On April 21, Beijing time, the G2 Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs continued to sit at home to meet the Nets. The two teams met for the first time, and the suspense of the game was not revealed until the last moment, when the Green Army took the next city with Tatum's whistle. G2 meets again, and everyone is ready for Durant's strong rebound, and the famous A Smith even bluntly said that Durant will cut 40 points. However, unfortunately, we did not see the death coming, and in the end, the Nets lost 107-114, and fell behind 0-2.
With G1's experience of successfully limiting Durant, the Celtics have intensified durant's pinch attack on Durant in this game. Coach Uduka gathered the strength of the whole team to defend KD, Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Gervay, Horford, Smart, Theis, wheel war consumption, to the foot body confrontation, pinch the shadow, strain his bones, bitter heart, do not give Durant any easy shooting opportunity, let alone hit the box to score.
In the face of the Green Army's tough defensive strategy, Durant only contributed 15 points and 3 assists in only 7 shots in the first half, and the Nets built a 10-point lead with the excellent performances of Brown and Seth Curry.
However, the Green Army did not shake the defensive strategy, they were sure that the Nets role players could not beat themselves, and the decision of the game would eventually be in Durant's hands. Therefore, the Celtics' pinch strategy for Durant runs through the whole process, as long as durant and Irving are strangled, there is a chance to turn defeat into victory.
In the second half, Durant did strengthen his personal attack, but all of them were fruitless, and the green army's tough confrontation and bag clamp made him completely lose the rhythm of the game. In the third quarter, in just 4 and a half minutes, Durant made three mistakes and was consecutively robbed by Brown, Durant had the heart to respond in the next round, but the third quarter made 5 shots and 0!
The Celtics defense drove the offense, Brown acted as the striker, Pregart took the bow and arrow, and the Nets built a fleeting lead with the excellent play of role players.
The final quarter of the game for the Nets, can be said to be the darkest moment, the offensive end was completely prevented, the double star's unreasonable jump shots were all fruitless, Adu's last quarter again 5 shots 0, the second half of the total 10 out of 0, plus 4 mistakes, the performance is a disaster. The Nets on the defensive end were also stripped alive, and the small guard lineup was simply powerless to stop the powerful Green Army from the front. In the first 10 minutes of the final quarter, the Nets only scored six points, and the Celtics played a 26-6 super attack wave, and the game lost suspense early.
Durant shot just 4-of-17 in the game, and made six turnovers, all of which were intercepted by the Green Army from 9 feet away. The G1 and G2 combined, Durant shot 13 of 41, delivering 12 turnovers, plus-minus -23 Nets team lowest! To make matters worse, Irving was also in extremely bad shape today, with away games combined with Ramadan and a serious lack of physical reserves, scoring 10 points on 4-of-13. The two stars are lost together, and the role players perform brightly, after all, they can't change the overall situation.
This is the Nets' current dilemma, without defense as a foundation, they eat by shooting, meet the Celtics who are the first in the league in defensive efficiency, every game is played hard, and the big score is 0-2 behind, which is actually very reasonable.
And the deterrent power of the Celtics' tough defense is further amplified in the playoffs that allow for more physical confrontation! In addition, on the offensive end, the double probe flower has a natural counterpoint advantage against the Nets' small guard group.
According to this momentum, the Nets are likely to be out of the first round!