Things were going well for the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Stephen Curry was having himself a monster night, scoring almost at will. On the other hand, Boston's offense was crumbling, as their lead star misfired on nearly every shot it took. It should've been an easy Game 1 win for them.
Until… the fourth quarter happened. After stomping the Celtics in the third quarter, the Warriors started out flat in the final frame of Game 1. Boston capitalized on this, immediately going on a massive run and burying the home team alive with a barrage of threes. The result is a 24-point swing in the fourth quarter: the largest point differential of ANY quarter in NBA Finals history. (via ESPN Stats and Info)
At the start of the 4th quarter, the Boston Celtics trailed by 12. They ended up with a 12-point win.
The 24-point scoring margin in the 4th tied the largest in any quarter of a Finals game in NBA history. pic.twitter.com/TRKfln8zov
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 3, 2022




The Celtics weathered an uncharacteristic off-night from Jayson Tatum to secure the win. A big part of that was Jaylen Brown and Al Horford's huge Finals debuts to torment the Warriors. Both men kept the home team at bay during the fourth quarter, knocking down timely shots to keep the Cs afloat.
Golden State, on the other hand, went ice-cold in the fourth quarter. A combination of carelessness and the Celtics' tough defense did the Warriors in during the final frame. Jordan Poole, in particular, seemed to struggle against Boston's quick and lanky defenders.
Luckily for the Warriors, it's only the first game of the Finals series. There's still plenty of time for Steve Kerr to make crucial adjustments for this series. They'll need to pull out every trick in the book to keep this upstart Celtics team down,