What an amazing win, that looked for 3 quarters like it was headed towards becoming another of the Celtics patented "playoff game 1 loss."
The first quarter was the "Oops we forgot that Steph Curry is the game's greatest shooter" quarter. Celtics trailed by only 4 (32-28) despite Steph hitting 6 threes and scoring 21 points total. The Celtics defense was messed up, resulting in Steph being absolutely wide open for a lot of them. There was one Curry transition 3 where Smart, Tatum, and another Celtics all backed off him and he drilled the wide open three as the 3 Celtic s started pointing at each other. Comically bad. And yet, after one they were down by just 4.
The Celtics also showed a lot of playoff nerves and confusion at both ends of the floor. This was maybe to be expected. Tatum is particular was terrible in a variety of different ways. Brown was better - except from three early - but it looked like Golden State eventuall stuck Wiggins on him and he vanished.* (*Vanished for a while but, but returned in the 4th).
The Celtics did tighten up their defense in the second quarter, and when the buzzer sounded, they were up 2, 56-54. Derek White did a nice job in the half, both hitting from distance and playing good defense. Maybe the shift in style was too his liking. Tatum was bad - like almost game 3 kind of bad - and looked like he had lost all confidence in his offense. But unlike his bad game 3s, he did find a way to contribute something, with 7 assists in the first half.
Then came the third quarter, aka, the quarter in which just about every Celtic besides Smart mostly played poorly. There were a few highlights - Rob blocked a Curry three - but mostly it was a trash quarter for there Celtics. Where the Celtics really got crushed in the third was on the glass - Golden State ran the lead up to 14 late in the quarter, largely on the strength of second and third chances. A lot of Celtics looked out of sync. Tatum most especially, but also Horford, and others. Andre Igoudala hit a contested three with 6.3 seconds left to make the lead 14, then White cut it to 12 by driving and drawing a foul by Igoudala and hitting his free throws. It ended up a 38-24 quarter, leaving the Celtics down 12, and setting the stage for an incredible comeback.
The Celtics just freaking owned the 4th quarter. They opened on a Jaylen Brown fueled 9-0 run, with Brown hitting 2 baskets (5 points) and assisting on 2. Then the Warriors got a dunk and Brown answered with a 3. Then Klay hit a three and Brown answered with a layup. Celtics were down 3, and they moved on to hitting a barrage of threes. After a Dray layup to put the lead up to five, Celtics got threes by Pritchard, White, White again, Al, Al again, while Golden state could only manage a Curry basket, and suddenly Celtics were up 109-103. Then AL hit a 2 and Marcus hit a pair of threes and there was no looing back.
Player of the game for me was Al, who scored 26 points to lead the team, on 9-12 shooting, 6-8 from three. This was the first time in his whole career that Al hit 6 threes in a game.
Brown also had a great game with 24 points. He kept them in it early and them fueled the early paert of the 4th quarter surge. 10-23 shooting, only 2-8 from three, but he had 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Fourt turnovers, but at least 2 of them were dead ball. Also 2 steals and a block.
White had 21, on 6 of 11 from the field, 5 of 8 from three. Hit some key threes in the 4th.
Tatum looked lost in most ways but found a way to contribute anyway. He scored 12 points on 3 of 17 shooting, 1 of 5 from 3, and even missed his first 2 free throws. And he looked as bad as that sounds. At various times, Golden State was guarding him with Steph Freaking Curry and Tatum could get nothing. However, Tatum had 13 assists - a career high for him, regular season or playoffs. This wasn't a maestro-like Ranjon Rondo kind of 13 assists game, but he was making the right plays and creating good shots for teammates.
Rob played 24 minutes and had 8 points, 6 rebounds, a steal and 4 blocks. Not bad - one block was a Curry three attempt. Most encouragingly, Rob took the opening jump ball. Against the Heat, at least at the end, even when Rob started Horford took the opening tap. Dove for a losse ball at one point and pushed it ahead to start transition.
The Celtics managed to adjust after Golden State's punch within the game, a huge step forward for this team. Steph of the 21 point first quarter finishe the game with only 34.
If you are Golden State, I think you point to the Celtics shooting 21-41 from three as the reason you still have a chance in this series. They aren't going to do that every time. You can also point to the third quarter.
If you are the Celtics, you aren't worried about not being able to shoot 50% from three for a whole series because you expect Jayson Tatum to do better than 3-17.
I would expect Golden State to have more in the tank than they showed today, but I also think this was probably a game they needed more than we did.