Draymond Green has a good idea about why the Boston Celtics were able to beat the Golden State Warriors 120-108 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.
Green spoke to reporters after the game. He cited the Celtics’ ability to keep the game close, as well as their success shooting 3-pointers, as reasons why the Warriors are now in a 1-0 hole.
“They stayed within striking distance,” Green said. “And they made shots late. We’ll be fine, we’ll figure out ways we can stop them from getting those threes. We pretty much dominated the game for the first 41, 42 minutes.
“They hit 21 threes, and Marcus Smart, Al Horford and Derrick White combined for 15 of them.”
https://twitter.com/NBCSWarriors/status/1532574039671246856
The Warriors were unable to put away the Celtics early. They led 92-80 at the end of the third quarter, but were outscored 40-16 in the fourth quarter. This included a 17-0 run by the Celtics to secure the win.
While Golden State typically outshoots their opponents from 3-point range, that wasn’t the case in Game 1.
The Celtics shot 51.2 percent from 3-point range, while the Warriors shot 42.2 percent. Horford made six 3-pointers, while White made five and Smart made four.
The Celtics’ 21 three-pointers could turn out to be an outlier in the series, but what likely won’t go away is their never-give-up attitude. The Warriors learned that the hard way in Game 1, but can make up for it by playing a full 48 minutes in Game 2 on Sunday.
