The expectations for the series were broken down by the man. There is a time and a place for this.
There were no uniformed members of the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals game on Thursday. Much was made of this because of the experience of the Golden State Warriors, but also because of the fact that there must be more to come.
I think there has to be something to this experience. The stakes are higher and the Warriors' core is in its sixth Finals in the past eight years, trying to win their fourth. The question was posed in a lot of different ways, but the Celtics players just shrugged and said "basketball is basketball."
Their coach was Ime Udoka. He said that his staff had some experience and that he would do his part to further the narrative. I've been to two myself, but I think experience is more important than anything else.
Two sentences are related. The inexperience of his players is mitigated by the experience of Udoka. He played two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and was an assistant coach for two of their trips to the Finals.
Udoka was attentive.
He stood on the sideline with his arms folded, as if there wasn't anything that could surprise or confuse him. Everyone around him wondered why he wasn't yelling at his players and throwing things around the room when his team was 16-19 at one point. He wasn't able to destroy the room because he was reading it.
It's Udoka's calm demeanor that has changed the conversation and put the Celtics up. The ABC app is available on the app store.
Udoka said that they have guys who stay even-keeled and don't get rattled easily.
In the first game of the series, they ran their opponent off the court with a fourth-quarter onslaught that ruined the Warriors' day.
The Celtics didn't want to miss shots in the fourth quarter. They ran their lead to 14 after scoring 17 unanswered. Udoka's expression was endless and it was many things.
"He's had to work his way to get here," he said. He instills that sense of strength into the group every day.
Udoka called timeout and did it twice in 30 seconds during Boston's fourth quarter run. It felt like Udoka was doing Warriors coach Steve Kerr a favor by playing the role of a cooler at a craps table.
With Udoka's team up six at109-103 with 3:47 left, he responded to a missed Stephen Curry 3 with a timeout. Draymond Green missed two free throws after the Celtics had scored a second time.
Udoka was going to lose the game in the final two minutes because the Celtics had four timeouts. It's not a good idea to stop the run twice.
The Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics will play Game 2 of the NBA finals on Sunday. The show is in San Francisco.
There are experts' picks and betting odds.
• Boston's win was one year in the making
• Game 1: Celtics beat Dubs at their game
• Lowe: Celtics-Warriors could be epic
• Shelburne: Reconstruction of the Warriors
• Why star duos will decide these Finals
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