To say that the first round of this year's playoffs, the most likely to be on the gram, and the most interesting showdown, there is no doubt that the Celtics played the Nets. The two sides fought fiercely as soon as they came up, and Tatum's whistle-blowing kill helped the Green Shirts win the G1!
On the final day of the regular season, when the Bucks, who played first, took a break from all the main players to lose to the Cavaliers, they threw the Nets or Raptors a multiple-choice question to the Celtics; finally, in the cry of "we want brooklyn", the Greenshirts "head iron" and "helpless" chose the Nets. Of course, this time, the Green Shirts picked the Nets and was also full of courage to take revenge. After all, just as the regular season rankings of the two sides have reversed from last season, the situation of this showdown has completely changed.
Compared with last year's playoffs, the Celtics welcomed back Brown, who was out of the game due to injury at the time, and welcomed back Horford and Theis through trades, and White was traded, and they had a significant improvement in the lineup compared to last year's playoffs. Even though the Celtics had a poor record at the start of the season, they won 35 of the 47 games after the regular season; during that time, they were second in the league in offensive efficiency and number one in the league in defensive efficiency, and the infinite change system that Udoka, who was still an assistant coach at the Nets last year, has given the Green Army a bright spot. And the Nets played the Celtics series last year, the big three combined to play a historic offensive efficiency; but now the Nets, whether on paper, or the chemistry of the entire team are not as good as last year; in this and other time, this time the Green Shirts are indeed more confident.
The Nets' head-to-head mode and the Green Army's unlimited change of defense formed a pinpoint against Mai Mang; objectively speaking, the Green Army's defensive strategy has been effective. In the face of the GreenShirts' wheel war siege, Durant seemed very uncomfortable; as long as the defenders gave confrontation, many of Durant's center of gravity was gone, and he scored 23 points and 6 turnovers in 24 shots, and he played a very bad game. The Nets' current third-place scorer, Curry Jr., was also limited in this game, playing nearly 30 minutes before taking nine points. And the infinite change of defense of the Greenshirts has also locked the space for "Le Brown" and Zhuang Shen's chicken stealing, which can be said to be not a game that the Nets' starters are accustomed to.
But the Nets have a wealth of scoring resources, the start is not good, the bench comes together; Dragic and Clarkston continue to fire from the bench at the same time, Irving exploded in front of the old club. Although he did not calmly put up his middle finger in the North Shore Garden, meaning he would be fined, his singles were insoluble; especially the 18 points in the last quarter, almost single-handedly dismantled the Greenshirts' infinite change defense system, pulled back the Nets, which had previously been behind double digits, and saw the dawn of the reversal.
However, even though Irving has subdued many people, the Nets still lose; and the first pot of the loss must be Durant's back, he is not only a problem of offensive inefficiency, he is completely suppressed by Tatum at both ends of the attack and defense; in the end, Tatum's defense is also distracted. Of course, the Nets' bigger problem is still a cliché — defense!
In this game, the Celtics scored 20 on the 4, of which the double detective scored 20 points is expected, but Smart and Horford scored 20 at the same time, which is a bit of a stretch. Horford, in particular, handed over a dominant stat of 20+15. And allowing Horford to get such a good data can only show that the Nets' defense is too poor.
In fact, in the first half of the season, although the Nets' offensive efficiency fell a little embarrassingly, their defensive efficiency was once in the top five of the league, and they once ranked first in the East by defense; but since Irving returned, the Nets' offensive efficiency has improved, and the defense has slowly failed to see, which is mainly due to the huge changes in the team's lineup structure.
At the beginning of the season, Nash used people except Mills, and other players rarely suffered losses in stature when they were against each other. But since Irving returned, as long as he and Mills were in the backcourt at the same time, it was easy to be chased by the other side; after the trade deadline, Curry Jr. came and was reused, dragic came and was also reused; on the contrary, Carter, Bembry, James. Johnson's defensive abilities have been cut off one after another... Especially Bembry and James. After Johnson's two legitimate fronts were cut, it completely changed the Nets' lineup structure.
In the Nets' current 9-man rotation, Chuang Shen and Clarkston have two centers rotating; of the remaining 7 people, only Durant and Edwards have two fronts, and the remaining 5 are guards; it is precisely because the Nets' lineup is so short that Bruce, who is in his early 1.9s. Brown had to defend against the opponent's tall forward line at the beginning, and at Durant's break, Nash would often play on four guards at the same time, Bruce. Brown had to defend the No. 4 position...
When the Nets always put multiple short, skinny players on the court, the Greenshirts' double probes were misplaced as long as they avoided Durant's play. And the Nets' defense is also an infinite change of defense, as long as the Green Army's double probe flower calls a block to dismantle and brings out Chuang Shen or Clarkston, the Nets' small ones can neither protect the frame nor protect the rebounds in the backcourt. So the Celtics grabbed 14 more rebounds in this game, and when Tatum finally finished the layup, there was almost no interference, highlighting the difference in body size.
Losing G1, the Nets will definitely make adjustments in the next game; in some ways, we can expect to improve, such as Durant's efficiency. Such an inefficient play of 9-of-24 is unlikely to be the norm for Durant. The Greenshirts' unlimited changes of defense rarely give opponents a chance to empty their positions, and the Nets need Irving and Durant to take turns singles to dismantle the opponent's defensive system. But with Nash's employment habits, he may continue to reduce the rotation, but he counts Griffin, Sharp, and Ade as the No. 5 position; and too much emphasis on offensive space, he can never put two centers at the same time, the next Nets will be seriously disadvantaged, their interior defense will still be very tight, the only thing that is likely to change the status quo on the Nets side is Simmons.
Even if Simmons defines himself as a point guard, he has the size of the inside and the top athleticism, he can defend any point of the Celtics on the court; if there is a center in the Nets, and the two fronts are Durant and Simmons, they face the Green Army, the overall body will not suffer, and their defensive effect and protection of the basket will obviously be much better than the current lineup.
According to the US media reports, Simmons can definitely come out of this series; but the fastest G3, the latest G5, G6. If it is G5, G6 can comeback, maybe he does not have to make a comeback. But even if Simmons can catch up with G3, he hasn't played in 10 months, and who knows what he's in now? Who knows what chemistry he'll show with the team? Is the Nets betting on Simmons really reliable?