Boston Celtics NBA Finals: Thrilling Game 1 Comeback, What's Next?

MASSACHUSETTS — The Golden State Warriors had all the championship series experience, homecourt advantage and a 15-point lead late in the third quarter on their side in Game 1 of the NBA Finals Thursday night.

In a little more than 12 minutes, the Boston Celtics turned everything around and rewarded the New England fans who stayed up late watching them dominate the fourth quarter in a 120-108 victory.

The Celtics entered the fourth quarter down 12, and then used a 17-0 run to punctuate a 40-16 advantage to close out the game heading into Sunday night's Game 2 in San Francisco.

"You just believe in what you've been doing all year," Marcus Smart said in a news conference following the game. "You know that it hasn't been our first time being down, in that position, during this game, let alone all season. We came in with a game plan, and for us, it was just to stick with it and believe in ourselves.

"We kept doing that, and as you see, everyone started to catch fire and got hot. And things started going our way."

Al Horford scored 26 points, Jaylen Brown scored 24, Derrick White contributed 21 points off the bench and Smart had 18 points in the stirring comeback that saw the Celtics rally from an early deficit to lead by two points at the half, only to give up 38 points in the third quarter and trail 82-70 after three.

"We talked about it at halftime," Brown said. "We knew they were coming to come out (strong) in the third quarter. They did. They came out great. But in those moments — once you realize that you allowed somebody to do something that you didn't want them to — once you realize that, it can go two ways. You can let it snowball or you can play to the next play and figure things out.

"We just kept playing. We kept figuring it out. We kept playing basketball and we found a way to win."

The Celtics found that way to win despite 34 points from Golden State's Steph Curry — including 21 points and a record six 3-pointers in the first quarter — and just 12 points on 3-of-17 shooting from Jayson Tatum.

But Tatum also delivered 13 assists and said — especially in the quest for the franchise's 18th banner — personal glory takes a backseat to collective title aspirations.

"We won, right?" Tatum said. "I had a bad shooting night. I just tried to impact the game in other ways. We're in the championship (round). We're in the Finals. All I was worried about was trying to get a win. And we did.

"And that's all that matters at this point."

Here is the NBA Finals schedule:

Game 1 — Boston 120, at Golden State 108

Game 2 — Boston at Golden State, Sunday, June 5, 8 p.m.

Game 3 — Golden State at Boston, Wednesday, June 8, 9 p.m.

Game 4 — Golden State at Boston, Friday, June 10, 9 p.m.

Game 5 (if necessary) — Boston at Golden State, Monday, June 13, 9 p.m.

Game 6 (if necessary) — Golden State at Boston, Thursday, June 16, 9 p.m.

Game 7 (if necessary) — Boston at Golden State, Sunday, June 19, 8 p.m.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)