The Celtics on Thursday put together a fourth quarter that will go down in NBA Finals history.
But if not for those final 12 minutes, Green Teamers would have been left cursing Boston for allowing yet another game-altering third quarter.
The Celtics turned the ball over, allowed the Warriors to have their way on the offensive glass, and in turn were outscored by, at one point, 17 in 10 minutes. It allowed Golden State to take a 15-point advantage before Boston clawed its way back for a Game 1 comeback victory.
It’s not something the C’s want to let become a theme, of course, despite the fact it feels like it has throughout their postseason. The Celtics were outscored 98-68 in the third quarter during three combined losses in the Eastern Conference finals. But with the offensive firepower of the Warriors, who are known for their third-quarter stretches, the Celtics continue to put an added emphasis into that frame.
“We understood and made it pretty clear that Golden State is the best third-quarter team in the postseason this year,” Celtics head coach Ime Udoka told reporters Saturday leading up to Game 2, as transcribed by ASAP Sports. “Seems like the little things come back to bite us at times and that quarter specifically, coming out with a few turnovers, and they got four offensive rebounds that led to baskets, directly led to baskets. That’s something we need to do. We talk about starts of games, and the third quarter is not much different than that. Got to be better in that area and not get ourselves behind the 8-ball and have to play uphill the rest of the way.”
Jayson Tatum added: “I say it all time. We’ve just got to be more aware. It’s one thing to talk about it, but we’ve got to go out there and do it and just not ease our way into the third quarter that we do a lot of the times. … Yeah, I think we just can’t ease our way into the third quarter and wait to get warm and wait until we’re down X amount of points to be like, ‘Oh, (expletive), we got to figure it out’ and start playing faster and things like that. We’ve got to be more aware of that to start the third quarter.”
The Celtics were outscored 38-24 during those 12 minutes before outscoring Golden State by 24 points, 40-16, in the final frame. That barrage, which was highlighted by the Celtics shooting 75% from long range, helped the visitors steal Game 1 in the best-of-seven series.
Boston now returns to Chase Center on Sunday night with the Warriors eyeing a crucial Game 2. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET.
