Nets vs Celtics, a head-to-head clash between the second big brother in the Eastern Conference, pre-game traffic is directly full.
"Right now, the Brooklyn Nets are the biggest threat to the Celtics reaching the Finals!"
- Johnson the Magician.
With this tweet from the magician, the battle between the two teams officially began!
Background:
The Celtics are back-to-back, and although they still have to rush to the Nets' home court, the victory is relatively close, and it is not a long night rush. The two main players in this game, Brown and Horford, hung up the waiver;
On the Nets' side, after narrowly defeating the Pelicans and Heat, although KD retired with injury, morale is strong, and he sits at home and occupies the right place, and there is still a winning face.
In the end, the Celtics won the Nets 109-98, and the Nets struggled with their opponents for three quarters, and collapsed in the final quarter, although they only lost by 11 points, but the gap between the two sides may be much more than that.
Briefly about the competition process:
At the end of the third quarter, the Nets trailed the Celtics by just two points at 82-84.
In the first offensive round of the final quarter, Warren received a pass from Odie outside the three-pointer, and his eyes were empty. At this time, if it is Du Xiaoshuai who holds the ball, it will definitely be a three-point shooter, surpassing the Celtics by 1 point.
But Warren's choice was to break through three steps slower, and then face White, take a layup after a physical confrontation with no advantage, and receive a hot pot-style hat!
In the final six minutes, the Nets missed eight of their 10 shots and missed three errors in the half. In the first half of the quarter, only two of the Nets stepped up and scored 4 points, Odie and Zhao Si, and the others did nothing.
Throughout the fourth quarter, the Nets scored only 16 points and shot only 30% from the field!
It can be said that by the end of the period, the Nets had almost no resistance ...
You could say that the Nets let a superstar Durant;
But on the other side, there is no Brown and Horford...
In the final quarter, the Celtics opened the scoring not by team leader Tatum, but by Pritchard, Brogdon and Smart.
That's the biggest gap between the Nets and the Celtics – role players!
Almost none of the Nets' role players have the ability to hold the ball alone, which requires the "711" combination to use the ultimate personal attack to drive... On the other hand, there are too many people who can attack with the ball and score at key moments!
Pritchard's big fight, Brogdon's attacking frame, Smart's nerve knife, in the hand-to-hand combat of bayonets when the game is scorching, the Nets' choice is too single.
It can be said that while other teams are still racking their brains to get together 3D, the Green Army has unknowingly recruited a group of players with 3D + organizational attributes, and has swept the arms race to a higher standard.
At this time, when the "711" combination is there, there are still two options, but as long as one is missing, the Nets will be in a bitter battle.
At the end of the day, the Nets still have one less stable three!
At present, all 29 teams in the league have at least one trio averaging 15+ per game, and the only unlucky egg is the Nets. Xidi can't see the score, Warren has just returned, Johar and Curry Jr. are in up and down, and the team's third-best scoring per game is Zhao Si's 11.9 points...
Fortunately, the Nets still have variables:
There is good news in this game, that is, scouts from half of the league have come to see Johar's performance, Johar is also contentious, the current Nets have two first-rounders, Curry Jr. and Thomas can also be used as chips, I heard that the Raptors are going to rebuild, and it is not bad to take this opportunity to get Anunoby!
Of course, if you want to make a big one, it is not impossible to get Old Zhan Tou, it depends on whether Du Xiaoshuai will explode on the spot...
"Both of them have reached this stage in their careers, and they are still full of fighting spirit, reversing the slump of the past few years...", continued one Western executive:
"They were never close friends, but they always had respect for each other."
As for chips, the executive said Odie and Simmons are fine, especially Simmons.
"He's from Kratch's company (James' friend Richie Paul's company), so I don't know how things will change!"
In other words, some media have also analyzed that according to the existing labor contract, it is not impossible for the Nets to get James, but it will cost a number of players, such as Xidi + Sharp + Thomas, but whether the Lakers are willing to accept it is another matter...