2022 NBA Finals: Bracket, games today, schedule, scores with Celtics facing Warriors for championship Boston hit seven consecutive 3pointers at one point. Speaking of 3pointers they were the theme of the night as both teams were on a heater pretty much from start to finish. It was a recordbreaking heater in fact as the 40 3pointers Boston and Golden State combined to make are the most in a single game in NBA Finals history.
And this wasn’t a volume play. Boston shot 51 percent from the arc 21for41; the 21 3s are the secondmost ever for a Finals game. Golden State meanwhile shot 42 percent 19 for 45. Do the math and that’s a combined 47percent clip 40for86. Stephen Curry set his own Finals record with six 3pointers in the first quarter. Curry scored 21 points in the opening 12 minutes which is the most in a Finals quarter since Michael Jordan in 1993.
NBA Finals 2022 Games With Celtics Facing Warriors For Championship
Curry finished with 34 points but he only made one more 3pointer after that first quarter. Boston stopped losing track of him as it inexplicably did on multiple possessions in the early going.
For Boston Al Horford Derrick White and Marcus Smart combined to make 15of23 3pointers. Horford was brilliant with 26 points six rebounds and three assists. When Boston needed him to stretch the floor he did. When they needed him on the short roll or the offensive glass he was there. Horford banged six of his eight 3pointers which registers as the most made 3pointers in a Finals debut and the highest singlegame triple output of Horford’s career. So Boston goes up 10 in a series that felt like it had seven games written all over it from the minute we knew the matchup. That they took the series opener on the road is even more ominous for the Warriors who now have to win four of the next six games to win the title against an elite defense that just stole homecourt advantage.
The Celtics switched more as the game went on which combined with their lightsout shooting made it difficult for Golden State to find any semblance of flow in the fourth quarter. Up by six down the stretch White got in his stance against Wiggins with the clock ticking down. Wiggins danced with the ball but instead of trying to shoot over White he decided the Warriors were better off with Green taking a 3. Those little battles between Wiggins and White didn’t stand out in the moment but that’s only because White won them. Some teams prefer not to switch fearing that opponents will find mismatches late in the clock and punish guards on the boards. Boston switched more than any team in the league in the regular season because its identity is based on everybody being able to hold his own.
Udoka called it rewarding to see players like White and Horford step up when Tatum had a rough shooting night adding that the Celtics pride themselves on not relying on one guy offensively. The way Horford talked about the confidence they have in White and how much they love his energy it seems they get a particular joy out of seeing him go on this hot streak. Should Boston win three more games White will join the likes of Gasol Rasheed Wallace and Clyde Drexler on the short list of the best midseason acquisitions in NBA history if he has not done so already. Asked specifically what White brought to the table in the fourth quarter of Game 1 Udoka said A little bit of everything. sources by