The Boston Celtics have won Game 1 of the NBA Finals after beating the Golden State Warriors 120 – 108 at The Chase Center.
The Warriors
Stephen Curry came out the gate strong hitting 6 3 pointers in the first quarter on his way to 21 points – The most 3s in a first quarter of the NBA Finals.
Poole and Draymond had a difficult game, with Draymond going 2-12 on field goals made. The Celtics were baiting Draymond into beating them offencively and he played into their hands by taking shots that should have been taken by other players. Poole played bad defence, could not utilise his quickness against the Celtics defenders and had irratic ball handling.
The Warriors were up by 12 to start the 4th quarter. Kerr put out a lineup that included Draymond and Iguodala which was the start of the collapse.
The Celtics
The Boston Celtics caught fire from 3 in the 4th quarter where it seemed like they couldn’t miss as the hit 43 points – a franchise record for points in a quarter. Jayson Tatum had an unusually bad game posting only 12 points but it did not seem to matter. Al Horford was the MVP of the game posting 26 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. He shot 6-8 from 3, White went 5-8 and Marcus Smart went 4-7. Celtics shooting this well and playing their usual stellar defence, is a bad recipe if you’re the Warriors.
Boston Celtics vs Golden State Warriors highlights