Brooklyn Swept By Boston

 

By Andrew Rosario

 

 

When the Brooklyn Nets took the floor Monday night against the Boston Celtics at Barclays Center, they were trying to avoid being swept. More importantly, they were playing for pride. These two teams met in the first round of the playoffs last year with Brooklyn taking the series 4 games to 1. James Harden was on the roster to go along Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Based on the first 3 games of the series, Boston played like last year’s series was a fluke as they returned the majority of their key players. The Nets took a big hit when Harden decided he wanted out of Brooklyn who was dealt to Philadelphia for Ben Simmons and Seth Curry. Veteran guard Goran Dragic was a late season addition. On the coaching front, Hall of Fame player Steve Nash entered his second year while the Celtics head coach Brad Steven moved from the floor to the board room taking over as head of Basketball Operation. Stevens then went out and hired Nets assistant coach Ime Udoka. Boston got off to a shaky start but Udoka turned the team around to begin the new year. No team has played better defense since January. The Nets, especially Durant and Irving, have had a up close view of the suffocation.

 

 

 

 

Early foul trouble and missed free throws plagued the Nets in the first quarter. Guard Seth Curry’ was hit with 3 quick fouls sending him to the bench early. By then end of the quarter Brooklyn committed 10 team fouls. Center Nic Claxton got to the free throw line 6 time missing all 6. Despite that, led by Kevin Durant’s 11 point, the Nets only trailed by 4, 30-26. Irving missed 3 of his first 4 shots hitting his only 3-point attempt.

 

 

The Boston offense picked up to start the second quarter as they only shot 39% from the field to begin. 10 of 11 free throws got them the 4-point lead. After a Curry 2-pointer tied the game at 30, Jayson Tatum came alive scoring 8 straight points (2, 3 pointers) giving Boston a 38-32 lead. The Nets would close the gap to 1-point (45-44) after a Irving left hand running shot and a Curry lay-up. The Celtics closed out the second quarter on a 13-6 run going into halftime 58-50 looking to send Brooklyn home for the summer. Durant led the Nets with 20 points with Curry chipping in 10. The Celtics had 3 players score 12 points. Starters Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Grant Williams coming off the bench.

 

Boston came out strong to start the third quarter. The Nets called a timeout with 6:18 looking up only to see themselves down 7 at 73-66. Tatum scoring 6-points. After missing his first 10 free throws, Claxton makes his first eliciting a sarcastic roar from the home crowd. Tatum scored 12 more points as Boston took a 12-point lead with 12 more minutes to go that would send Brooklyn fishing before summer.

 

The Nets would not go out easily. They scored the first 6-points to start the fourth quarter forcing Boston to call a timeout with 10:08 remaining cutting the lead to 90-84 but as in the previous three games, they could not come up with defensive stops down the stretch as the Boston swept the 4-game series 116-112.  

 

Tatum, before fouling out, finished with 29, Brown 22 and Marcus Smart 20. Durant led all scorers with 39 but missed on 8 of 11 attempts from 3-point land. Curry contributed 23 and Irving who took only 13 shots, finished with 20.

 

Nash was quick to give credit to the Boston Celtics. “We played a excellent team,” he began. “Big, smart defensive team that could do a bit of everything. So, congratulations to the Celtics.”

 

There is plenty of blame and finger pointing as to who is responsible for the Brooklyn season. A team that was projected to go at least to the least Eastern Conference Finals. Irving and his refusal to be vaccinated. Harden starting the season out of shape and forcing a trade. Durant, by no fault of his own, getting hurt and missing a chunk of games. Adding Simmons and all of his issues did not help either. Simmons did not play one minute since coming over in the trade with the Sixers. Simmons said he committed to play in game 4 but backed out at the last minute. Then there is second year coach Nash, who prior to getting selected to coach the team, had no coaching experience on any level. Nash failed to make the necessary adjustments not only game by game but quarter to quarter. 

 

General manager Sean Marks will have tough off-season decisions to make. Between now and June 30th, the enigmatic Irving can sign a 4-year extension for $183.6 million if he declines his player option for next year. Irving can also re-sign with Brooklyn for a five-year deal that pay him $247.6 million. Irving did give an indication that he would return. “In terms of my extension, man, I don’t really plan on going anywhere.”  

 

Last august, Durant re-upped with the Nets, signing a 4-year deal $198 million. Both put on brave faces and said all the right things about each other during this rollercoaster ride of a season. 

 

Irving left Cleveland and Boston with his character questioned. No telling what he might do after being on a team that was swept in the first round of the playoffs.