Technically, it will be a rematch when the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets open their first round series at TD Garden on Sunday, but it’s not like last season. Some of the strategic things are the same, I guess – both teams like to change, and both want to limit the other team’s easy things – but Boston now has the best defense in the NBA (but most of it is missing, for now ), Brooklyn has a new big 3 (but so far he misses the new man) and the new Celtics coach was at the Nets headquarters last time.
Changes to the roster during the season mean that only one of the games in the regular season is relevant: a 126-120 victory over Boston on March 6, in which Jason Tatum exploded with 54 points. It is worth noting that Robert Williams III, who will miss at least the start of this series with a knee injury, played 37 minutes this afternoon, and LaMarcus Aldridge, who was not in the rotation of the Nets at the end of the regular season and did not appear in their game, played 23 minutes.
Without Williams, is the Celtics’ strong defense more vulnerable to the isolation of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving? Probably, but their defense is still excellent. Without Ben Simmons, Brooklyn is just too small to handle Boston’s wings? Maybe, but Simmons can come back. Would this be an incredible match in the conference finals if both teams were whole? Absolutely. But here we are.
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Boston Celtics (2) vs. Brooklyn Nets (7)
Boston leads the series 1-0
All times in the East
- Game 1 (on BOS): Celtics 115, Nets 114
- Game 2 (in BOS): Wednesday, April 20 19 hours | Television: TNT
- Game 3 (in BKN): Saturday, April 23 | TBD | Television: ESPN
- Game 4 (in BKN): Monday, April 25 TBD | TV: TBD
- Game 5 * (in BOS): Wednesday, April 27 | TBD | TV: TBD
- Game 6 * (in BKN): Friday, April 29 | TBD | TV: TBD
- Game 7 * (in BOS): Sunday, May 1 | TBD | TV: TBD
*If necessary
Game presented Boston Celtics vs. Brooklyn Nets
1. This is a hunting season
Both teams like to change, but the Celtics do it more often and more efficiently. When Brooklyn goes hunting for matches, he may not get the match he wants. Boston switches in advance to keep their best defenders of the opposing stars and remove their smaller defenders from the post-up. The Celtics want to get the Nets to play one-on-one basketball, but it’s not really one-on-one – helping long-distance defenders will be in the loopholes, trying to get Durant and Irving into the contested jumpers. The danger is that Durant and Irving have won many games by making contested jumpers.
“This is a contrast to two things that both teams are doing extremely well,” said Boston coach Ime Udoka.
How Brooklyn handles the switch will determine how much help they decide to send the Celtics. Nets coach Steve Nash said he wanted the Nets “to have some discipline to keep playing, not just settle for isolation situations”. to ignore the switches, to keep doing the action, to slip off the screens, to try to make Boston make mistakes. The Celtics don’t usually make many mistakes, but they’re more expensive without Williams around to clean them up.
Bruce Brown made headlines when he said Brooklyn would go to the Boston Bigger, but no one cared when Udoka said the Celtics would pick on the Nets’ guards: “With their starting lineups, they play a lot -a few moments with [Patty] Mills and [Seth] Curry, Irving, [Goran] Dragic and those boys there sometimes. There are some advantageous positions for us with our size and flexibility. So, things you can attack there. “
Brooklyn’s starting backfield – Irving and Curry – is unusually small, and Nash sometimes played with three of these guards. The Celtics are relatively huge, and the Nets will have a harder time avoiding discrepancies. In theory, however, the strategy is the same: if you can’t prevent a mismatch, then it’s about responding to it with defense and double teams. However, when it comes to delaying Tatum, this thing is much less effective than before.
2. Brooklyn on the boards
Their back field is small, but the Nets are not exactly a small team. The list is full of great men, and in that match in March, they made up for a third of their gaps, which is not uncommon. With starting center Andre Drummond on the floor, Brooklyn had a 34.7 percent rebound in attack. (The Memphis Grizzlies bounced back with the best 33.8 percent of their passes this season.)
Boston is an average defense team, but that’s one of the risks of changing everything. If Al Horford or Daniel Theiss guard Irving on the perimeter, it will be harder to keep Drummond and backup center Nicholas Claxton out of the glass. Along with open views on the Nets and Bruce Brown’s energy, Udoka cited “Drummond and Claxton’s second chance points” as a problem area.
Unlike Drummond, Claxton is not one of the best offensive rebounds of all time. However, it has improved when it comes to recovering traffic, and has added some of what he calls “the power of the elderly.”
If Marcus Smart and Derrick White can get Claxton out, then it will be harder for him to stay on the floor. But if he helps Brooklyn on the boards, then he could steal some of Drummond’s minutes – and maybe even the starting point. One day Claxton may be the version of Williams from the Nets. It currently provides greater protective flexibility and vertical distance than their other options in the center.
3. The race against time
While Simmons is not available, Brooklyn is far less flexible than Boston. Rookie Kessler Edwards, ranked No. 44 in the draft, is an X-factor because without Joe Harris Nets, there is no other who looks like a 3-D winger. They had to give up James Johnson to turn Edwards ‘two-way contract into a standard one, and they had to hope that Edwards’ uninspiring eight minutes in the game was not a sign of things to come. If Brooklyn decides he needs more size to deal with Tatum and Jaylan Brown, he’s the man.
Simmons’ presence will not fill the hole in the wing, but it will make it less important. It will immediately improve their defense, transition and rebound and will give Nash more flexibility in the lineup, albeit only for 10 to 15 minutes per game in the beginning. The problem is that the Nets may be in a desperate situation by the time Simmons is ready to play. The Celtics may have the Lord of Time until then.
No one in Brooklyn is publicly pressuring Simmons with words. However, there is only one way for his teammates to ease the tension: to prove that they do not need Simmons to save them. Taking one of the first two on the road would be a good start.
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