Celtics overcome a second half deficit to take Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals

Boston-The Celtics steal Game 1 from the Warriors, 120-108

After a scary ending in Game 7,against Miami, in which the Celtics barely escape, Boston had to turn its attention to Golden State in order to be crowned the 2022 NBA Champions. Prior to Game 1, a lot of people felt that the Celtics could pull off the upset, because of their size and how they can defend wing players. Celtics' head coach Ime Udoka said that he has faith in his team and in order to win the series, they can not turn the ball over. Turnovers and bad shot selection has been a theme in the second half for the C's throughout the playoffs. Let's see how they fared in Game 1.

Offensively , the Celtics in the first quarter was getting some good shots that were hitting the bottom of the net, but struggled to contained Stephen Curry. Curry was connecting on everything and finished the quarter with 21 points. Yes, 21 points. Despite leaving Curry open and him hitting everything, Boston was down by four at the start of the second.

Derrick White kept the Celtics hanging around in the second with his three point shooting.He hit four threes, which kept the Celtics in striking distance. After a sluggish start, Boston started being aggressive defensively midway in the quarter, which helped sparked a 16-6 run to take their first lead since being up 9-8. Boston finished the quarter with a lead and locked down the cheat code of Curry with zero points in the second and three fouls to end the half, 56-54.

Boston's lead was short-lived at the start of the second half. Jayson Tatum was non-existent and had a hard time getting into rhythm. Midway in the third, Tatum only had 10 points and 7 assists. In a blink of an eye, the Celtics had to dig themselves out of a double digit lead going into the fourth.

Since JT was out of sync, Jalen Brown decided to put the team on his back. Brown scored five points in .45 seconds to start the fourth, which cut the Warriors' lead to five.The tempo picked up and both teams were trading baskets. Al Hordford hit some deadly threes that broke the game wide open for Boston and extended their lead to nine with two minutes left. Smart hit the dagger and the Celtics went on to steal Game 1.

This is what Coach Ime had to say about Tatum's play-making ability after he finished with 12 points and 13 assists.