What a waste.
That’s the only way to put what happened at Chase Center Thursday into words as the Boston Celtics handed the Golden State Warriors an embarrassing 120-108 loss.
Jayson Tatum was held to just 3-of-17 shooting, Stephen Curry hit six 3’s in the first quarter, and it all was for naught.
The Warriors were in control, up 12 headed into the fourth after yet another explosive third quarter. And then almost on cue, the unserious Warriors showed up to start the final frame.
They overhelped off the corners on defense, they chucked up bad shots on offense, they watched Jordan Poole get roasted over and over again.
The lead wasn’t just gone in a matter of minutes, but so too was any chance that the Warriors could escape with a win.
Boston outscored Golden State 40-16 in the final 12 minutes, ripping out the collective hearts of the Bay Area with a dominating shooting performance.
Al Horford, Derrick White, Marcus Smart and Payton Pritchard shot a combined 17-of-26 and lit up Chase Center in a way that’s usually reserved for the Splash Brothers.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green combined to shoot just 8-of-26 from the field. Green was a paltry 2-of-12 himself.
It’s not the worst sign that he took so many shots as the Warriors need him to be aggressive, but he’s going to have to start finishing them or the missed opportunities will come back to bite them just as it did Thursday.
The vaunted Boston defense that was ranked No. 1 in the regular season came out and got torched early by Curry.
It was as if they watched how every other team defended him in the playoffs and thought, “naw, let’s do something different.”
They played drop coverage to start, then single covered him, essentially trying to make him miss by leaving him too open.
It didn’t work out for them as he carved them up, in an unusually assertive first quarter. But he followed it up with a passive second where he didn’t record a point and took just two shots.
Yet after another third quarter outburst it looked like it was all going to be moot.
The fact that it wasn’t the case should show this team how close in level this Celtics team is to them, whether they want to believe it or not.
You could tell the Warriors felt like they were the much superior team to the Nuggets, Grizzlies and Mavericks.
But this Boston team are not those teams.
You can’t screw around for a prolonged stretch and still think a win is guaranteed.
The Celtics have shown just how resilient they are throughout these playoffs, in the Milwaukee series, in the Miami series. They are battle tested.
And they have come out and punched the Warriors straight in the mouth in Game 1. Now it’s on the Warriors to show that they have ability to respond.
For the first time these playoffs, the Warriors aren’t in control. Let’s see what they do.
The Warriors will stew on this loss for the next two days before they take the court again Sunday.
Curry’s six 3’s in the first are a record for most 3’s in a Finals quarter. According to ESPN Stats he has made 5 or more 3’s in a quarter three times in his Finals career. All other players in NBA history have combined to do it just twice twice.
Curtis Uemura is SFBay’s Golden State Warriors beat writer. Follow @SFBay and @CUemura on Twitter and at SFBay.ca for full coverage of Warriors basketball.
Last modified June 2, 2022 9:06 pm
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