt that this Celtics defense is the toughest they have faced the entire playoffs.
I’m not trying to overreact, but I think we’re in for a classic series, as both teams are undefeated after a loss this postseason, proving that both head coaches Ime Udoka and Steve Kerr are great at making adjustments.