Warriors win by playing Celtics ball

SAN FRANCISCO—The Warriors stayed in the Game playing Celtics basketball—knocking down people as well as knocking down shots—until they could win the game playing Warriors basketball.

The team that three days earlier lost the ball and then, stunningly the lead in the first game of the NBA Finals, creating panic among the fans, if not the players, on Sunday night turned into a blast from the past. 
 In a third-quarter as memorable as any for a franchise that over the years and through the string of playoff appearances has become historic for the way it dominates that period, the Dubs outscored the Boston Celtics by  21 points 35-14. Wow!

They did it, much to the delight of the boisterous Chase Center crowd, which from the very start chanted “Defense, defense,” by keeping the Celtics from getting baskets as well as making their own and winning the game, 107-88.

Yes, the best-of-seven series is tied at a game apiece, and with the two games in Boston and the Celtics having captured the home-court advantage, the Warriors hardly are in control.

 But now resurgent, they are very much in the competition.

 And, of course, Draymond Green,  pounding, grabbing, shoving—hey, this is the NBA not a pickup league—was the man in charge.

After Game 1 the guy who’s the emotional leader, as well as the key defender, showed the way he always does in times of need. Once again the Warriors follow a post-season defeat with a victory.

 Asked if Draymond was “more engaged,”  Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “Yeah, I thought everybody was more engaged. It was obvious our level of force and physicality was ramped up quite a bit.

“What Boston did in the fourth quarter in game 1 (outscoring the Dubs, 40-16) we knew we had to come with a much better focus and sense of aggression and I thought that started right from the beginning. .Draymond played a huger role in that.”

Yes, Steph topped the Warriors scoring, with 29, but he too played the defense necessary in one of those old-fashioned wrestling matches in sneakers when there seem to be as many uncalled fouls as missed shots.

Known for their quickness if movement and 3-pointers, the Warriors, scored when it counted, that fateful third, showed they can get as tough and nasty as anybody in the lead. The belief that defense wins (basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer) is never to be doubted.

When Curry was told Kerr and Green both reminded the Warriors that they never get credit for their defense, he said, “It’s always been a point of emphasis in terms of trying to win basketball games. You do your job. Over the course of my career, it’s been a physical development that happened over time. But at the end of the day, from my rookie year, it’s been about efforts. A lot of work has gone into that.”

Kerr knows all about it.

“Steph was breathtaking in that third quarter,” said the coach.

And not only because in one of those classic Curry outbursts he scored 14 points in the period.  

“Their defensive effort. He doesn’t get enough credit for hjs level of physicality, conditioning and defense.  People try to wear him down, because they know how important he is to us offensively.

“So the guy’s amazing. He just keeps working on his game, his strength,  his conditioning.”

 Which is one reason the Warriors have worked themselves back against the rough-guy Celtics.