Horford drilled a career-best 63 (8 trials) to reach the team’s best 26 points. He was the best player when the Celtics overmatched the Warriors from a distance.
Average al? No, Playoffs Al got on the rescue again, as he did in the Milwaukee series. The Celtics haven’t played in the finals without Horford. Also, you wouldn’t win 3 from Banner No. 18 without the heroic of Game 1. This includes earning 11 fourth quarter points without mistakes to drive a quarter of 40-16. -Quarter Barrage with the result and script turned over. Splash Brothers beat the green godfather.
Horford’s first NBA Finals action is engraved in the history of the Celtics when he jumps on a Cedric Maxwell-style back.
“We were ecstatic about him. Al is an OG, a man,” said Marcus Smart. “He does the job. No one deserves to be here more than he.
“How to hold him, the professionalism he comes to this game every day, we knew it was only a matter of time before he played a big game.”
The Celtics would say it was their defense that won the fourth quarter, which began with this dazzling contest and the face of a dozen points deficit. It wasn’t.
The Celtics turned the Arc de Triomphe into a Arc de Triomphe, ejecting the first seven threes in the final frame and firing 75% (9-12) fierce shots from the modern basketball mountain Olympus. They struck a dub with lightning after lightning during the run of 20-2.
The pressure that the Warriors melted in wasn’t due to the league’s best defense, but bolted. Buying a breathing room and finally cooking the Golden State was a bold offensive achievement in Boston.
The Celtics zoomed past the Golden State as Tesla blew off the Proding Minivan as it rained on the Three. No one does it to the three-time champions Warriors and Stephen Curry, who defined the basketball generation with ballet ball movements and unlimited three-pointers.
The Celtics turned the table with a quarter of the 40 points that turned the classic Golden State performance into Boston’s Statement Win.
“Well, give them credit, that is, they made 21 threes,” said Warriors director Steve Kerr.
“They were moving the ball really well and were cornering us. They made a good push to start the fourth, and they continued that momentum. They continued the momentum of 21 threes. If you make and get a total of 11 from Horford, it will be difficult to beat Boston. [Derrick] White.
“They give them credit. They knocked down all the big guys in the fourth quarter. Boston just had a great quarter. They came and won.”
The night, which looks like a curry with 21 out of 34 finalists, recorded six threes in the first quarter of the master, but instead became a championship where the Hemingway-style protagonist missed him. I was trying to get involved. Horford’s story was about an old man and three people.
Led by Horford’s hot shooting — he hit 75% and 75% from the field — and hit five threes from the brave White, the Celtics steal pages from the Golden State book, and Ark’s. I drove the enemy into oblivion from the other side.
What else is there after White (21 points) draws the game at 103? — Tray, Horford knocked down the back-to-back three to give the Celtics a lead they never let go.
“I felt like everyone was finding me over and over again,” Horford said. “I was knocked down just by looking. That’s it.
If the team knew in advance that they would rewrite most of the combined 3 recordbooks in the final game, it’s presumed that Curry, Klay Thompson, and Jordan Poole owned the night. The Golden State was led by 7 out of 14 curries and made 19 out of 45 threes.
not bad.
However, as Horford fired, the Celtics canned 21 out of 41. Checkmate.
This was not Horford’s fluke. He played in the finals, leading the Celtics by 3 points and shooting this postseason at 43.2%. This is a significant increase from the 33.6% success rate of the regular season.
“Al had a lot of great looks. We advised him to keep them. He played in the first final and played great. He carried us and It led us to victory. “
It’s easy to say that this is not a sustainable formula for the Celtics. It seems likely that they will overtake the Golden State to Larry O’Brien Trophy. It’s like the odds of Horford regaining form after two seasons away from Boston in Philadelphia and Oklahoma City.
However, the Celtics, who participated in the finals, were third in the NBA this postseason, with a 37.7% percentage of points through three points. Golden State was 5th (35.4).
Horford did the finishing touches to Game 1 following the flex-equipped and-1 hoop for the stunned Chase Center spectators with 48.3 seconds left. Ironically, the shot came from 4 feet.
Horford bent his power in his first final with a long-distance performance in a production that would be remembered for a long time in Celtics folklore.
Read the story of Globe from Game 1
▪ ▪ Celtics pull their way home again, and other observations from a stunning victory | Instant Analysis
▪ ▪ Adam Silver encourages Boston to bid on the NBA All-Star Game
▪ ▪ Situation: The Celtics have begun a ferocious fourth-quarter rally to defeat the Warriors. 120-108
Christopher L. Gasper is a globe columnist. He can be contacted at christopher.gasper@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @cgasper..
