Nets and Yanks Look to Rebound

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

 

Although it was only game one of the playoffs between the Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics, it had all the feelings of a Eastern Conference Finals game. Meanwhile, the New York Yankees thought they could continue their dominance over the Baltimore Orioles when they began a three-game series at Camden Yards last weekend. Both the Nets and Yankees came up short as Brooklyn was stunned on a buzzer beater basket while the Bronx Bombers were shut out twice against a team that lost 5 of their first 6 games.

 

 

Brooklyn took out Boston in the first round of the playoffs last year having home court advantage, The script was flipped this year. The Nets entered the playoffs as the #7 seed with the Celtics the #2 seed. In front of a raucous TD Bank crowd who was riding ex-Celtics Kyrie Irving the entire game, both teams took turns going back and forth in the first half that saw them tied at 61.

 

 

 

 

Boston turned it up in the third quarter outscoring the Nets 35 to 24 taking 11-point lead 96-85 going into the final quarter. Irving put the team on his shoulders while teammate Kevin Durant struggled. Irving erupted for 18 points and when he drained a 3-pointer with 45.9 seconds left, it put the Nets up by 3 and it looked like Brooklyn would steal the game. Unfortunately, their defense failed down the stretch.

 

 

 

After a Jaylen Brown lay-up cut the lead to 1, Durant threw up a desperation shot as the clock shot ran down. Off the miss and instead of calling a time out, Marcus Smart finds Jayson Tatum behind Irving who lays it up as the buzzer screamed for the game winner. Irving finished with a game high 39 points, 18 in the final quarter. Durant finished 23 points on 9 of 24 shooting. Tatum led Boston with 31 points. Said Irving of the playoff atmosphere, “it’s the playoffs, this is what it is. I know what to expect here and it’s the same energy I’m giving back to them. All fair in competition.”

 

Game 2 took place Wednesday night and Durant will have to play better. The Nets will be looking to even the series as the series comes to Brooklyn for games 3 and 4.

 

For the New York Yankees, they felt good after their opening week homestand. They took 2 out of 3 against Boston and split their 4-game series against the Toronto Blu Jays. When they traveled to Baltimore to the face the Orioles in a 3 game series, they were looking to continue their dominance over a team that struggled to start the season.

 

Last Friday, without Aaron Judge in the line-up, the Yankees only managed 7 hits (3 by Giancarlo Stanton) in the 2-1 loss. Starter Jordan Montgomery threw 5-innings of no run ball giving up only 3 hits. The Bombers bounded back the next day as Josh Donaldson goes 2-4 driving in 2-runs in the 5-2 victory. Sunday saw a masterful pitching performance by Nestor Cortes Jr. In 5 innings, he struck out 12 giving up only 3 hits. Again, the Bombers bats went flat only managing 4 hits in the 5-0 shutout. 

 

The Yankees (5-5) started a 3-game series against the Detroit Tigers (4-5) Tuesday night before returning home Friday to begin a 3-game against the Cleveland Guardians.

 

The Brooklyn Nets looked to steal game 2 in Boston. After the Detroit series, the Yankees hope coming back home can be the start of putting them back on the winning track.