If you asked anyone to guess the outcome of Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals with the knowledge that Jayson Tatum went 3-for-17 from the field for the Boston Celtics, almost unanimously the response would be that the Golden State Warriors won the game going away. It certainly looked like that was going to happen, as Golden State had one of their patented third-quarter barrages, outsourcing Boston 38-24 out of halftime to take control of the game.
But, faced with adversity all season, Boston was unphased. Even with their best player having an off night, they were able to mount an impressive comeback. Trailing by 15 points with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Celtics had a barrage of their own.
Boston outscored the Golden State Warriors 40-16 in the fourth quarter, erasing the deficit and winning Game 1, on the road, 120-108. Tatum had a big part in it despite his poor shooting, handing out 13 assists.
“The message at the start of the fourth was, ‘We’ve been here before,'” Tatum said. “We know what it takes to overcome a deficit like that.
“Obviously that’s a great team. It’s not going to be easy. But just knowing we’ve been in that situation before and we’ve gotten our self out of it. We had a lot of time left, right? It wasn’t time to hang your head or be done, it was time to figure it out.”
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One of the standouts for Boston was Al Horford, who was making his first NBA Finals appearance after 140 playoff games. It was an NBA record for most postseason games without a finals appearance, that now belongs to his former Atlanta Hawks teammate Paul Milsap.
Horford scored a team-high 26 points, including six 3-pointers. He grabbed six rebounds to go with three assists and one steal in 33 minutes, picking up the scoring slack with Tatum struggling to find his range.
“Just continue to play. That was our message throughout the whole game,” Horford said. “They’re such a good team. And for us, it was just, you know, continue to play no matter what.
“And our guys, that’s what we did. It wasn’t our best game, but we continued to fight and find different ways to get this win.”
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Another key contributor was Marcus Smart, who finished the game with 18 points, including some clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to put the game away. He added five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
His defense is going to be key throughout the series on the perimeter. He played a hand in holding Stephen Curry to only 13 points in the last three-quarters of the game after he exploded for 21 points and six 3-pointers in the first quarter alone.
“It just says what we’ve been doing all year,” Smart said. “We’ve been counted out all year. Rightfully so. We’ve had moments. But we continue to fight. That’s who we are.
“I think over the last couple months, that’s our identity. I think it stuck with us for a reason.”
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Jaylen Brown carried the offense at the start of the fourth quarter, getting the comeback in motion. He scored 10 of the team’s first 14 points in the final frame, finishing the game with 24 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block.
The other standout was Derrick White, who scored 21 points off the bench, knocking down five 3-pointers of his own. His 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions helped Boston tie the game before Horford buried one of his six to take the lead with 5:10 remaining.
Brown, Horford, Smart and White combined to score 33 out of the team’s 40 points in the fourth quarter. That is what makes this comeback that much more impressive, as they did it with Tatum scoring zero points during that stretch.
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3-point shooting was a big reason for the come-from-behind win against the Golden State Warriors, as the Boston Celtics shot 21-of-41 for the game. They know that is not a sustainable mark, but it certainly helped them set the tone in Game 1, taking an improbable 1-0 lead after a remarkable comeback.
