Owen challenged his old club
Stepping on the shoulders of his old club, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Irving locked the seventh place in the East for the Brooklyn Nets, and the first round of the playoffs will challenge the second-place Celtics in the East, or Irving's old club. At North Shore Gardens, Irving had two bad years, with Tatum and Brown, including Rochelle, both young and energetic lords, not accommodating Irving's waywardness like James Durant, so eventually, Irving left the team in an imperfect way.
This time, challenging his old club in the playoffs, Irving is back in the North Shore Garden, and he must be hoping to use a victory to silence the fans here. The combination of Irving and Durant, although the attack power is unmatched, but the Celtics' defensive efficiency is the first in the league. A battle between spear and shield, can Irving help the Nets accomplish the miracle on the following grams?
Tatum pressed the whistle to kill
Facing the old club, Irving's opening feel is not ideal, 2 shots all lost, relying on free throws to get 4 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, Durant shot 1 of 6, only 4 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, and there were 3 mistakes, the league's first defense, it is indeed not good. Fortunately, Curry Jr. stood up and got 9 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists, so the Nets still scored 28 points in a single quarter, only one point behind the Celtics. After returning from the second quarter, Irving regained his touch, scoring 11 points, 1 assist and 2 steals on 3-of-4 shooting, but Durant still only shot 1 of 4.
Fortunately, Dragic on the bench stepped up, scoring 9 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist on 4-of-4 shooting, helping the Nets to a 61-61 draw at the end of the half. In the second half, Durant finally showed his superstar style, 9 shots 5, a variety of unsolvable mid-range jump shots, a single quarter to get 11 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, Irving also had 6 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, but the Nets only scored 24 points in this quarter, all supported by Irving Durant, as for the Celtics, they bombed 35 points and directly achieved an 11-point lead.
After returning from the final quarter, Irving completely took over the game, shooting 7-of-9, 5-of-4 three-pointers, including the final moment, a three-pointer that was almost finalized, and he had 18 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists in the single quarter, without a single turnover. The Nets had a chance to win the game, but the poor tactical arrangement, let Jaylen take 2 points, and then he almost violated the 24 seconds, Durant forced a shot to miss, the Celtics found Tatum at the last moment, and the basket turned around and shot the whistle. In the end, the Brooklyn Nets lost 114-115 to the Boston Celtics, trailing 1-0 in the series.
James publicly praised
Falling behind 0-1 is not too bad for the Nets, after all, they are playing away from home, as long as they can win a game at the opponent's home court, then it is success. Irving contributed to god-level performances, shooting 12-of-20 from the field, 6-of-10 from three-point range, and had 39 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, but Durant was a bit crotch-pulling, only having 23 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, as well as shooting 9-of-24 from the field. Tatum, who hit the killer, had 31 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists, Horford had 20 points and 15 rebounds, Brown had 23 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals, and Smart had 20 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
After the game, Nash said in an interview: "The guy who scored the winning goal in the Finals, he's been to the Olympics, he's been to the All-Star Game MVP, I don't know what atmosphere will upset him. Speaking about Durant, Nash said: "He became Kevin Durant for a reason, and we believe he can solve the problem himself." Nash said nothing about the key to the loss. At the end of the game, the Nets only grabbed 29 rebounds, 14 fewer than their opponents, and made 16 turnovers.
James also publicly praised Irving's performance, writing on social media: Young God Wen, basketball is also playing fantastic! Incredible tricks! And also forwarded the fan statement: Again, the league has to drop one person on the 75 big list and then add Irving to it. And commented: Damn! It's a shame he didn't make it to the Big 75! I have to say that this playoff, James really has a lot of time to watch the game!