The Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics provided the best game of the first weekend of the playoffs and a buzzer-beater. Will the series go seven games?
Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant has played more than 34,000 minutes in the regular season and an additional 6,000 plus minutes in the playoffs across 30 series. Sunday afternoon, all those basketball miles caught up with him and he looked his age.
Boston Celtics‘ 24-year-old superstar Jayson Tatum certainly did not help the matter either, especially as he hit the game-winning buzzer-beating layup while KD was lost within his defensive assignment.
This was Game 1, in what appears will be a long playoff series. However, Durant looking his age in Game 1 is not a good sign for the Nets, and Kyrie Irving played as well as he likely is capable of playing at this point in his career, it was still pretty good.
But, Kyrie was not good enough to beat Tatum and the Celtics while KD was struggling.
Durant is still great enough that he could come out and drop 50 or more in Game 2, and the Nets could even the series up at 1-1 heading into Barkley’s Center. You’d have to imagine that KD will come back and have a great Game 2, but there’s no guarantee that it will be enough.
Especially with the way Boston has been playing as of late.
It cannot be stressed enough that this was only Game 1. Although Game 1s can set the tone for a series, they rarely define a series. Depending on how this series goes, it could help down the line when defining and assessing various players’ legacies
Remember, before you expect the Nets to forge this great comeback and win the series the Celtics are the only team in NBA history to finish the season with 50 or more wins after being below .500 at the halfway point of the season. Boston also finished the season with the best offensive and defensive rating since January 15.
For what it’s worth, the Nets ranked 23rd in defensive rating and 11th in offensive rating during the same time frame. That 23rd place defensive rating is three spots lower than the lowly Oklahoma City Thunder who won 10 games from January 15 on. These numbers seem to indicate the Celtics are in fact the better basketball team, now don’t they?