SAN FRANCISCO -- Two teams hit the Chase Center floor on Saturday, one up in the NBA Finals, one down, but both feeling really good about where they are.
“I thought we got comfortable when we went up 15, including myself, our team, the fans. We've done it so many times, we probably just expect that we're going to win,” Klay Thompson said on Saturday. “Then I reminded myself, the playoffs are about being uncomfortable until you complete the mission. So it was a harsh reminder, but something we all needed to go through, including myself. It's about how we respond tomorrow, which I am very excited for.”
From the Golden State perspective, they came into the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead at home, and then some of their earlier missteps came back to bite them when they got too comfortable.
“They have to feel you every possession,” Draymond Green said. “There were times they didn't, and then once you get into a rhythm, due to them not feeling our pressure, then it's tough to stop. It's easy to go back and look at the shots in the fourth quarter and be like, man, they started hitting, but the reality is some guys got comfortable early in that game, and once you get a guy comfortable, it's hard to break that rhythm.”
Comfort aside, the Warriors still went into the fourth quarter of Game 1 with the lead and, it seemed, momentum. The Celtics were well aware of the Warriors' third-quarter prowess -- how can they not be? Still, knowing something is coming doesn’t always prepare you for it.
“It's one thing watching on film and then going against it live and in person,” Jaylen Brown said. “I'm looking forward to the challenge. I know our group is looking forward to the challenge as well. We haven't been consistently as great in the third quarter, but all the other quarters matter, too. We've just got to come out and play basketball and try to take away what they do best, which would be why we've got our work cut out.”
We knew coming into this series that Game 1 would be a bit of a shock to Boston’s system. They recovered well, obviously, and won, but just because the flight got smooth at 35,000 feet, it doesn’t erase the memory of the turbulence of the takeoff.
“It's a big adjustment, going from one series to the next,” Brown said. “We gave up a lot of open looks, had a lot of defensive breakdowns. … as the series goes on, we get more comfortable, but also we've got to understand they are going to get more comfortable as well.”
Golden State can hang their hats on the 12-point fourth-quarter lead, but Boston can just as easily say the process of getting that lead won’t be the same in Game 2. Where Boston made costly defensive errors on Steph Curry of all people, we can reasonably expect some of that early defense to be a bit better, and without the need for any significant changes in Boston’s personnel.
“It was a lot to do with guard-guard actions and transitions or the offense and us not communicating as well,” Ime Udoka explained. “Nothing we can't clean up. Obviously, we don't want to give up six threes and 21 points. But big picture, we were down four, 32-28; he went off for that. We were still in good striking range overall. We knew if we limited him, we would be in much better shape.”
The “if only” statements will give both teams a lot of confidence heading into Game 2. The Celtics and Warriors both have their own bullet point lists of things that could have made their lives easier in Game 1. Both spent time on the floor here Saturday running through what needs to be honed or outright changed.
But one of these teams is in a much more desperate position having lost the first game at home. The Celtics are no strangers to this, immediately giving up home court to the Milwaukee Bucks and then winning that series in seven games. If anyone is aware of how tenuous a 1-0 series lead is, it’s Boston. They know how the Warriors will respond.
“Look at how we responded from Game 5 to Game 6 in the Memphis series. Game 4 to 5 in the Dallas series,” Curry said. “Where things are starting to get away from us a little bit at times and kind of have your come-to-Jesus moment, like we need to play right. How are we going to flip the script and get things back on the right track? We usually responded pretty well.”
When asked if this was one of those moments, he said “absolutely.”
The Warriors will pay with a different intensity in Game 2. Boston has the ability to match that, but the comfort of earning the road split is tough to overcome. A big night from Tatum could combat that, but Tatum says the Celtics need to think bigger than that.
“It was not so much about me and what I need to do. It's about what we need to do and how we need to be prepared,” Tatum said. “The adjustments that they are going to make and how they are going to respond. We need to be ready and not relax just because we're up 1-0.”
