By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Until the start of the last period, the Golden State Warriors dominated the game but that was not enough.
Jaylen Brown fueled the comeback and scored 24 points, Al Horford hit six 3-pointers and the Celtics made history in the NBA Finals with a 120-108 victory over the Warriors in Game 1 on Thursday night.
Horford finished with 26 points and the Celtics outscored the Warriors 40-16 in the final 12 minutes after trailing by 15 points late in the third quarter.
The 15th-year big man, who turns 36 on Friday, played in 141 previous postseason games, most ever before playing in the NBA Finals.
“I felt like the guys kept finding me time after time. Also Derrick White hit some tough shots there, too,” Horford said. “I was just getting the looks, knocking them down. That’s that.”
Boston made its first seven shots from long distance in the fourth and wound up 9 of 12 beyond the arc in the period as almost everybody got involved in the 3-point flurry.
Jayson Tatum was the lone Celtics regular who struggled offensively, finishing 3 for 17, though he did have 13 assists.
Steph Curry scored 34 points, but the Warriors couldn’t sustain momentum from a 38-point third quarter that put them ahead 92-80 going into the final 12 minutes.
The Celtics were the first team to trail a finals game by 10 or more points after three quarters and win by 10 or more, according to Sportradar.
German big man Daniel Theis had three points for the Celtics, while Serb Nemanja Bjelica also scored three for the Warriors.