True to form, the Golden State Warriors turned the tide in Game 2 of the NBA Finals in the third quarter. Until then, things had gone rather thick for them, but Stephen Curry arrived, as always, and as sometimes, Jordan Poole, and the discussion ended based on triples. The last one was scored by Poole at the buzzer and almost from midfield. Overall, the Boston Celtics finished 21 points down, and at the end of the game the score (107-88) spoke eloquently this Sunday night.
The last quarter confirmed the debacle for the team coached by Ime Udoka who, from the impotence bench, even took a technical foul for protesting to the referees. Immediately the abyss rose on the scoreboard to 29 points, and the Celtics little less than lowered their arms.
But the truth is that that did not do justice to his performance either; Boston had actually held the score with determination in the first half of the game. For a moment, it seemed that they were going to achieve the (almost) impossible. Only two teams in NBA history, the Chicago Bulls in the 92-93 season and the Houston Rockets two years later, won the first two games of the finals (and, spoiler, both one and the other ended up wearing the ring). After giving the surprise last Thursday defeating the Warriors in the first of seven rounds on the enemy field, the gleaming Chase Center in San Francisco, the Celtics now return home with the tie tied.
If the dream sounded momentarily possible, it was thanks to a brilliant performance by Jayson Tatum. Together with Jaylen Brown he carried the weight of his team in the first quarter; together they scored 26 of the Celtics’ 30 points in the opening 12 minutes, which finished with the visitors up a point.
Then, Brown decided to drop out, like Al Holford, the first Dominican seen in this situation in history, who actually brought him from home decided: he scored 26 points in the first game, and in this second, only two ( the same as others of whom more was expected: Marcus Stuart and Robert Williams III). Tatum, on the other hand, went about his business. He finished the game with 28 points and was the second highest scorer. The first, with 29, was Curry.
Derrick White was also decisive for a while. It was that time when it stuck to Curry like tar. Once the Warriors point guard was relieved of his burden, everything again seemed extremely easy on his hands (and feet). In this way, theirs got ahead, and the rivalry went down in history.
Before giving for beginning the hostilities, the night had begun with an honorable gesture shared by both opponents. Its coaches and players appeared on the field in orange T-shirts with the message “End Gun Violence,” in response to the month-long epidemic of mass shootings that has plagued the country, and at the end of a weekend that has been especially terrible on American streets. At that time, as a result of a particularly tragic Saturday night, 11 such attacks had already been counted in cities such as Philadelphia, Chattanooga or Grand Rapids: these incidents claimed the lives of at least 16 people and injured another 61.
The next round of the NBA finals will be on Wednesday in Boston, a city eager for basketball to come home. The Celtics are that legendary team that continues to rely too much on the memory of their fans. They have 17 rings in their cabinets, but they’ve only won one championship since 1986. It was way back in 2008. The Warriors’ success story is much fresher. They have played six of the last eight finals. Four of his six rings have been achieved since 2015.