While they had the opportunity to go for the 3-1 at home, the Celtics wasted a great opportunity by completely cracking in the money time. 5 minutes in hell that cost Game 4 and 5 minutes that might give Boston many regrets depending on the rest of the series…
Seeing Boston hold the shock once morest the usual Warriors tornado in the third quarter, there was reason to be confident for the green and white franchise. After all, the start of the match had been rather well managed and Stephen Curry seemed rather alone in front. Admittedly, the Celtics were a point behind at the start of the last act, but we must not forget that Ime Udoka’s players have been particularly fond of these last twelve minutes since the start of the 2022 Finals.ESPN The stats were just swinging at the break: Boston had a +40 differential over Golden State in the fourth quarters of the first three games. By adding this element with the face of the meeting, a TD Garden fan might legitimately believe that he would go to bed with a lead of two wins over his rivals in San Francisco. Spoiler, it is more likely to have some nasty nightmares…
So what happened at the end of the match? While they had done the job well so far, the Celtics will stop playing, giving the whip to be beaten to the Warriors who did not ask for so much. Bullet circulation? Completely forgotten. The rebound fight? All came into the hands of the Warriors. The circle attack? Boston seemed allergic. What offer us a competition of bricks at long distance and a real black hole in scoring. The stat is terrible for local players: they will only score three small points in the… last five minutes. A 17-3 for Golden State later and the hopes of affording three match points in this series had just flown away for good. What to have sacred regrets for the players. In post-match reaction, Derrick White confided in Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports.
“I think we were a little still; everyone just stood there looking at whoever had the ball. There was no movement from the players, no movement of the ball. We need to do a better job of execution late in the game, and that’s what made the difference in this game. »
On the bench side, we might only confirm this impression and Ime Udoka regretted the bad choices of his flock when Golden State seemed ready to crack. Comments relayed by Bobby Krivitsky of Sports Illustrated.
“Every time we’ve had a five or six-point lead, we’ve felt like we’ve made bad decisions, whether it’s rushing shots in traffic or just standing there staring at each other. others. »
As the saying goes, this Game 4 is now part of the history books, but it’s a match that can be a real turning point in the series. At 1-3, Golden State would have needed a miracle to save its skin (only the 2016 Cavs returned such a deficit in the NBA Finals). Now the Dubs return to San Francisco with home-court advantage back in their pocket. Obviously, this does not mean that Boston is not able to get a new game on the side of the Chase Center but, if the series turns in favor of the Dubs, we might well think for a long time regarding this famous money time of the Game 4 at TD Garden.
The Celtics missed their end of the game and it cost them Game 4. They might afford three title shots in this series, they were finally caught, it’s expensive for five minutes missed.
Source texte : Ben Rohrbach / Yahoo Sports, Tim Bontemps / ESPN, Bobby Krivitsky / Sports Illustrated
