Recap: Brooklyn’s Big Three Breeze Past Injury-Plagued Celtics, 141-126
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The Celtics welcomed a full house to TD Garden for the first time in over a year for Game 4 of their first-round series vs the Nets. Unfortunately, the pure dominance of Brooklyn’s big three ended up being too much to handle, as the Celtics fell 141-126.
Boston started out hot in the first quarter, but the Nets swiftly answered back. Jayson Tatum dueled with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in the first. It was a one-point game at the end of the first, but by the time halftime rolled around, Brooklyn held a 13-point lead.
Tatum led the Celtics in scoring with 40 points, but a couple of cold stretches hindered Boston’s offense. He shot 10-22 (45.5%) from the field, while the other four starters combined to shoot 13-37 (35.1%). Tatum added seven rebounds and five assists to his totals as well.
The Celtics did manage to get solid production from their bench in this one. Aaron Nesmith, Payton Pritchard, and Jabari Parker combined for 33 points. Nesmith and Pritchard provided some much-needed three-point scoring, shooting 5-9 (55.6%) from deep.
As mentioned, the big three of Durant (42 PTS), Irving (39 PTS, 11 REB), and James Harden (23 PTS, 18 AST) exploded in this one. Irving found most of his success on the back of his wild dribble moves; Harden continuously drove past defenders when the Celtics switched on defense; as for Durant, he was just shooting over any defender that tried to contest him. It was a master class for the Nets on the offensive end.
Boston was without Kemba Walker and Robert Williams for Game 4, which resulted in a ton of bench players being thrust into larger roles. While the rotation players shot the ball well on offense, they simply could not keep up with the star power of the Nets.
The C’s now travel back to Brooklyn with their season on the line. With the Nets up 3-1, Boston has the ultimate uphill battle in front of them. Game 4 tips off this Tuesday, June 1 at 7:30 PM on TNT.
