Boston Celtics Ride Incredible Fourth Quarter To Victory In Game 1

Historically, teams haven’t fared well on the road in the Bay Area. During this time of the year, when the lights are brightest and the Golden State Warriors can smell a championship, they catch teams off guard and show no mercy to begin a playoff series.

In fact, before Thursday evening, the Warriors were 21-2 in Game 1 matchups during the 23 playoff series in the Steve Kerr era. The only two losses were to Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016, a series the Dubs ultimately won in seven, and to the 2019 Toronto Raptors, who went on to close out the Finals in the very last game at Oracle Arena.

You can now add the 2022 Boston Celtics to the list.

With a fourth quarter for the ages, the Celtics overcame a 15-point deficit in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, completely altering the mood inside Chase Center and stealing homecourt in the process.

As Andrew Wiggins stepped to the foul line to make it 87-72 with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter, any hope for a competitive finish was looking bleak. When the Warriors step on the throttle at home, it’s more likely to turn into a 30-point demolition than a clutch-time scenario.

Yet, the Celtics clawed back. They weren’t just happy to be on the Finals stage, and they certainly weren’t ready to pack it in and prepare for Game 2.

Instead, Boston weathered the storm and continued pushing. They capitalized on the Warriors’ poor offensive spacing and head-scratching defensive mistakes in the final 14 minutes. Behind a 40-16 scoring margin in the fourth quarter, the Celtics flipped Game 1 on its head. From that moment Wiggins made it a 15-point game, the East champs outscored Golden State by 27 points.

Although it might sound hyperbolic, it was on the short list of greatest fourth-quarter turnarounds in playoff history. Of course, larger margins have been erased in the past.

But when you factor in the moment, location, and experience discrepancy between the two groups, this probably takes the cake. In a way, Boston gave the road crowd a taste of its own medicine. In five NBA Finals spanning from 2015 to 2019, the Warriors are typically the ones to catch fire from long-range in the second half. The crowd has never truly been used to sitting back and watching the visitors go berserk from beyond the arc.

Boston’s 40 points in the fourth quarter came on just 22 possessions. It was an offensive rating of 181.8 to close out the game, which again, is a feat you would usually tell your friends Golden State pulled off. They shot 6-of-10 from two and 9-of-12 from downtown, only getting to the line once in those 12 minutes.

The last time a 40-point fourth quarter happened in an NBA Finals game? You have to go back to the 2008 Celtics, who used a 42-point quarter that was consumed of nothing but garbage time to send the Lakers packing in Game 6.

For the Celtics, who definitely weren’t tricking anyone into believing they were an above-average passing team during the regular season, 12 assists on their 15 made baskets in the fourth quarter was arguably the most impressive part.

Thursday was a far cry from Boston’s Game 7 clutch-time woes against Miami, just four days prior. On the road in South Beach, the Celtics forgot how to score for three minutes. After taking a 98-85 lead over Miami and starting to feel comfortable, the Celtics nearly handed away the Finals trip. Jimmy Butler and the Heat eventually trimmed it to two points before Boston ultimately escaped. Still, they didn’t make a field goal for the last 4:28 of that Game 7.

If you believe in the basketball gods granting teams a lucky break, Thursday was it. The Celtics made up for their near-collapse by snatching Game 1 out of the hands of Golden State. Apparently they saved all of their clutch-time success for the biggest stage.

Boston knew if it had any chance to drag this game down to the wire, it started with containing Stephen Curry and forcing anyone else to beat them. The next point of order was limiting turnovers and ensuring their offensive gameplan was intentional down the stretch, generating healthy looks from deep to swing the math in their favor.

When Steve Kerr opted to start the fourth quarter with Curry on the bench, he let Boston off the hook. It gave them one fewer weapon to worry about. The Celtics used the first two and a half minutes of the quarter to chip away at the lead. They were able to take advantage of the Warriors’ inadequate spacing in the lineups without Curry – seriously, it didn’t make sense to roll with Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala in the same five-man group without Curry’s gravity to make it somewhat workable.

With Jordan Poole as the weakest defender in the game – by a significant margin – the Celtics were eager to get him into the action. It unlocked the confidence for Jaylen Brown to lead his team out of a double-digit hole.

In the beginning stages of the fourth, the Celtics went to their guard-guard screening actions to hunt the switch against Poole. If the Warriors easily gave it up, as they did here, Brown was able to rise over the top for jumpers (this is a really good contest, but it has absolutely no effect on Brown’s release):

A minute prior to this, Brown even created excellent separation in the mid-range when matched against Green. It didn’t matter who Brown had in front of him – he knew it was his job to be the aggressor with Tatum having such a rough shooting display.

Brown didn’t settle for many bad shots throughout Game 1, which is a huge positive on its own. When he could sense the Warriors had no answers for him (again, without Curry in the game), he attacked the defense in multiple ways. It wasn’t always a contested jumper.

With the lead down to seven, he put pressure on the paint by taking Otto Porter Jr. off the dribble. Noticing Green was guarding the strong-side corner and Klay Thompson was in low-man help position, Brown forced the Warriors’ defense into a tough predicament. He got into the middle of the paint and delivered a beautiful lob to Rob Williams, who was lurking in the dunker spot:

Although Draymond still made that rotation and nearly got a hand on it, the timing and recognition from Brown is what stood out.

In Game 1, the Celtics registered 47 total drives into the paint. It was up from the 43.9 they averaged in the East Finals versus Miami. On those 47 drives, they had a 21.3% assist percentage and only turned it over on 4.3% of their possessions. Compared to Golden State’s lowly numbers on drives (an assist and turnover rate of 9.5%), it was a major boost to Boston’s halfcourt offense.

Much was made about the Celtics’ inability to take care of the ball in the previous series. With every member of Boston’s rotation making their Finals debut, they did a superb job of keeping their composure in a hostile environment. For them, 12 turnovers is the sweet spot. Any more than 15, and it’s almost a guaranteed loss against a Warriors unit that likes to create high-quality transition opportunities.

The real story of the fourth, however, was how uncharacteristically loose the Warriors’ defense was against Boston’s drive-and-kick game.

There were miscommunications all over the place. Never do you see a Draymond-led defense look so unorganized and out of sorts. On the rewatch, this semi-transition opportunity below stood out to me. Golden State simply doesn’t get their matchups set quickly enough. It appears Draymond is taking Robert Williams, who’s trailing the play. On the weakside, that would indicate Thompson is picking up Brown (on the wing) and Otto Porter is sticking to Payton Pritchard (in the corner):

But, Tatum makes a tremendous read by going early. He tries to put Curry in the pick-and-roll, but Iguodala stays attached to the hip. Notice how deep Draymond rotates down to help on the drive, which causes Porter to freak out – he didn’t trust that Green knows Williams is cutting down the lane, so he comes down to tag the cutter.

This led to a wide-open corner three in the most pivotal moment of the game. Plus, if you watch it back, you can tell Draymond is upset there was a breakdown.

Now, it’s fair to point out, Golden State’s halfcourt defense wasn’t this rough during the entire quarter. On some possessions, such as the baseline out-of-bounds set below, they played extremely tight defense and kept the ball in front against switches. So, the Celtics did need a little bit of shot-making luck to bring this to a 103-103 tie:

After showing help on Brown’s potential drive, Curry was draped all over White with just two seconds left on the shot clock. Any coach would tell you he did his job. But this is what happens when you give any team a shred of confidence by allowing a run: Average shooters all of a sudden become deadly.

The Celtics were at their best when they pushed off live-ball turnovers and made Golden State collapse in the paint. Here, in transition, White is focused on putting pressure on the basket by feeding Tatum on the block. Looney doesn’t realize Al Horford is trailing the play, sinking into the paint for help and allowing this wide-open look:

That’s the moment this win felt inevitable for Boston. After Kerr instructed his team to take care of the ball and get stops, they turned it over and let Horford walk into a practice shot.

Out of the 41 three-pointers Boston attempted, 23 of them came with at least six feet of space between the shooter and defender, per NBA.com tracking.

Over half of their outside shots … completely uncontested. It was six more attempts than Golden State generated. The Celtics shot 13-of-23 on those wide-open looks (56.5%).

In a regular season game, that would lead to a 30 or 40-point blowout. The fact it took this type of shooting display to mount a comeback speaks to how much the Warriors were in control in the third quarter.

Even with a decent contest, it didn’t matter. The Celtics made them pay for being late down the floor, or not getting properly matched up. Look at this ball-reversal to the left side, as White knows he can attack the slower Looney off the dribble:

For some reason, Wiggins felt obligated to dig down into the paint and leave his man, Horford. When Horford lifted to the wing, that left Thompson in a “split the difference” stance. He had to guard both Brown and Horford, and the Celtics realized they couldn’t be shy once any space opened up.

To cap a 17-0 run and slam the door on the road, Boston decided to pick on the Warriors’ guards. It was clear how Golden State would defend any guard ball-screen involving Curry — usually, it was a “show-and-recover” approach, temporarily putting two on the ball and trying to get Curry back to his original man.

Here, Tatum finished off one of the best playmaking nights of his young career. He drew two defenders before slinging an over-the-shoulder pass to Marcus Smart, who canned the dagger.

Boston shot 15-of-23 off of Tatum passes, including 9-of-13 from beyond the arc.

In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the team making its Finals debut turned a 103-100 deficit into a 117-103 lead. The Warriors couldn’t respond until it was too late.

From October to June, the Celtics’ journey has centered on one theme. It’s a trait the Boston sports scene has personified for decades, along with something the fans have embraced throughout any struggles.

For this team, it’s all about resilience.

It’s the only explanation for starting 25-25 on the season, facing questions about whether or not Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown could co-exist, and following it with a 39-12 record.

It’s the only explanation for scorching San Francisco to this degree in Game 1 after almost choking away Game 7 of the East Finals and giving their fans a heart attack.

Being the most resilient, confident, and even-keeled team in the league is the only way Boston was able to hold such a threatening offense scoreless for a five-minute stretch in the fourth quarter.

These Celtics are starting to remind me of last year’s Los Angeles Clippers, who refused to go away when it looked like they should. Both groups are led by former NBA players, Ime Udoka and Ty Lue, that have unique motivational tactics and have fully empowered their guys to make plays in a drive-and-kick offense. In their respective seasons, both teams have adapted on the fly when unfortunate injuries tried to thwart their goals.

With Boston now in the early driver’s seat, the next step for them is staying greedy.