The Boston Celtics trailed by double-digits at the start of the fourth quarter, but blew the Golden State Warriors out in the final 12 minutes to win 120-108 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The late surge for Boston came from an unlikely source, as Al Horford led the way down the stretch. The Celtics outscored the Warriors, 40-16, in the fourth quarter with Horford scoring 11 points in the last 5:10 of the game.
Horford, 35, finished his first career NBA Finals game with 26 points, three assists, six rebounds, and a career-best six three-pointers.
Al Horford for the lead... CASH
— NBA (@NBA) June 3, 2022
The #NBAFinals presented by @YouTubeTV pic.twitter.com/VcqWPG7C4Z
Golden State didn't score its first points of the fourth quarter until an Andre Iguodala dunk with 8:44 left. Later in the quarter, the Warriors had a four-minute, 56-second span without a point scored. During the latter scoring drought, the Celtics went on a 17-0 run to turn a three-point deficit into a game-sealing 14-point lead. Only one team in the last 50 years has gone on a longer scoring run in the fourth quarter.
The Celtics' 17-0 run in the 4th was the 2nd-longest 4th-quarter scoring run in a Finals game over the last 50 years (Spurs 19-0 vs Nets in 2003 Game 6).
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 3, 2022
The point breakdown of that run:
Al Horford: 8 points
Marcus Smart: 6 points
Derrick White: 3 points pic.twitter.com/hqCgmALT41
Warriors point guard Stephen Curry started the game with a record-breaking first quarter when he nailed six three-pointers in the first 12 minutes. While Curry led all scorers with 34 points on the night, he made only one three in the last three quarters and finished 12-of-25 from the field.
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