I only slept for two hours last night, not because I stayed up late to watch the ball, but because my toothache tormented me. During this time, I watched intermittently how Trae Young was destroyed by the Heat's defense, as well as the first half of the Celtics and Nets.
After the first half, although the two sides were tied 61-61, the game was clearly more momentum in the Celtic side. Because Durant only scored 7 points on 2-of-10 in the first half, the Celtics gave the youngster enough to fight.
Against Durant, the Celtics used the method of infinite change of defense, and the Celtics' defensive resources were enough to take turns to stare at Durant. When Durant dribbles, immediately come over to the second person bag clip, is to make you uncomfortable.
Durant was also in a hurry, hitting the set that the Celtics had given him. Durant shot 9-of-24 from the field, 1-of-5 from three-point range, and scored only 23 points and six turnovers, six of which are far from reflecting Durant's struggle today. Shooting 24 and 23 points is not common with Durant.
In the second half, Tatum showed excellent one-sided ability, first covering Durant between two legs, and then hitting a strong three-pointer. After scoring that goal, the Celtics led the Nets by 11 points at the end of the third quarter, and the game should have ended.
But the Nets are strong, and they have an Irving in addition to Durant. With Durant only 7 points in the first half today, the Nets can still draw with the Celtics, relying on Curry Jr.'s 9 points in a single quarter, Relying on Dragic's 12 points in the half, relying on Irving's 11 points and 2 steals in the second quarter.
At the end of the third quarter, Irving scored 21 points in a decent manner, and by the end of the quarter, when the Nets were behind by double digits, Irving knew it was time to stand up. Throughout the game, Irving was booed and insulted by the Green Army home fans, and Irving responded with actions such as "giving up his middle finger" and "making a crying face".
In the final quarter, Irving hit a three-pointer in a row against boos, and he scored 18 points in the quarter, shooting 7-of-9. The Celtics defense can't have killed both him and Durant at the same time, so this is his moment.
In the final 45 seconds, Irving scored a long-range three-pointer against Smart to give the Nets a three-point lead at 114-111. But the Nets then easily let go of a 2-pointer, and when it was their turn to attack, Irving was caught in a frenzy and Durant's three-pointer again deflected again again against Tatum.
The Celtics didn't call a timeout to push the counterattack directly, Brown found Smart in the empty position, Smart did not rush to shoot, between the electric light and flint to find the empty cut basket under the Tatum.
We've heard countless times that you can't stare at the ball while defending, but keep an eye on the defender in front of you. But at this point, it's hard not to pay attention to Smart, who has a chance to kill with the ball, and here's Durant.
Tatum bypasses Durant to find the gap, and Smart finds Tatum down the way, who turns his back around Irving. Put the basketball in the basket before the whistle goes off, and kill it!
Throughout the fourth quarter, Tatum had no presence on the offensive end, he didn't make the first three shots, but he scored one of the most crucial goals of the game. It was Tatum's first career whistle-blowing kill and the first whistle-blowing kill since the Celtics' all-time playoff 358 home games.
After scoring, Tatum waved his arms and celebrated with his teammates, next to Irving, who scored 39 points in the whole game and was close to being a hero again. Irving has never lost a playoff opener in his career, and today is the first time he has lost an opener.
This is a set of pre-match matches that are regarded as the most intense, and after the first match, people can't wait to see the second game. The Celtics' team basketball, the Nets' heroism, and the two ultimate beauties of basketball games can be seen in this set of duels.
As for Durant, it's bound to be a long series, and he'll always find the glimmering torch.