SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors offered a basic reminder to fans and media alike following a stunning fourth-quarter meltdown Thursday night that put Golden State in a 1-0 hole in the NBA Finals.
“It’s first to four, not first to one,” Klay Thompson said after the 120-108 loss to the Celtics. “We all have been through situations like this. And we realize that it will take — it’s going to be very hard. Best part about it is we have another opportunity on Sunday.”
Stephen Curry had an explosive first quarter, during which he nailed an NBA Finals record-setting six 3-pointers and had 21 points. Later in the game, Golden State pulled away from the Celtics following one of their trademark third-quarter scoring outbursts, which put the home team up by 12 heading into the final stretch.
But that’s where it all started to fall apart for the Warriors. The Celtics began nailing timely 3-pointers while Golden State’s offense slumped.
Boston converted on nine of its 12 attempts from beyond the arc in the fourth and outscored the Warriors 40-16. During the Celtics’ 3-point barrage, Golden State went a painstaking five minutes without a field goal.
The Celtics’ final push was led by Al Horford and Jaylen Brown, who scored a combined 21 points down the stretch.
“Learn a lot from that fourth quarter,” Curry said. “When you have a team that just finds a little bit of momentum like they did and they keep making shots, it’s tough to kind of regain that momentum.”
The Warriors’ veteran core remained cool, calm and collected following the stunning fourth-quarter meltdown. Sure, they were immensely disappointed in the outcome, especially after leading by as many as 15 points in the second half, but they were by no means ready to sound any alarms.
“It’s just nothing to panic about,” Draymond Green said after Golden State’s first postseason loss at Chase Center.
“Everybody’s upset that we lost, but I think the confidence is still there,” Kevon Looney said. “We know what we need to do to win. Just try to go out there and execute better.”
But this is rather unusual territory for the Warriors, who are now trailing an opponent in a series for the first time this postseason.
This is only the third time under coach Steve Kerr that Golden State has lost a Game 1. The other two opening losses came with mixed results.
After falling behind early in the 2019 NBA Finals to the Raptors, the Warriors ultimately came up short of another title in the infamous Game 6. Before that, Golden State managed to move past a Game 1 loss in the 2016 Western Conference finals to beat the Thunder in seven games.
“I remember just putting it past us,” Thompson recalled of how the Warriors dealt with previous early-series deficits. “There’s no reason to hold onto a loss when you have another game so soon.
“I like our chances still, and we’ll go home and we’ll digest what happened. I know we’ll be better Game 2.”
