No matter the reason, something had the Nets’ Large Three from rhythm to begin the movie opener.
When the second half came, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden went away off to running and off.
“I believe once your energy is concentrated on the defensive side of the ball, it is going to begin to turn to you personally,” Durant said. “So you found that for us in the second half”
Harden finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in only the ninth look of the season to the trio. The three combined to go 0 for 11 out of 3-point range in the first half, then stormed from the locker room with an 18-4 run to start the next and fold the lead the Nets’ way permanently.
The Nets declared a sellout audience of 14,391 following playing fully or mostly vacant arenas for the majority of the season. Harden said the loud crowd was an alteration.
“It just blew me away a tiny bit, but next half we got comfortable and the shots started falling,” he explained.
Durant, Irving and Harden scored 28 of the Nets’ 31 points in the interval, together with Joe Harris — that left Brooklyn’s just 3-pointer of their first half hitting another for another points.
“I felt as though we all put on a fantastic series,” Irving said. “We have only got to do it three times.”
Jayson Tatum scored 22 points, but shot only 6 to 20 and could not come to his 50-point attempt from the play-in championship, when Boston beat Washington to make the No. 1 seed.
The Celtics managed only 40 points in the second half and shot 37 percent to the match.
“You are able to guard these men really well and you are going to need to score,” Boston coach Brad Stevens stated.
To demonstrate how long the Nets’ celebrities spent Brooklyn began Harris and Blake Griffin using all the Big Three. It had been the first time people five began together all season and might have contributed to a horrible opening into the playoffs.
Durant, Harden and Irving have been a combined 5 to 20 from the first quarter and the Nets missed all nine 3-point efforts in the interval.
Harris eventually hit a 3 with 2:18 left and Boston attracted a 53-47 lead into the half.
Things changed rapidly after halftime. Harden created a 3 following four consecutive points by Durant from this locker room. That restricted the 18-4 stretch and forced it 65-57.
Irving and Durant united for its completing flurry at the fourth, a 12-2 run that extended a three-point result in 94-81 on Irving’s follow shot.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Robert Williams III had 11 points, nine rebounds and eight blocked shots. He’s been combating turf toe and it was not sure he’d play after he warmed up.
… Brooklyn’s starting lineup has been its 39th distinct among this year, using set a franchise record during the regular season. … Durant moved beyond former San Antonio guard Tony Parker (4,045) points to ninth place on the career playoff scoring record.
Stevens along with the Nets’ Steve Nash both trained without sprays, now reserved for coaches that are completely vaccinated. Stevens said it helped that gamers can see his mouth , because using the larger audiences now in arenas, it’d become harder to listen to his directions.
However there was a gain to getting his mouth coated.
“As I always say, using an 11- and – 15-year-old at home it has been a good deal simpler not to mention the wrong thing with the mask and not get captured online than perhaps it had been earlier,” he explained.
The Nets have won eight consecutive playoff games against the Celtics and are 9-2, using a six-game success in the 2002 Eastern Conference finals and a sweep at the 2003 East semis. It is the Nets’ greatest and Celtics’ lowest winning percentage against a competition from the postseason.
