San Francisco, June 4 (US): Stephen Curry stood on the field with a towel rolled over his head as the Boston Celtics celebrated their shock comeback.
What began with a special night of shooting from Curry that rocked Warriors fans, and ended with an epic fourth-quarter meltdown that left Golden State looking for answers after a 120-108 loss to the Celtics in the first game of the NBA Finals Thursday night, the AP reports.
“We learned a lot from that fourth quarter,” Curry said. “Obviously they took a lot of shots. They don’t seem to miss until deep 4th. You find a team that has momentum like they did and they keep shooting, it’s hard to take back that momentum.”
Curry got off to a solid start for the Warriors, in the finals scoring six three-pointers and scoring 21 points in the first quarter. The Warriors continued that momentum to start the second half and shot Boston in the third quarter, making the lead up to 15 times as everything was clicking.
But all this changed of late.
The Warriors turned their 12-point lead after three quarters into a 12-point loss in a shocking turnaround that silenced the raucous fans celebrating Golden State’s return to the Finals after a two-year absence.
“When you take shots, it’s a boost; when you miss shots, it’s Debbie Downer,” said striker Draymond Green. They made it. We missed them. Sometimes you can allow missed shots to drag your defense down. I think a little of that happened in the fourth quarter as well.”
Boston made their first seven three-pointers in the quarter and ran away, leading to cheers of “Let’s Go Celtics!” In the last seconds in a half-empty yard. Boston hit 21 for 41 of 3 for this match.
“They dropped every big shot in the fourth quarter,” said coach Steve Kerr. “Boston just played a great quarter. They came in and took the win.”
The Warriors scored just 16 points in the fourth quarter after a blast of 38 points in the third apparently put them in control.
Boston managed to slow Curry’s performance, limiting him to one triple pointer and 13 points in the last three quarters and his teammates couldn’t help enough.
“I found a lot of space in the first quarter and was trying to ride that wave for as long as possible,” Curry said. “Obviously they are a good defensive team but we created enough attacking looks to win the game tonight but we couldn’t get enough stopping points and that lead faded into fourth.”
The meltdown left the Warriors complaining to the officials and searching for answers after their first home loss in these playoffs after opening with nine straight wins.
It was the biggest advance after three-quarters of an NBA Finals game in 30 years as the seasoned Warriors in place of the Celtics’ filled with Finals newcomers collapsed. The last team to lose a game in the Finals when they advanced by at least 12 points after three quarters was Portland in 1992 in their Game 6 Series loss to Michael Jordan and the Bulls.
The first game loss was only the third in 24 playoff series for the Warriors under Kerr with others appearing in the 2019 Finals against Toronto and the 2016 Western Conference Finals against Oklahoma City.
They’re the first of four, not the first of one,” said guard Clay Thompson. “We have all been through situations like this. We know it is going to be very difficult. The best part about it is that we have another chance on Sunday.”