The Boston Celtics Are Going To Be Very Tough For Any Team This Postseason
They just dominated a championship favorite by sweeping them
Taking down a star-studded team against many “experts” opinions
I read many NBA stories all over the place, especially on many of the sports publications here by writers saying that the Boston Celtics couldn’t match up with the Brooklyn Nets. After all, the Nets were a championship favorite by oddsmakers to win. Nobody could’ve seen the total decimation and sweep of this star-studded team before the season started. Especially not in the first round.
Boston has arguably been the best team since the All-Star Break and they led the NBA in both offensive AND defensive rating in that time. In fact, they ended the regular season with the best defensive rating in the league. The team won 24 of their final 30 games. They finished 51–31, second in the Eastern Conference.
Boston shouldn’t be ignored and Kevin Durant’s performance was underwhelming
They’re certainly not a team anyone can overlook, especially not after the dominant 4–0 series performance against Brooklyn. None of the box scores look particularly dominant against the talented Nets team but each score showed how overmatched this team was going to be from the start. 115–114, and 114–107 in Boston. Off to Brooklyn with a 2–0 lead, no one expected them to come out with. 109–103, 116–112 to finish out the series in front of a stunned Brooklyn crowd. This team had no fight in them.
There’re a lot of reasons we could blame this team for not stepping up in the crucial moments. One glaring weakness for this Brooklyn team is that Kevin Durant wasn’t his normal, efficient self. In Game 1, he scored 23 points in 41 minutes but it was on 24 shots. His plus/minus in that game was -13. That doesn’t sound like a classic Kevin Durant game.
Even in Game 2 when he led the Nets with 27 points, it was on 4–17 shooting. Most of his scoring came from the free-throw line, 18–20. He also had 6 turnovers and 5 personal fouls. The Nets actually had a 17-point lead in this game but the Celtics stormed back with defense and efficiency to overtake Brooklyn.
Game 3 in Brooklyn was arguably his worst game of the series. He played 45 minutes and scored 16 points. The Celtics’ defense made him look tentative. He made some horrible passes and it looked like he was almost afraid to shoot. He waited for Game 4, an elimination game to have his best game of the series with 39 points and 9 assists, but it was too late. His effort wasn’t enough to overcome the efficient offense and spectacular defense that Boston played on Brooklyn throughout the series.
Boston’s defense and the different ways they can beat teams
To be fair, Kevin Durant can’t be the only one to blame for Brooklyn’s failure in this sweep, but he’ll be the one most of us focus on as a huge reason why they lost. Let’s give credit where it’s due though. Marcus Smart, this year’s Defensive Player of the Year, played a spectacular series on both sides of the ball. He was also buoyed by teammates Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum.
In the closeout game, for example, Marcus Smart had 20 points and 11 assists. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown contributed 29 points and 22 points, respectively. It’s very hard to beat a team that can get so many contributions from its starters. In fact, the duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, more specifically, stepped up with some great performances throughout. In Game 3, Tatum had 39 points with Brown at 23 points.
In Game 2, seven Celtics players scored in double digits led by Brown’s 22 points. In Game 1, a layup by Tatum at the buzzer was the difference in a closely contested game throughout and most likely set the tone for the rest of the series. The point is that Boston has shown that they can beat teams in many different ways.
Different Nets starters found different ways to fail
They found ways in games to shut down Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Andre Drummond, and Seth Curry, even if it was some of them separately and not all at the same time. The point is that Boston figured out the Nets' weaknesses and exploited them early and often. They also used their strengths on both sides of the ball to win games.
Looking ahead and putting the league on notice
If they continue to do this and play well on both offense and defense as they had down the stretch, there are few teams who can match up. If the current projections in the Eastern Conference play out, it’ll most likely be a talented, star-studded Celtics-Heat final. Miami finished fifth in defensive efficiency this season. It would be interesting and exciting to watch two of the best teams the East has to offer battle it out.
Even Miami, who finished with the best record in the East at 53–29 should be watching out at this point. Boston is coming on strong at the right time. Without looking too far forward, their next matchup against the defending champions, Milwaukee Bucks, should also be an exciting matchup as well. Even though Boston has no easy path to the NBA Finals at this point, this series sweep and win against Brooklyn should at least put the rest of the league on notice.
