Four takeaways after the Celtics beat the Nets to take a commanding 3-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals
Jayson Tatum makes his defensive mark as Kevin Durant flounders again: The All-Star Celtics forward has prided himself on being a two-way player all year for one of the best defenses in the NBA. He took that effort to a different level on Saturday night in helping limit Kevin Durant to just 11 field goal attempts despite the fact he played a series-high 46 minutes. Tatum’s physical center was at the forefront of that pedestrian outing as he posted a career-high six steals thanks to a sharp discipline in getting into passing lanes and stripping players on their drives, which ended up being just as impressive as his game-high 39 points.
“I’m just following the game plan,” Tatum said. “I think the most important thing about what we trying to accomplish is that we’re all on the same page and we all competing. I tell the guys all the time in timeouts, especially late in games, my message is nobody plays harder than we do.
“I’m always reminding guys that whoever is on the floor, guys coming off the bench, that’s what I want people to think about. That we’re the hardest playing team in the league 1-through-15. When I step on the floor, I’m trying to set the tone. Smart, even Al diving on the floor, we need that from everybody. If Al’s diving on the floor, there’s no excuse for me not to or JB. We all know that, we all got each other’s back. So being on the same page communicating and competing, playing as hard as you can.”
Jaylen Brown makes Nets pay for turning to Blake Griffin: Steve Nash doesn’t have many appealing options at the end of his bench in this series when it comes to matching up with a high-powered Boston offense. However, with the Celtics constantly helping off the likes of Andre Drummond and Nik Claxton offensively, Nash gave Blake Griffin his first chance in the series in the third quarter. The veteran responded with eight points in eight minutes, including a pair of 3s but that surprise offensive lift was handed right back on the defensive end. Jaylen Brown ruthlessly went at Griffin in isolation situations. Brown scored nine of his 23 points in the fourth quarter with a bevy of baskets that came after securing a Griffin 1-on-1 matchup after drawing the switch.
“We got some favorable matchups,” Udoka said. “Picked on a few things that opened up for us. Turnovers. We created a ton of turnovers. Obviously had 37 points off their 21, and a large part of that was in the fourth quarter. So like some things, they played some different lineups, and we could exploit a few things as far as that.”
Boston’s bench shines again: The box score won’t stick out for this group but the Celtics second unit did more than carry their weight in a pivotal road matchup. Grant Williams got the nod for crunch time minutes for the second straight game thanks to his defense and came up big on the offensive glass (team-high three) in traffic on multiple occasions. Rob Williams looked like his usual self in his return, tallying a block and throwing down an alleyoop as the team begins to build up his minutes. Payton Pritchard had a monster second quarter with eight points in the frame on 4-of-5 shooting while Derrick White was a force on the glass with a team-high six rebounds in just 14 minutes. Collectively, the group only combined for 21 points but each player finished with a positive plus/minus which was indicative of their contributions.
A long rest is on the way for Boston? What looked to be potentially one of the toughest first round matchups in the league could end up being the only sweep in the Eastern Conference if Boston can take care of business against the Nets on Monday night at Barclays Center. Brooklyn looks like a defeated bunch, failing to sustain any runs on Saturday night that got them over the hump against Boston’s defense. Kevin Durant continued to pile up turnovers, Kyrie Irving struggled through a 6-of-17 night and there was simply not enough reliable offense or defensive stretches for the Nets to take control of what was essentially a must-win game? Now, the group must come back off short rest Monday night against a Celtics team that will be looking to give themselves a week off if they can take care of business.
“We want to get off to better starts but we withstood those throughout the series and got ourselves right back into it, including a 17-point deficit last game,” Udoka said of Game 4. “We don’t want to get off to slow starts and give them confidence. We want to come out and do what we’ve done this whole series and make it tough on them. That starts to mentally and physically wear on you. More of the same for us, get off to a better start and try to get it over with.”
Ad Choices