On April 13, Beijing time, the NBA's highly anticipated playoffs officially began. The first game of the first game day, the Brooklyn Nets, who are seventh-placed in the East, are challenged at home by the Cleveland Cavaliers. According to the rules of the league play-offs, the team that wins will get the chance to qualify for the first round of play-offs and successfully get tickets to the playoffs. Obviously, if the Nets don't want to continue to expend too much energy in the play-off area, this game must go all out and win the game in one fell swoop.
But how could the Cavaliers compromise so easily? In the final battle of the regular season, Luck played a historic performance on the bench, as if it was back to its original peak. At the same time, young players such as Garland and Mobley are not newborn calves who are not afraid of tigers, and always maintain a strong desire to win. But looking back at the game, we find that the Cavaliers did not complete the final reversal after all, allowing the Nets to get the ticket to the playoffs first.
In the first half of the competition, the Nets' state can be described as fiery. Durant's 8 points, 2 rebounds and 6 assists in the first quarter were not enough, and he could continue to deliver 4 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist in the second quarter, and Irving could also send a key 20 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists and 1 steal with 100% shooting from 9 of 9 in the half. Under the continuous power of the two, the Nets had a 20-point lead in the first quarter, although they were chased back by the Cavaliers in the second quarter with 6 points behind, but they still maintained a 14-point lead before entering the second half of the showdown.
Yi Bian fought again, and the Cavaliers, who were behind the big score in the first quarter, continued to chase points. In the third quarter of the competition, under the situation that the players in the team played everywhere, they successfully recovered the 2 points that were behind in the first half with a score of 30-28. And into the crucial final quarter, the Cavaliers, who are still in double digits behind the Nets, have not given up. Garland played 12 minutes in the final quarter, and the gods sent out 16 points and 1 assist to help the team play a 35-30 score and continue to recover the five points they had previously fallen behind.
Unfortunately, after regular time, the Nets still rejected the Cavaliers' reversal with a score of 115-108 and won the game. I have to admit that the Nets can appear early, and Durant and Irving are definitely indispensable. Among them, Durant played nearly 42 minutes of game time without overtime, handing over 25+5+11 data, and Irving also delivered 34 points, 3 rebounds and 13 assists in the 42 minutes of playing. The two handed over two pairs of data in succession, showing aggression on the offensive end, and indeed effectively suppressing the menacing Cavaliers.
Successfully qualifying in the playoffs and getting tickets to the playoffs, the Nets will also travel to Boston to challenge the Celtics on the road. Combining the Nets' poor performance in the middle of the season, many people are doubting whether this championship-winning team can show real strength in the next playoff stage. And head coach Nash responded to those doubts directly and effectively after the game: in addition to Durant and Irving, Bruce Brown, Clarkston and Drummond also performed well, and they all contributed to the victory. But that's not enough, we have more room to improve, and our outside three-point shooter Seth Curry hasn't been liberated yet!
That's right, Curry suffered an injury at the end of the regular season, and the return to this game did not meet expectations. In nearly 34 minutes of playing, he actually delivered a poor shooting percentage of 0-of-4 shooting and did not make any contribution on the scoring end. In the era of small ball, three points is indeed the key magic weapon for a team to win, and it can even be said to be a secret weapon. Obviously, Nash is right, and if Curry Jr.'s outside three-pointers are opened, the Nets do have more chances of rushing to the championship.