Steph Curry opened his sixth NBA Finals by scoring game-high 34 points in 38 minutes of play but it wasn’t enough for the Warriors to take the win as the were defeated by the Celtics 120-108.
Golden State had control of the game for three quarters. However, a collapse in the fourth quarter (16-40) was decisive in Game 1. Curry was asked postgame by the media what happened to his in the series opener.
“It’s not ideal,” the three-time NBA champion said. “Believing who are, how we deal with adversity, how we responded all year, how we responded to playoff after a loss. Learned a lot from that fourth quarter.
“Obviously they made a lot of shots seemed like. I think they didn’t miss until deep into the fourth. You have a team that just finds a little bit of momentum like they did and they keep making shots. So, it’s tough to kind of regain that momentum.
“They guys are making shots, obviously Al [Harrington], Marcus [Smart], Derrick White and Jaylen [Brown] early in the fourth. They play well. We know they’re a good team, so we gotta respond on Sunday.”
Curry was also asked if the Warriors had relaxed on defense a little after the Western Conference Finals against the Mavericks. “Rotations might have been a little slow,” he said. “You obviously have to pick and choose where you set attention. Jaylen and Jason have the ball in their hands a lot and they try to create confusion with pick and roll putting a lot of different people in them.
“I was spaced most of the game. When he’s making shots like that and you’re slow to rotate, it’s just another threat that you got to worry about. And obviously [Al Horford] 26 points, 6/8 [three-pointers] that’s tough. And even Derrick [White] scoring 20+ and five threes.
“So, those two guys are key. You hope they don’t stay that hot, but you also have to do something about it and we got to figure that out watching film tomorrow and Saturday.”
