Good news, bad news

Looking at a wild Game 1 from both teams' perspectives.

Good morning.

Vladimir Putin’s Russia has detained one of the most famous American basketball players in the world for more than 100 days over alleged possession of hashish oil found as she was leaving the country. This is a total outrage and highly ridiculous. For the love of all that is holy, get Brittney Griner home.

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The Boston Celtics won an instant classic over the Golden State Warriors in Game 1. Boston did it by winning the fourth quarter 40-16. The most stunning quarter of NBA basketball since the second quarter of Suns-Mavericks Game 7.

Here are the highlights:

Here are my takeaways.

GOOD NEWS: CELTICS

The Boston Celtics won a game by double digits DESPITE Jayson Tatum shooting 3/17 from the floor and DESPITE trailing by 12 points going into the fourth quarter and DESPITE Stephen Curry scoring 34 for the game, including 21 in the first quarter.

Tatum is a great scorer, and while the Golden State defense is typically very good, Tatum is unlikely to shoot that poorly again this series. Steph is quite good, but he probably won’t average 34 a game in this series (he could, though!).

This is all to say this game did not go universally well for Boston, and they won by double digits.

More good news: the entire team was fearless and didn’t let either an epic Steph Q1 or a classic Warriors third quarter blast get them down. These Celtics, apparently, do not get down. They fight. Good news that the bright lights of the Finals didn’t change that about them.

Jaylen Brown played exceptional. Aggressive, controlled, smooth.

BAD NEWS: CELTICS

Al Horford, bless him, went 6/8 on threes. That’s a career high in makes. I love Al Horford. But folks, Al Horford is not Tall Steph Curry. This was not something you can depend on repeating.

Derrick White, bless him, went 5/8 on threes. Not a career high — he once went 7/13 in a loss in San Antonio — but sheesh. White was 16/58 (28%) from three in these playoffs before this game. You can’t count on 5/8 shooting from three from Derrick White.

That Boston shot 51% from the floor overall despite Tatum’s 3/17 night seems flimsy too given Golden State’s No. 2 ranked defense. That said, on this tip, Golden State is going to need to prove they can limit Tatum and do a better job on the others. Tatum had 13 assists and just two turnovers. He adjusted to the pressure and the clanks and helped make Golden State pay for their attention. So maybe this paragraph should be in the good news?

GOOD NEWS: WARRIORS