Video Breakdown: How the Celtics pulled off a nearly perfect quarter of basketball to take Game 1 oF Finals

SAN FRANCISCO — The Celtics went into the fourth quarter down 12 and looking like they were on their way to a hard lesson in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. 

Then they turned things around. 

Pilots have been known to pass out pulling G’s at the speed of Boston’s sudden change of direction. They went from “getting punked,” as Ime Udoka told his team, to doing the punking. 

Here’s how they did it. 

After trading misses, Jaylen Brown hit a tough stepback against Draymond Green. Golden State wanted a carry and, if we’re being honest, there was a very long pause in his dribble that probably tested the bounds of legality. They didn’t call it, so it goes down as a nice dribble move that created space. 

On the other end, Payton Pritchard’s defense was huge. This challenge on Jordan Poole’s shot after chasing him around screens twice is really good

Brown did a great job getting into the paint and finding Jayson Tatum for a wide open shot. Tatum just missed. The Celtics held on the other end when Andre Iguodala missed a turnaround in the post against Pritchard. 

Let me just say that if Golden State wants to run an offense where Iggy tries to post Pritchard all the them, everyone on the Celtics will sign up for it. Take the ball out of the hands of the big guns in favor of an inefficient shot and stagnant offense. 

Things got ugly for Poole after that. Brown targeted him and shot a 3-pointer right over the top of his head, then Pritchard played great defense and forced a Poole turnover. That led to an alley oop to Robert Williams on another paint touch by Brown

The Warriors are frustrated at this point. That's a 7-0 run and instead of putting Boston away, they allowed the Celtics some life. 

The Celtics forced a very bad turnover from Iguodala, who made some shots in this game but also hurt the Warriors with some plays like this. The resulting fast break was a little bizarre because Brown made a great play to find Pritchard on the layup, but one of the guys he threaded the pass past was Tatum, who clearly didn’t see Pritchard and thought the pass was coming to him. 

So let’s pause for a second here to talk about luck. The Celtics did a great job here of getting the stop, getting in transition, and setting themselves up for an easy bucket. Also, Tatum is looking for a pass and doesn’t realize who is behind him and that the ball coming his way is intended for someone else. 

The pass was perfect, partly because it avoided Tatum. Had Tatum gotten a fingertip on that, it would have been a play similar to the Bobby Portis offensive rebound and putback off the missed free throw that cost the Celtics against Milwaukee; two guys going for a ball with good intent but with a bad result. 

Luck went against Boston on that Portis play, but it was with them here. This play will likely be forgotten over time, but it’s a critical one to continuing the run because now we’re about to get into three minutes of incredible shot-making for both teams. Flubbing this play could have changed the entire momentum of the game. 

Before the wild exchange, there was this block from Williams

Just watch the limping afterwards. (A) You can see how he’s toughing it out, and (B) look at the awkward landing and you can see how his athleticism puts him in positions to make plays, but also be rough on his knees. This is why he needs to focus so much on strengthening around the knee and taking care of his body through proper post-activity recovery. 

Okay, now we get into the Rocky-style haymaker exchange …

- Beautiful Warriors ball movement to get an Iguodala dunk

- A great drive and kick from Derrick White to Brown for a tough corner 3-pointer. 

- Klay Thompson with a tough running 3

- A Brown/Pritchard pick-and-roll where Brown reject the screen with spin move and gets down the lane for a nice lefty finish

- More Warriors basketball with Curry pocket pass and then a behind the back pass for a Draymond Green layup

- Tatum right sideline drive into the paint and kick to Pritchard for 3

- Curry stepback 2 against Williams

(Al Horford checks in)

- Brown extended dribble possession but a nice high-opposite pass to White for 3

- Curry beautiful up-and-under on White from the right block

- White a tough contested left hashmark 3

And then.. Finally … a stop

One critical element to this exchange between these two teams was it was often 3 for 2 in Boston’s favor. It started out with Iggy’s dunk that made it a 5 point game, but after that stretch of five baskets for each team, the game was tied. 

Horford’s return is also critical because the next three plays were: 

- Horford 3-pointer

(Warriors timeout)

- Horford steal

- Horford 3-pointer

Let’s take stock of these baskets for a minute. That last Horford 3-pointer was the seventh of the quarter to that point. All but the first bomb by Brown were assisted. Five of those other six were immediately preceded by a paint touch that kicked out to the shooter and the other, the last Horford 3, went paint/corner/wing. 

I can’t even keep count of how many times I and others who cover the team have said that ball movement leads to good things for Boston. They had 12 assists on 15 fourth quarter shots and 33 assists in the game. Contrast this with the close to the Heat Game 6 and you’ll see two vastly different teams and offense. I get that the situation is different, but this team is at its best when they play like this.

They're also at their best when they defend like this: 

Pritchard is all up in Curry’s business and forces him to give it up. Brown stays in front of Curry and then Tatum comes in to nearly rip it. Curry comes across to try to get it but Pritchard is still surgically attached to him. White stonewalls Andrew Wiggins, and the last chance the Warriors have for any kind of shot is a forced late-clock 30-footer from Green. To top it off, White finishes off the play with a box out so the Celtics can clear the rebound. 

This is a defensive clinic. This fourth quarter is Boston at its best. And while things went extraordinarily well for the Celtics, anyone dismissing this as some level of luck or shot-making variance is in for a rude awakening. 

Yes, Boston shot better than expected, but every one of those 3-pointers was open and assisted after the defense had been collapsed. The defense was exceptional after that. 

Udoka got to give his guys some rest with two timeouts to close out the game because he had four coming into the quarter and and he used two in consecutive plays before he lost them at the 3:00 mark. I’m a huge proponent of the use-it-or-lose-it timeout, especially in this situation. 

It allowed Udoka to sub Smart in for Pritchard, who had a huge quarter. Waiting until this point to reinsert Smart maximized Pritchard and then got fresh legs into the game to close it out. Smart rewarded the decision with a pair of 3-pointers, one of which came after a Horford offensive rebound, and the other off an assist from Tatum. The second was the only assisted 3 in the quarter that didn’t somehow involve the ball touching the paint. 

How did Boston put together a 40-16 fourth quarter? By playing the right way. They got some big contributions from unlikely sources, but each of those contributions was the result of good basketball. From good ball movement to good defense, the Celtics were their best selves down the stretch, playing the way they were always supposed to play under Udoka. 

Play good basketball, and good things will happen.