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The Boston Celtics came out swinging against the Brooklyn Nets. Jayson Tatum and Co. led a first-half charge that saw them take control from the start of the game.
The Nets fell behind by double digits in the second quarter. But instead of being discouraged, Kevin Durant revealed that the adversity was exactly the wakeup call the team needed, via Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
“In that second quarter when we got down 12, Jabari made that 3, and we settled in a little bit. I know that sounds weird, but we came out of that timeout a little bit more settled,” the Nets star said. “We just wanted to keep our physicality up on the defensive side. We got a couple stops to start the third and were able to cruise.”
It was a tale of two halves in Game 1 of Nets-Celtics, with the game trends being exact mirrors of one another. The same way the Celtics shocked Brooklyn early, the Nets responded in similar fashion after the halftime break. Kyrie Irving echoed Durant's sentiment, saying the early deficit played a role in their improved play.
“We knew we had to respond,” Kyrie Irving said. “They gave us a good shot at the beginning of the game and making a lot of 3-pointers. So we just had to combat that with getting stops. And when we came into halftime, we talked about it we communicated and we went out and executed.”
The Nets' vaunted Big 3 combined for 82 points and for the most part knew how to make things work as three alphas trying to create on offense. The Celtics just didn't have enough firepower to go toe-to-toe with them from start to finish. After scoring 15 points in the first half, Jayson Tatum's production was halved as well with just seven points in the second. No other player reached 20 points for Boston.
Nets-Celtics Game 2 is on Tuesday night.
