Kevin Durant led the Brooklyn Nets with 32 points and 12 rebounds, as they went on to defeat the Boston Celtics 104-93 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. Kyrie Irving put up 29 points on 11-of-20 shooting, James Harden added 21 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, and four steals.
The Nets got off to a very slow start in this one, as they shot just 1-of-13 from three-point range in the first half, and while Durant put up 16 first-half points, he did it on just 5-of-15 shooting from the field, which is incredibly inefficient to his standards. Adding insult to injury, he missed eight of his first 10 shot attempts.
However, you can’t expect Durant to be kept down forever, as he provided the Nets with half of their points during their 18-4 run to start the period. The Nets ultimately outscored the Celtics 31-20 in the third.
Boston came back and made it a three-point game with a little under 7:30 left in the fourth, but it was Irving’s turn to take over against his former team, as he crossed up Marcus Smart near the right elbow and created just enough space to knock down the jump shot nearly a minute later. Irving then drilled a 3-pointer on the next offensive possession for the Nets.
“I felt like we put on a good show,” Irving said. “We’ve just got to do it three more times.”
Boston, all of a sudden down by eight, tried to get a good offensive set going, but Durant had other plans, as he swooped in between Tristan Thompson‘s handoff pass attempt to Jayson Tatum for the steal to take it to the other end for the slam, giving the Nets all the momentum they needed down the stretch.
The Nets also did a great job of limiting Tatum’s impact in the second half, as he went 0-of-6 from the field after shooting 6-of-14 in the first 24 minutes of action.
Jeff Green, in particular, had a nice stop on Tatum after Durant’s dunk that put them up by 10, as he stuck with him laterally on the drive and got a hand up in his face, which forced Tatum to attempt an off-balance leaner.
“I think we did a good job making him shoot tough ones and being on him on the catch,” Durant said of Nets defense on Tatum.
Robert Williams finished just shy of a triple-double for the Celtics, as he had 11 points, nine rebounds… and nine blocks, which is a Celtics record for most blocks in a postseason game.
“He contested everything, both at the rim and on the perimeter,” Harden said. “He’s one of the reasons why we didn’t shoot so well.”
Plays of the Night
Evan Fournier tried his best to stick in front of Irving, but once Irving gets the ball that low to the ground, it’s going to be hard to stop him on the drive to the rim.
Irving’s nasty crossover will definitely stand out, but this play is also equally important to point out. The Nets are up by over 10 points at this point, but Irving knows they still have to fight until the final whistle, as he recognized the miss ahead of time and hustled his way in for the putback layup.
In order to win basketball games in the playoffs, you have to stay engaged even when the ball isn’t in your hands, and that’s exactly what Irving did. The willingness to do the little things pay off in the long run, and the Nets will need to continue to take each and every opponent seriously as they hope to win their first championship in franchise history.
