The Boston Celtics won game one of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. The decisive factor was a furious final quarter.
The Celtics inflicted the Warriors’ first home play-off defeat of the season in a 120-108 win on Thursday night (local time), giving themselves an unexpected early advantage on the road to the hoped-for championship. A 17-0 run by Daniel Theis, who was on the floor for six minutes and sank a three-pointer, quieted the Chase Center in the final quarter after the hosts had led by as many as 15 points at one point.
“They played a hell of a fourth quarter, you have to give them credit. It’s as simple as that,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said.
For the Warriors, superstar Steph Curry performed particularly well offensively, scoring the most points with 34. The Celtics spread their successful throws over many more players, in the end five of the nine predominantly used professionals scored at least twelve points. Al Horford, already 36 years old, recorded the most with 26 points in the first final game of his career.
The Celtics are aiming for their first title since 2008 and would then once again be the sole record champions in the NBA with 18 victories over the Los Angeles Lakers. Theis would also be only the second German after Dirk Nowitzki to win the title. “Now I’m part of it and I have the chance to achieve something big,” the 30-year-old told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
