In 1989, a room full of reporters watched a young Doug Collins and an even younger Michael Jordan sit at a podium. They all wondered, “Doug, what did you call that set Jordan up for ‘The Shot’?” “The Shot,” which alludes to the leaning jumper that the greatest basketball player in history made over the outstretched, flailing arms of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Craig Ehlo to down the Cavs and advance his Chicago Bulls to the second round of the 1989 playoffs, is a reference to Jordan’s career, which was knowingly filled with too many big shots and big moments for that moniker to be reduced to one play. And as Collins stated, it was a straightforward play that he called to assist in creating such a memorable moment:
When a reporter asked Boston Celtics big man Al Horford how the team pulled off one of the most spectacular comebacks in recent NBA Finals history to defeat the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 and secure home-court advantage in the series, Horford’s reaction on Thursday night was not nearly as colourful. Horford was just as effective without having to be witty or crude; he just had to say what was necessary to convey that one individual in particular should take the most of the credit for the comeback.
I believe Jaylen Brown was the key for us.
While Game 1 of the 2022 NBA Finals will be remembered generally, by most, as the game in which the Celtics spurred a 20-plus point turnaround to take a 1-0 lead over the presumptive series favorite, perhaps a better way to ensure that it’s enshrined in some small corner of the history books somewhere is by pedestaling its fourth period as “The Jaylen Brown Quarter.” He scored 10 of the Celtics’ first 14 points in the frame, and assisted on Boston’s other two baskets in that stretch. In total, he either scored or assisted on 20 of the Celtics’ first 23 points of the fourth quarter.
Leave a Reply