![]() ![]() You talk about we don't have much drop-off when Marcus goes out and he comes in, his size and versatility on the defensive end, playmaking ability to get guys involved and be aggressive on offense was huge tonight." "Obviously going five for eight from three. " little bit of everything," Celtics head coach Ime Udoka said. This was just the second time he's scored 20-plus points in the playoffs, and he hit two massive 3s during their fourth-quarter run. Any offense the Celtics get from him is a bonus, and they hit the jackpot in Game 1. His ability to dart around screens and stick with the likes of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole while they run all over the floor is the primary reason he's important in this series. Single-game plus-minus isn't always the best indicator, but White being a team-high plus-25 in this game is no surprise. He finished with 21 points and three assists, knocked down a season-high five 3-pointers and played stellar defense all night long. On Thursday night, White did it again with perhaps his best performance yet. White fit in seamlessly when he arrived at the deadline and has stepped up time and again during the playoffs, especially when Marcus Smart was dealing with injuries. As it turns out, they may not have given up enough. When the Celtics traded Josh Richardson, a 2021 first-round pick and a 2028 first-round pick swap to acquire Derrick White from the San Antonio Spurs, there were some who worried that they gave up too much for a guy who wouldn't even be in their starting lineup. It wasn't our best game, but we continued to fight and find different ways to get this win." 2. And for us, it was just, you know, continue to play no matter what. "That was our message throughout the whole game. "Just continue to play," Al Horford said after the win. Even more impressive was that they had five different players make a 3-pointer during that stretch. They made their first seven attempts of the quarter from downtown and finished 9-of-11 in from deep the fourth. While the Celtics played well in all aspects of the game in the final frame, the key factor was their 3-point shooting. ![]() That 24-point margin was the largest in a fourth-quarter in Finals history. The final fourth-quarter tally was 40-16 in favor of the Celtics. They outscored the Warriors 17-5 over the final 5:40 to pull away for a double-digit win and a 1-0 series lead. It appeared as though we would be in for a frantic finish, but instead the Celtics just kept rolling right along. That was the exact scenario where they needed him to step up, and he did it in the biggest game of his career. It would be hard to say enough about how important that stretch was from Brown. He either scored or assisted on 20 of the Celtics' first 23 points of the fourth quarter, as they came storming back and finally tied the game with 5:40 remaining on a Derrick White 3-pointer that Brown assisted on. With Tatum struggling, the Celtics put the ball in his hands, and he started to make play after play. ![]() And when the frame started with Jayson Tatum missing two easy looks to continue his brutal shooting performance, it didn't appear as though a comeback was in the cards. The Celtics entered the fourth quarter in serious trouble down 12 points to a Warriors team that was 9-0 at home in the playoffs through the first three rounds. Celtics steal it with an incredible fourth quarter Here are four key takeaways from the game: 1. Game 2 will take place on Sunday night in San Francisco. In the end, that was not enough to overcome the performance from Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford and Derrick White as the road team was able to steal home-court advantage in Game 1. The stars for both sides came to play as Stephen Curry led all scorers with a game-high 34 points while Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole combined for 44 points, nine rebounds and seven assists of their own. However, things changed in a major way over the course of the final 12 minutes of action as the visitors walked into Chase Center and outscored the Warriors 40-16 during the fourth quarter to come away with a 120-108 win. The Golden State Warriors entered the night undefeated on their home floor during the 2022 NBA playoffs and for three quarters it looked like they would continue that trend in Game 1 of their NBA Finals series against the Boston Celtics. ![]()
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