A year ago in the first round of the playoffs, the Nets eliminated the Celtics 4-1, and the Greenshirts were not swept because Tatum played a 50-point outburst, and the Nets won four games, averaging 15.5 points per game. The feeling of that series was that the Celtics needed to play extraordinarily well in order to win a game in the case of Jaylen Brown's injury, and the Nets just had to play normally.
A year later, it was the first round of the playoffs, and it was the Celtics against the Nets, and this time the Green shirts returned the "account" they owed a year ago to the Nets. At 116-112, the Celtics beat the Nets in Brooklyn in Game 4-112 of the series, and the Greenshirts became the only team to sweep through the first round to advance.
From being swept by the "gentleman" a year ago, to now taking revenge with a genuine sweep, the Celtics climbed up from the trough of defeat and began the operation of the 2021 offseason, when the Greenshirts changed a lot, head coach Stevens became the team president, Uduka took over the team's coaching whip, Stevens took the lead first traded Kemba Walker, and then sent away Fournier, these two are the Celtics' starting backcourt combination for the 2021 playoffs, commonly characterized by insufficient defensive ability, This style did not meet Stevens's requirements, nor did it contradict Uduka's tactical system vision, so they were sent away together.
In walker's trade, Stevens got Horford, with a small guard, in exchange for a tall frontcourt, which is the basic team building idea of the Celtics during stevens and Uduka at the helm, they don't need a little fast, this small ball configuration can neither play the Nets nor the Bucks, and is not competitive in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
During the 2021-22 regular season, Stevens sent Schroeder to the Rockets and replaced the Celtics' old player Theis, continuing to raise the ceiling of the lineup.
Stevens provided Uduka with a lineup that fits perfectly into the tactical philosophy, with their starting five tigers in this series against the Nets averaging two meters tall and an average weight of 103 kilograms, while the Nets' starting lineup has an average height of 1.97 meters and an average weight of 99 kilograms. The Nets' data has the factor of Drummond's forced elevation, if the "Zhuang Shen" is removed, the average height of the other four starters of the Nets is 1.94 meters, the average weight is 92 kg, the highest Horford in the Celtics starting lineup is not included in the statistics, and the average height of the other four starts is 1.99 meters, and the average weight is 101 kg.
The Celtics' lineup is higher and stronger, and at the same time, they have not lost their agility, which is the basic condition for playing a high-quality unlimited change of defense, and the next work is left to Uduka.
Uduka began his coaching career when Durant first led the team to the Finals in 2012, where he spent seven seasons on Popovich's coaching staff before spending two years as an assistant coach at the 76ers and Nets. It's hard to say whether Stevens' invitation to Uduka to coach had anything to do with the Nets as the first imaginary enemy, after all, Uduka was Nash's assistant last season and had valuable "intelligence" resources, but whatever Stevens's original intention in this choice, at least for now, his decision was correct.
Uduka's English name is Ime Udoka, and "Ime" means "patience" in Uduka's native language (Uduka is of Nigerian descent), a word that portrays the Celtics in the regular season. When 2021 ends, the Celtics' record is 16 wins and 19 losses, Uduka is in the adjustment of the lineup, practicing the defense system, paying the cost of losing, after the run-in, the Celtics played a record of 35 wins and 12 losses, is the best eastern team in this stage, the offensive efficiency of this stage is the second in the league, the defensive efficiency is the first, and the average net offensive and defensive efficiency per game reaches +12.7.
The Celtics extended their strength into the playoffs after entering 2022, and their series against the Nets could end with a clean sheet, and the core lethality came from the precision and strong alignment ability, which was predicted by the Bucks coach, Budenholzer, who coached Uduka as an assistant coach at the Spurs, as a coach.
"Of the players I've coached, Uduka is the smartest and toughest, he's calm and he's tough," Budenholzer said, "and I think these qualities are exactly what the Celtics expect, with a very high ball quotient, toughness, tough style, and excellent communication skills." ”
Against the Nets in this series, Uduka designed a classic defensive tactic for the Celtics, forming a three-dimensional blockade chain against Durant. Durant averaged 22 points in the first three games of the series, shooting 36.5 percent from the field and averaging 5.7 turnovers per game, making it the worst series Adu had played in good health.
Uduka's strategy to defend Durant is that Tatum leads the wheel war single defense, Tatum defends a period of substitution, Adu has a hard time adapting to the defender in front of him, and finds that the opponent has changed, and the tall personnel configuration of the Celtics can play this kind of defense in turn. When Durant dribbled into the three-point line, the Celtics clipped up and forced Adu to play.
Uduka's accuracy requirements for the rotation of the assisted defense are very high, shortly after the start of the first quarter of the third game, Irving, Brown and Durant played a combination, Brown received a pass from Irving in the middle, the Celtics shrunk the defense, and as a result, durant missed Durant outside the left three-point line, Brown shifted the ball to assist Adu to shoot three points, Uduka immediately called a timeout, he could not accept to give Durant such shooting space.
After that timeout, the Celtics rebuilt the brass wall, Durant did not even get a comfortable chance to catch the ball, he did not even have a shot in the last 11 minutes of the game, and the second half of the second half of the 10-on-0 to form a humiliating series, becoming a rare offensive "black history" in Durant's NBA career.
Objectively speaking, Durant's first three games have been so bad, which is related to his personal ability and the Nets' configuration conditions. Durant has never been a master of breaking the bag, nor is it the kind of strong raider who carries people to blow up the opponent's defenses, these are the biggest differences between him and the peak James, Adu's best way to release firepower is to take the ball and pull it, don't do too much work, play the Celtics in the first round last season, Durant has Harden, who averaged 27.8 points and 10.6 assists per game in the series, and Dengge did not back the pot in the Nets, but when he was there, Durant and Irving were only responsible for catching the ball and attacking the tough points, without him, the Nets could not find someone who could feed Durant in high-intensity defense.
Durant said he thinks too much because he faces the Celtics' defense, hesitating between personal attacks and passing to teammates, and hesitation is a bad thing. Durant saved his dignity slightly with 39 points in Game Four, the team was on the edge of the precipice, Adu finally stopped hesitating, and the Celtics had a little less defensive intensity when the series victory was in hand, but it was still not enough for the Nets to win the next game, because that natural gap was not filled.
The Nets need to provide space conditions for Durant to play, which means to be small, but in the rotation of the five small lineup players Irving, Brown, Seth Curry, Mills and Dragic, only Brown defends above average, and the other four are too bad in the confrontation with the Celtics, and Brown is the point that the Celtics are willing to put.
The Nets had a chance to win in game four, Durant rarely played a strong point blast in this series, Tatum was also sent off, the Nets narrowed the gap to one point 1 minute and 28 seconds before the final game, but then Jaylen Brown forced a defender to score a layup, Horford's second offensive layup, Brown was 1.98 meters tall and weighed 101 kg, belonging to the heavy wing, Horford 2.06 meters 108 kg, is a heavy interior line, the Nets are not right in size.
Basketball, even in the era of small ball, still has the original law of one inch tall and one inch strong, the Celtics defensive confrontation is too strong, Uduka gives targeted tactical design, the Nets fight the body completely behind, they have to rely on technology to make up for the defects, and play technology in Durant "think too much", Irving "eat too little" in the chaos, failed to fully transform into combat strength. Several supporting characters of the Nets in this series, Brown, Seth Curry, Dragic and Griffin, tried their best, but their two giants were lost in the Celtics' muscular jungle.
The Celtics' size and tactical superiority were also on display in the offense, with Tatum and Brown grabbing misplaced hits, the Nets who were named, the big man couldn't keep up with the speed of the double probe, and the small man was directly crushed by their bodies.
The coach's tactical system and on-the-spot command, the player's execution and physical condition, these constitute the Celtics' advantage in crushing the Nets, and their playoff prospects are surrounded by halos, and the hope of reaching the Finals for the first time since 2010 is illuminated.
However, this is only the first round, the Nets have a hard injury from the coaching level to the lineup configuration to the game execution, and the Celtics' "big test" is still to come. The Bucks are already 3-1 ahead of the Bulls, and if nothing else, they will meet the Celtics in the second round, the defending champion's physical condition is quite explosive, can any other team in the league use the three-high lineup besides them? If Middleton can make a comeback in time, the full-body Bucks will be much harder to play than the Nets.
Sweeping the promotion is just the beginning for the Celtics, and there is still a long way to go.