SAN FRANCISCO—A 180, a flip, a reversal, whatever you want to call it, the Celtics turned the tables on the Warriors in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Finals. Boston outscored Golden State 40–16 in the final frame, restricting the Dubs to an offensive rating of 88.0. It was a defensive masterclass from the Celtics, who were the stingiest team during the regular season, and have since actually improved in the playoffs. What was the key to their fourth quarter shutdown on Thursday? It was what Boston has done best all year long—switching.
After starting the game with both Al Horford and Rob Williams—and curiously dropping on many pick and rolls—the Celtics played the entire fourth with only one big on the floor. Horford and Williams didn’t share the court, and the result was a smaller, quicker, switchier bunch.
“You know, they were attacking Rob at times with [Andrew] Wiggins,” Ime Udoka explained after the game. “He was a little bit too low. Al was as well. So we got a little bit more aggressive and took away some of their airspace on the threes, tried to get them inside the three-point line and make them beat us there, as well as going with the small lineup. Did some pre-switching to keep the bigs off, and it worked well for us.”
