Dynamite: the Warriors had not lost at home in these playoffs (9-0 in his garbeo by the West). Steve Kerr was, as a coach, 21-2 in opening playoff games (also 21-2 overall, precisely). His team was by far the best in the last quarters and in decisive minutes, with galactic metrics that contrasted with the suffering of the Celtics in tight endings: losses, a tendency to disorder and isolation, forced shots… Everything they had to do the Warriors was to arrive with the match tied to the outcome, No? Let’s not say, seventh heaven, with things going downhill. For example, an 87-72 near the end of the third quarter. And with Stephen Curry, enlightened until that moment, only in the line of three. The +18 (a slow-motion ball of fire) in the air, the Celtics on the canvas, the Chase Center inflamed…
Dynamite: Curry misses that 3-pointer and the Celtics don’t crack. They row a little to finish that quarter (92-80) and then, there, they take out the scythe. The bulldozer. The explosives. They start the last partial, normally warrior territory, with a 0-9 (92-89). They force Steve Kerr to cut Curry’s rest, but the blizzard is already gale, the wind has changed and now turns its back to the Pacific and points to the Atlantic. Halfway through the fourth quarter, two baskets by Stephen Curry made it 103-100, the last sign of life for the favorite for many. Until now. If the Celtics had survived their rival’s sweet moment, the Warriors fell off the cliff, disappeared, when it was their turn to delve into that instinct, to hold on to their vital spark. Five minutes later the game is 103-117. It ends, after that 0-17with deathly silence, 108-120 final and 0-1 for the Celtics. Whoever wins the first game of the Finals is champion 71% of the time. The series is long Life takes many turns, a match changed everything (sometimes a quarter, a play…). But the 2022 Finals start dyed green. green dynamite: boom.
Al Horford and Derrick White, extraordinary
That 16-40 of the last quarter, for the stage and the rival, for the blow to the armor of a dynasty, it is a stretch of dazzling luminosity, a roar of historical resonance. There are few things more difficult than escaping from the Bay like this, from -15, after being devoured in the third quarter (38-24) and with the inertia hitting you in the ribs. In the golden minute For the Warriors, at 87-72, Curry had more points than Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined, the Warriors’ secondaries had scored enough free throws (Porter, Wiggins, the antediluvian Iguodala…), Draymond Green was directing a defense that had been tuned in after a discreet first half and Kevon Looney was beginning to impose his big body in the fight for the rebound. In less than a quarter of real time, from there, the partial was 16-45. escapism? No, basketball.
In the last quarter the Celtics scored their first seven triples and signed a 15/22 in total shots with a 9/12 from the line of three. Al Horford (26 points, 6/8 triples, 6 rebounds) and Derrick White (21, 5/8 triples), extraordinary, opened the gap after ten points from Jaylen Brown when no one expected him (24+7+5 final, from little to much). Jayson Tatum did not see the hoop (12 points, 3/17) but understood what did i have to do (13 assists for two losses, tireless defense). It is the hallmark of this team. Play no matter what, follow one more play, let’s see what happens in the next possession. Defend, not lose the thread, suffer. Fit without going to the ground and hit with a cement fist as soon as the opponent shows his chin. This is how the Bucks and Heat fell, this is how they have opened a gigantic hole in the Warriors’ waterline. So, there are the history books, rings are won. And they know something about that in Boston, right?
Curry finished with 34 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. And 7/14 in triples. He played a fabulous first quarter, a dream; one of those that only he plays (21 points, 6 triples). But it was disappearing later, entangled with the referees (at the break he had three fouls for none of the Celtics’ starting lineup) and uncomfortable when his rival stopped sinking the pivots after the blocks, a strategy that proved suicidal (as expected) in the first few minutes. Klay Thompson scored 15 transparent points, Green defended but missed too much in important moments (layouts included: 2/11 shooting) and Jordan Poole subtracted with his weakness on defense more than he added with his talent on offense. Wiggins was fine, Porter was very well… And the Warriors seemed noticeably superior near the end of the third quarter. There, right there, the ground disappeared from under his feet. They hadn’t lost at home… but the Celtics are now 8-2 away after starting agonizing games, eliminatory, from Milwaukee and Miami. They are resistant as granite, unattainable to discouragement. They play to the end, better or worse, on the run or gropingly. But keep playing. Until the wind changes or the forces run out.
It’s just a match, of course. And the Warriors, an incredible record, have 26 straight qualifiers winning at least one on the road. The Celtics have had inappropriate disappearances in the Garden against the Bucks and Heat, and the first 35 minutes of this first round show that Steve Kerr’s men have a formula to be better than their rival in this Final. You can see it like this.
But the final flash, the green lightning that swept across the Bay in the fourth quarter, is more than a call to rebellion, more than a punch on the table. With a fanatical defense that appeared on time, with secondaries at an extraordinary level, with stars who play in the flow of the team and with the faith of those who know they have a thousand lives. And with a shirt that has been winning Finals for 65 years. Almost all the ones he has played (17-4… for now). The eternal greenthe champion of all time. Now, three steps away from that ring that was neither a pipe dream nor a bar counter bet in January, when the team was 23-24, out of the East playoffs. And when the debate was who would come out in the winter market, what adjustments would have to be made in a summer that may end, who would have said it, with for the in Boston. Champion parade 14 years later. It would be memorable, it would be heroic… but it would not be incredible. This team is that tough, that proud, that good. We will see, it is what comes next, if the Warriors respond to this start, to this coup, to this tremendous detonation that has changed the temperature of the 2022 Finals. green dynamite.