After an epic nail-biting Game 1, the Celtics and the Nets became the much-talked about series in the first round. Kyrie Irving was fined $50,000 for his actions 1, and the Celtics’ home crowd was on notice for possible ejection if their behavior crossed the line. Before Game 2, the pressure was on Steve Nash to scheme his offense to get Kevin Durant better opportunities to attack the vaunted Celtics defense. Most basketball analysts predicted that Durant would respond with a 40-point game and a Nets win. However, things did not play out as predicted because Durant ended the game with only 27 points and the Nets blew a 17-point first-half lead to trail this series 0-2. In this article, we discuss 3 takeaways from this game and make a quick preview of Game 3.
4. Durant and Irving struggled- the box score will say that Durant had the game-high in points but it doesn’t tell the story. Durant earned 18 of his 27 points at the foul line, shot 4 of 17 from the field, and 0 of 10 in the second half. The Celtics’ defense followed the blueprint by crowding his dribble, contesting his shot, and affecting him through their length and athleticism. Durant looked tired, frustrated, and even lacked confidence in the system. Kyrie Irving delivered a terrific Game 1 performance with 39 points, and the expectation was that he would deliver an encore. Irving struggled in this game in attacking the rim, making the contested shots, and appeared drained from the high volume of minutes he played recently.
3. Brown and Tatum impacted the game- the Celtics duo also struggled for much of this game. However, they seemed to impact the game and turned it up a notch in the fourth quarter. Jaylen Brown scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter by driving the ball to the rim and making clutch shots. Brown also brought it on the defensive end in guarding Durant. Tatum struggled from the field with his shot but still scored 19 points but made the right play in dishing out ten assists. He also had six rebounds and did a stellar job executing a brilliant defensive game plan.
2. Celtics slightly edge Nets supporting cast- the Nets were able to get their 17-point lead and a 10-point lead at halftime because of their supporting cast. Goran Dragic had a hot start scoring 16 points in the first half and propelling the early surge in this game. Dragic got support from Bruce Brown who started the game on a 9-0 run by himself. Bruce ended the first half with 14 points and scored 23 points overall for the second-highest tally in the game. The Celtics cast delivered a balanced attack among their players. Al Horford followed up a 20-point performance with a 16-point game in game 2. Grant Williams had a 9-0 run by himself at the end of the first quarter and made the right plays in scoring 17 points. Daniel Theis battled foul trouble and still contributed 15 points. Even Payton Pritchard came off the bench to score 10 points including 8 points in the 4th quarter when the Nets were hounding Brown and Tatum. Yes, the difficulty for the Nets going forward is that 7 of the 8 Celtics players finished the game with double-digit points, and a balanced attack is hard to stop.
1. Game 3 -Where are the adjustments? – After two games, Steve Nash’s hot seat is getting hotter by the minute, and he is getting outcoached by his former assistant Ime Udoka. Durant and Irving are playing too much isolation basketball against this lengthy and athletic lineup. He needs to scheme to get his star duo into more pick and rolls, screens, and cuts to the basket to make the defense move. I still wonder if he should extend his rotation to include LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin because Al Horford is dominating inside the paint through 2 games.
Prediction- it is a do-or-die game for the Brooklyn Nets. It will be interesting to see if Nash can come up with a better game plan to free up his star duo to operate. However, I think defense travels wherever a team plays, and I think the Celtics will be able to respond to the Nets’ intensity to get back into this series. I have the Celtics winning 113-110.