Led by Al Horford’s two-way versatility, the Celtics blitzed Golden State in the fourth quarter to steal Game 1. Plus, more observations from the opener of the NBA Finals.

The NBA Finals offered hope of change from the lopsided contests that have dominated the playoffs, and Game 1 delivered with a crisp, tightly contested game that set the tone for what should be a competitive series. The final margin — 120-108 in Boston’s favor — might suggest a fairly significant gap between the Celtics and Warriors, but the vast majority of the game featured two heavyweights trading blows, finding counters and grinding out possessions in a close affair.

Golden State’s unique motion offense almost always catches opponents off-guard in the first games of playoff series, but after weathering a third-quarter avalanche from Golden State, the Celtics finally pulled away in the fourth, using a 17-0 run to sprint down the stretch and secure a crucial, well-earned road win.

Aberrational shooting played a big role in Boston’s 40-point fourth quarter and 130.4 offensive rating for the game, but so did its superior execution and ball movement over the final eight minutes. The Celtics’ closing lineup of Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford outscored the Warriors by 13 points in over six minutes of action in Game 1, and all five players were essential to Boston’s late turnaround.

Brown helped ignite the fire that ultimately scorched Golden State in the fourth, scoring or assisting on the first 14 Celtic points of the quarter and prompting Steve Kerr to bring Steph Curry back in the game earlier than usual. Smart and White doggedly chased Curry around the floor, while Tatum consistently made the right plays on both ends despite a poor shooting night. But the most important Celtic in Game 1 might have been Horford, whose defensive mobility, 3-point shooting and connective playmaking changed what was possible for both offenses in the final quarter.

In his first-ever Finals game, on the eve of his 36th birthday, Horford had 26 points, six rebounds and three assists on 9-of-12 shooting (including a career-best 6-of-8 from deep), and was both a catalyst and a beneficiary of the Celtics’ sharp ball movement. It wasn’t just Horford’s statistical production that changed the tenor of the game late, but the way he opened up Boston’s offense while quelling the Warriors’ attack. Golden State used Curry in ball screens much more often than they had in previous rounds of the playoffs, which is a testament to how well the Celtics defended the Warriors’ preferred approach of passing, cutting and moving without the ball.

But leaning into the two-man game allowed the Warriors to target Robert Williams when he was on the floor with Curry, taking advantage of his limited mobility on the perimeter by using his man to screen for Curry. That not only mitigated Williams’ massive impact as a rim-protector but forced the Celtics to either concede open shots to Curry or scramble to take him away. In the first and third quarters, that helped Curry get going from deep before the Celtics began pre-switching the pick-and-roll to keep Williams in the paint while Horford came up to defend the screen:

Going smaller with Grant Williams in place of Robert Williams helped quiet Curry in the second quarter, but with Horford off the floor in the second half, Boston went back to dropping and trapping against Curry. That let Golden State play four-on-three, put the Celtics into rotation and create open shots, and some of the Warriors’ only good offense in the fourth quarter came at Rob Williams’ expense in basic pick-and-rolls:

When Boston tried switching Williams onto Curry, the two-time MVP simply isolated and got to an easy mid-range jumper. Ime Udoka then countered by replacing Williams with the quicker and more skilled Derrick White, leaving Horford as Boston’s lone big man. Now, the Celtics could more effectively get into Curry’s airspace without putting two defenders on the ball while stretching the Warriors out on the other end.

“At times some of our bigger guys were getting caught too low, especially when Curry was getting going early, so we wanted to go with a smaller unit and get more aggressive on the ball,” Udoka said postgame. “We did some pre-switching to get the bigs out of the actions and took some time off the clock, and this is what we relied on all year — our one-on-one defense. And guys really clamped in a little bit better. More physicality, more awareness on their shooters taking up some space, and it seemed like it seemed to wear them down a little bit.”

By cleaning up its on- and off-ball switches, Boston forced Curry into more on-ball work, only without the advantage of fully tilting the defense away from his teammates. Instead of walking into open 3s or getting off the ball against double-teams, Curry now had to do more heavy lifting to get his shot off and scored just once after Horford checked back into the game with 6:34 remaining. Horford, meanwhile, splashed two 3s, hit a mid-range jumper and converted an and-one to ice the game over that time — all while anchoring a smothering defensive lineup.

Horford will always be miscast as a primary offensive creator or central defensive pillar (especially at this stage of his career), but his ability to fill any gap on either end of the floor makes him essential to a team as balanced and versatile as the Celtics. Subtle acts like playing a step higher on the floor against Curry, instantly spotting an open shooter with a kickout pass, popping to the perimeter out of ball screens and boxing out on every Warrior shot attempt all compound into a massive effect on the final score. In Game 1 that impact was fully evident, and it helped give Boston a critical early edge in the NBA Finals.

“It’s just going out there and playing basketball at the end of the day,” Horford said postgame. “That’s just what it is.”

“It’s such a challenge for guys like him and top players in the league who are expected to score, to playmake, to defend, all those things, and Jayson does all those things,” Horford said. “His playmaking has gotten better steadily, and tonight it was just brilliant.”

“Early in the game he got a little dribble-heavy at times, had some turnovers and some tough shots, and we showed that at halftime we don’t have to take any of those,” Udoka said. “They’re gonna collapse the paint, know where your outlets are at, let’s get our spacing correct, and they do have some favorable matchups for us that we can attack.”

Brown’s balance between downhill aggression and controlled probing was perhaps most evident on the play that effectively sealed the game, when Tatum drew two defenders on a high pick-and-roll and quickly found Smart on the roll. Smart instantly swung the ball to Brown, who then drove the baseline and shoveled a pass to Horford for an and-one:

Brown did have four turnovers, but if he and Tatum keep passing like they did in Game 1, the Celtics’ offense becomes much more dynamic and harder to stop.

Otto Porter Jr. also looked good coming off a foot injury, hitting four of his five 3-point attempts and playing his usual active defense. Gary Payton II was active but didn’t play, and there may not be much of a place for him in the series if Green, Iguodala and Looney are all fixtures in the rotation. Still, he might provide a different look in Game 2 coming off a home loss.

“My gut reaction, just what I just witnessed, was they came in and played a hell of a fourth quarter, and you’ve got to give them credit,” Kerr said. “It’s pretty much as simple as that.”

Better shooting from Tatum (and probably Brown) should balance out regression from lesser shooters, and the Warriors themselves shot a scorching 46 percent from distance. Maybe it all balances out. But Curry, Thompson and Porter catching fire from deep feels more sustainable than Horford, White and Smart doing the same, and the Celtics could have trouble scoring in this series when shots aren’t falling the way they did on Thursday. Both teams have reason to feel confident moving forward, and in many ways the series remains on level ground strategically. The difference is that Boston now has a one-game advantage, and it’s now the Warriors’ turn to respond.

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