Last year's playoffs, the Nets East second, the Celtics East seventh, Harden played the most efficient round of his career series, the healthy Big Three are unbeatable, the Nets are also 4-1 gentlemen swept the opponent, this season's feng shui rotation, Harden went to Philadelphia, in exchange for a season did not play but "accidentally" injured Simmons, the Nets are only the seventh in the East to challenge the Second Eastern Celtics, in the first game of the series, with Tatum whistle on the basket kill.
In this game, the Celtics in addition to the double probe flower performance, the contribution of the veteran Horford is indelible, the whole game he shot 8 of 13, bombed 20 points and 15 boards, plus and minus +8 seconds only to Jaylen Brown, as a 35-year-old veteran, let him play 41 minutes and 29 seconds, enough to prove his importance, Horford once played in the Celtics for 3 seasons, followed by a brief 1 year each in the 76ers and the Thunder, this season returned to the Green Army, 69 games all started, Averaging 10.2 points, 7.7 boards, 3.4 assists and 1.3 caps per game, shooting 46.7% from the field, he is like he has never left, perfectly integrated into the team system.
A veteran like Horford, the playoffs are the team's greatest asset, he has only missed 2 playoffs in his 15-year career, and played a total of 125 games. Averaging 13.6 points, 8.2 boards and 3.5 assists per game, he can be a mentor to the young Celtics players, which cannot be reflected in the data, facing the Nets' first game, he can play like this, but also thanks to the assist of Nets player Bruce Brown, said in a previous interview: Lowe does not play, he will attack Horford and Theis more, Horford used his performance on the court to fight back against the opponent's taunts, in the game Horford not only guarded the box, did not lose position in the change of defense, did not give the Nets a chance to target.
Compared to Horford, Brown's mouth cannon was exchanged for his own embarrassment, in fact, Brown played very well after the All-Star Game, averaging 14.7 points, 5.9 points, 3.7 assists per game, shooting 53% from the field, which is the Nets' third scoring point in addition to Durant and Irving, perhaps his performance made him inflated, only to say what he shouldn't say, the Celtics also gave him a good lesson, the whole game Brown played 36 minutes and 37 seconds, 3 shots 2 of 5 points, 1 board and 2 assists, plus and minus - 13 the bottom of the team.
Facing the Celtics' front line group, his "stealing chicken" attribute can not be played at all, not only can not get the opportunity to shoot, even rebounds can not be grabbed, in the last minute, Horford directly from the top of Brown's head to grab the offensive rebound to complete the layup to equalize the score, and then Jaylen Brown broke through directly to fly Bruce Brown again to score two points, making Bruce Brown look embarrassed, full of confidence in his team is a good thing, but Brown's words did anger the Celtics, especially Horford, If Horford didn't play at a high level in this game, maybe the Nets laughed to the end, and Brown really made the Nets miserable.