Loss Game 2 at straws Celtics grasping the Nets

As the time trickled down to zero, two future Hall of Famers with over 200 playoff games between them looked shaken. Brooklyn had to win this game. Winned, Should win 10 points at the break. Supporting cast help. The Celtics defence allowed the Nets to shoot 61% in the first half. This game would have to be lost by a squad boasting Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

It did. Badly. In the second half, the Nets shot 31%. Durant didn’t score in the final 24 minutes. Irving was booed for the second game in a row. Seven Celtics scored double digits. Payton Pritchard!—10 in 16 minutes. Durant and Irving are feared fourth-quarter scorers. Last 12 minutes, Celtics thrashed Nets 29–17.

Boston 114, Brooklyn 107,  The Celtics are up 2–0.

The Nets are in big trouble.

According to Steve Nash, “They’re being physical,” he added, “They’re up and into him, grabbing him, holding him, all that stuff you come to expect. He’s been uncomfortable and hasn’t looked like he’s been able to get his rhythm.”

As Durant said, “They’re playing me with two, three guys sometimes when I’m off the ball, mucking up actions when I run off stuff. I see [Al] Horford leaving his man and come over to hit me sometime. They’re just playing two or three guys, hitting me wherever I go.”

Irving dominated Game 1. He sat out Game 2. He played 40. He had ten. He assisted one. His best work was on the glass (eight rebounds). The 19,156 fans at TD Garden jeered Irving. Game 1 he ate it. Game 2 fizzled.

Nash’s revisions have been nonexistent. A checkers board attacking system. After Game 1, Boston didn’t modify its defence. In Game 2, Durant had to make deep catches while facing a wall of defenders. He isn’t running away.

He doesn’t give Irving many. Nash has two of the best players of this generation and his strategy is to teach them to use it.

Brooklyn is in a bind. Ben Simmons may return—Nash refuted an ESPN story that the Nets plan to introduce him in Game 4—but he won’t save them. To get broomed out by Boston would be a disaster.

There are many excuses for an early postseason exit—injuries, the James Harden trade, Simmons’ absence, etc. It would waste Durant’s second MVP season and raise questions about his and Irving’s compatibility.

Irving was asked about the Nets’ lack of chemistry after the game. “Our identity is what it is.” Later, he praised the Celtics’ teamwork.

“The timing is right,” said Irving. “The window is now for these guys.”