“Brooklyn with Durant, Bucks with Antetokounmpo, Miami with Butler” Celtics coach Ime Udoka takes pride in his team playing as one-unit after Game 1 victory
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Ime Udoka is pleased with his teams' effort
The Boston Celtics struck first in the NBA Finals in stellar fashion, one Ime Udoka himself is proud of. The Celtics set the floor aflame in the final quarter, and came back to defeat the Golden State Warriors 120-108 in Game 1 on the road in San Francisco. Golden State used a third-quarter surge to take a double-digit lead, Boston stormed back in the fourth to win and steal homecourt advantage. The victory was testimony to Boston’s ‘never-say-die’ approach, as they deserved a win in a full-blooded contest where each team traded blows, a game full of crazy momentum shifts.
Steph Curry made a 3-pointer for the first basket of the game, which started a historic first quarter in which he made six 3s and scored 21 points. The six 3s were an NBA Finals record for the most ever made in a single quarter by one player, and the 21 points were the most a player has had in a Finals quarter since Michael Jordan in 1993. The Boston Celtics endured it all and still emerged as victors, a team-effort instilled by their head coach, Ime Udoka.
The talismans for both sides shone bright as Stephen Curry led all scorers with a game-high 34 points while Andrew Wiggins, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole combined for 44 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists of their own. In the end, that was not enough to overcome the performance from Jaylen Brown, Al Horford and Derrick White as the road team was able to steal home-court advantage in Game 1.Al Horford, playing in his first Finals, paced the Celtics with 26 points and Jaylen Brown had 24 points and Derrick White added 21 points off the bench.
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“We pride ourselves on being a team that plays together.” – Ime Udoka impressed by the collective team-spirit of Boston, in Game 1
The much awaited battle between the Champions of The East and West, finally begun on 2nd June, with the Boston Celtics storming the Warriors in the 4th quarter, earning a commanding victory of foreign soil. Al Horford led an electrifying fourth quarter comeback as the Boston Celtics stunned the Golden State Warriors 120-108 to draw first blood in their best-of-seven NBA Finals series on Thursday, despite having a rusty start. The Young Guns from Boston defeated the Warriors, who were making their 6th Finals appearance in the last 8-years.
Post their Game One win, Udoka reflected on the Celtics’ journey in the playoffs, beating teams with top-tier superstars on it as a group rather than depending on an individual to bail them out. During the post-game media interaction, Coach Udoka gave his men the compliments they righteously earned, by playing fluid basketball as a well-organized team. The Celtics head coach didn’t hesitate to praise them for the humungous effort they put in today to defeat the Warriors, on their soil.
“We look at ourselves as a unit. A complete team. We look at the other teams, Brooklyn with Durant, Bucks with Antetokounmpo, Miami with Butler. We pride ourselves on being a team that plays together.” the coach said in his post game press-conference. He also talked about Jayson Tatum’s disappointing night, with just 12 points.
“I’ve talked to him all year about impacting the game when his shot’s not falling. That’s what it was all about. He’s still defending. Still impacting the game on that end too. his is a confidence builder because we didn’t play our best at all. I don’t Jayson Tatum is going to shoot that poorly again” Udoka said.
Ime Udoka has led a once dysfunctional Boston Celtics, to rise from their ruins and stun their opposition with conviction, transforming his players into their best versions. Taking over for Brad Stevens, Udoka got the most out of the Celtics roster and pushed them to many improvements this year. Notably, Udoka transformed Boston into the most dominant defensive team in the league. Udoka has led Celtics through the toughest opponents, and consecutive Game 7 showdowns to bring them where they are now, the grandest stage in NBA.
It is true that the Celtics have a squad that prides itself on picking up the slack of their teammates. This was proved in Game 1 of the finals as Jayson Tatum had a terrible shooting night, however Al Horford and D White stepped up and filled the void left by Tatum. Celtics faced the likes of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in their first round, followed by defeating the reigning Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in an epic Game 7 showdown, to finally getting past Jimmy Butler and the Heat in the ECF.
Many were shocked to see the odds tilt so heavily in favor of the Celtics, initially. However, the events of Game 1 of The Finals, have made most people understand how dangerous the Celtics really are as a well trained pack of wolves.
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Aditya Minocha
(216 Articles Published)