‘Resilient’ Boston Celtics make first seven 3-pointers in 4th quarter to rally and stun Golden State Warriors in Game 1 of NBA Finals

SAN FRANCISCO — After yet another ugly third quarter in a playoffs full of them for the Boston Celtics, it looked to all the world like the Golden State Warriors were on their way to claiming Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Chase Center on Thursday night.

But then the fourth quarter started. And, after an avalanche of Celtics 3-pointers, this game — and series — was completely turned on its head.

Boston hit its first seven 3-pointers to open the fourth and outscored Golden State 40-16 to stun the Warriors 120-108. In doing so, Boston became the first team in NBA Finals history to win by double-digits after entering the fourth quarter trailing by double-digits, per ESPN Stats & Information research.

“Being resilient has been the word for this year,” Payton Pritchard said. “I think it showed tonight.”

It certainly did in the second half. Boston has struggled the entire playoffs in the third quarter, and did again in Game 1, as it went up against a Warriors team that has historically dominated coming out of the halftime break.

The Celtics were outscored 38-24 in the third. They committed five turnovers. They let Golden State get going from 3-point range. And Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined to shoot 2-for-10 from the field.

At that point, Chase Center — hosting its first ever NBA Finals game — was rocking. The celebration was seemingly on. But, inside Boston’s huddle, the feeling was different.

“The message at the start of the fourth was, ‘We’ve been here before,'” Tatum said. “We know what it takes to overcome a deficit like that.

“Obviously that’s a great team. It’s not going to be easy. But just knowing we’ve been in that situation before and we’ve gotten our self out of it. We had a lot of time left, right? It wasn’t time to hang your head or be done, it was time to figure it out.”

The Celtics proceeded to do just that. It helps, of course, when a team comes out and buries its first seven 3-pointers, as Boston did. But it went…