Thursday, 2 June 2022. 23:00
(Update : Thursday, June 2, 2022. 11:11 PM)
Expert predictions
The Boston Celtics captured Game 1 of the NBA Finals from the Golden State Warriors with a 120-108 victory Thursday night at Chase Center in San Francisco.
The Celtics led the 4th quarter by 24 points, which ties a record for any NBA Finals quarter. The last twelve minutes of play ended with a score of 40 to 16.
The Warriors had not been defeated in nine games at Chase Center since the start of the playoffs.
Trailing by twelve points heading into the 4th quarter, the Celtics’ comeback was the biggest in the final after three quarters since Michael Jordan’s Bulls rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat the Trail Blazers in Game 6. in 1992.
Veteran Al Horford, playing the first game of his career in the final, led the team with 26 points. His six 3-point shots are a career-high for a player playing the first game of his career in the championship series. Jaylen Brown backed him up with 24 points.
Jayson Tatum struggled, hitting just three of 17 shots for 12 points. He did, however, add 13 assists to complete the double.
Stephen Curry had yet set the tone for this first game with six shots from three points in the first quarter only. The point guard scored 21 of his team’s 32 points to give the Warriors a four-point lead 12 minutes into the game. Curry slowed the pace, however, to finish the game with a Warriors-high 34 points.
Curry set a final-round record with six 3-pointers in a single quarter — the first, in his case. He was backed up by 20 points from Andrew Wiggins and 15 from Klay Thompson.
Under head coach Steve Kerr, the Warriors were 21-2 in Game 1 heading into the loss to the Celtics.
“We’re obviously going to go into Game 2 with a greater sense of desperation. We’ve been in this position before, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. Boston played a brilliant quarter. They arrived and deserved the victory. »
However, Curry was much quieter in the 2nd quarter by being blanked from the scoresheet, which allowed the Celtics to come back to take a 56-54 lead at the half. At that time, Jaylen Brown was the best of his team with 12 points.
Golden State regained the lead in the 3rd quarter by dominating the engagement by a score of 38-24, but the rhythm changed drastically during the last minutes of the game which were completely dominated by the Celtics.
The Celtics are looking to win their record 18th title, which would put them past the Lakers, and they are just three wins away from doing so.
The Warriors have been the league champions six times including in 2015, 2017 and 2018. In 2019, they were beaten by Toronto in the final.
The second match of the series will be played again in San Francisco, Sunday evening, from 8 p.m. in a duel that you will be able to see again on the airwaves of RDS2.
