Golden State Warriors NBA Finals Game 1 loss is first home postseason defeat
The Chase Center hosting its first NBA Finals game was supposed to have a happy ending. The Boston Celtics ensured that wasn’t the case as they outscored the Golden State Warriors by 24 in the fourth quarter alone.
The Warriors were going up 12 headed into the final period, but a 40-16 onslaught led by the most uncharacteristic of heroes, Al Horford and Derrick White, propelled the Celtics to a 120-108 victory.
The Golden State Warriors came into Thursday with a 9-0 postseason home record, and in the Chase Center’s first Finals game, the streak failed to continue.
Unfortunately, Boston beat Golden State at its own game, and it was tough to watch as threes poured in from the road side.
The Warriors are still in an okay position as it shouldn’t be expected that the Celtics go 9-for-12 from behind the arc in any quarter for the remainder of the series. Nonetheless, the onslaught from deep did push the Cs to a Game 1 victory.
Having taken down the Nuggets in 5, winning all 3 home games and in 1 in Denver, and then the Grizzlies in 6, winning 1 of the first two then all 3 at home. They finally got to this point by beating the Mavs in 4 of 5, defeating them in all 3 home games.
The Dubs rolled into Game 1 of the NBA Finals with a 9-0 home record.
Coming in as 4-point favorites, the Warriors were looking every bit of their dominating selves for 36 minutes. They even won the third quarter by 14, scoring 38 points. No matter how good of a third-quarter team you are it doesn’t matter if you can’t close the game out.
From 6:05 in the fourth quarter when Stephen Curry scored a two-point bucket, the Warriors went on a nearly 5-minute streak of not scoring with it ending at the 1:09 mark. In that time, their 3-point lead was turned into a 12-point deficit.
That stretch of play is what ended the Warriors’ game and virtually sealed their fate.
It’s incredible how one absolutely awful stint can completely change the outcome of the game, but Golden State has oftentimes done this to its opponents in the third quarter, so this type of run is nothing the Chase Center isn’t used to.
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Sadly, it’s usually the Warriors doing it to their opponent, not the other way around. An almost must-win Game 2 is set for 9 p.m. ET Sunday.