Boston Celtics utter 4-0 of the Brooklyn Nets in second round of the NBA

The Boston Celtics finished a four-0 sweep of the Brooklyn Nets in their Eastern Conference first-spherical series by way of keeping on to a 116-112 victory Monday night in New York.

The Celtics led from the beginning as Jayson Tatum scored 29 factors earlier than fouling out with 2:49 closing in the fourth region, and the Nets trailed by using simply 6 factors.
In Tatum’s absence, the Nets cut the deficit to one with 1:28 closing earlier than Jaylen Brown made a seize past due bucket to repair the Celtics’ narrow lead.

Without their top scorer, Boston depended on its league-leading defense led by Marcus Smart — the 2022 NBA Defensive Player of the Year — to prevent the Nets from scoring a discipline intention within the remaining 58 seconds of the collection.

“It’s funny to us because we don’t duck and dodge anybody,” Smart told the media after the game. “We knew what we were going to come in here and do.”

The Nets were led by a heroic Kevin Durant — who scored 39 points, including a 3-pointer off one leg which had Smart in awe — and Kyrie Irving contributed 20, however it wasn’t enough to prevent the brooms from being pulled out through the Celtics.
It was the end result of a disappointing season for the Nets, who have been picked with the aid of many as one of the title favorites. Injuries throughout the season to shield Joe Harris and celebrity Durant, in addition to Irving’s extended absence due to his choice no longer to be vaccinated for Covid-19, hampered their efforts to build momentum.

After the game, Irving was asked about his choice to not be vaccinated and told the media, “I felt like I was letting the team down at a point where I wasn’t able to play. We were trying to exercise every option for me to play, but I never wanted to just be about me. It became a distraction at times.”

Additionally, an exchange in February that despatched veteran guard James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers and took Ben Simmons to Brooklyn additionally did not ignite the Nets’ season as Simmons by no means played because of a herniated disk.
Former Sixer Simmons has drawn the ire and derision of many on social media who’ve questioned his commitment, along with NBA Hall of Fame guard and modern-day TV analyst Reggie Miller who tweeted before Game 4, “Cmon MAN!!! Out for Game 4 when it was rumored you were going to make your debut. This dude has ZERO competitive (fire emoji)… As small a chance as the Nets have to come back in this series, you still have KD and Kyrie, all you need is to win ONE game and take it from there.”