Celtics Complete Sweep, Send Nets Home Early
April 25, 2022
The Celtics made a statement to the NBA in their first round series, and Monday night they put the exclamation point on that statement by completing a four game sweep of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and the Brooklyn Nets. Boston continued their defensive dominance, smothering the Nets all night, and road the two way brilliance of Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, and Jaylen Brown to a 116-112 game 4 victory. The Celtics seemed to be in control for much of the night, but things got tense in the fourth quarter as Jayson Tatum dealt with foul trouble and ultimately fouled out with several minutes to play. But the Celtics, and especially Tatum and Brown, were able to rise to the occasion, battle through adversity, and hold off a furious Nets charge to secure the game and the series.
The question coming into this game was whether the Nets would put up a fight, or roll over and get ready for vacation. It was clear pretty early on that the Nets were engaged, their crowd was (at least trying to) giving them a boost, Steve Nash was pulling out every trick in his (admittedly short) book, and Kevin Durant was refusing to go down without a fight. The Nets weren’t messing around to start game 4. Nash was quick to banish Andre Drummond to the bench early on and he didn’t return for the rest of the game. The Nets also leaned into offense and shooting more, and willing to sacrifice with size and defense. They even played super-small at times with Durant at “center” surrounded by four guys who were under 6’5”. Another adjustment was having Durant bring up the ball more frequently to have him dribbling with a head of steam and being able to assess the defense from up top. Credit Nash for going down swinging and all of these adjustments worked to an extent and showed a new twist, but the Celtics had an answer for everything.
On the Boston side, it was mostly business as usual. They took every Nets adjustment in stride, kept their heads, and stuck to the game plan. Tatum and Brown continued to thrive on both ends; Tatum led the Celtics with 29 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists and got hot from the floor, carrying the team for stretches and finishing 9/16 and 4/6 from three. Multiple times the Nets made a run and Tatum essentially killed the run and stretched the lead out with his own incredible shot-making. Brown added 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists despite shooting 0/5 from three. He did experience a hamstring issue in the second half, but didn’t miss any time and said he should be find going forward. Smart also stepped up in a huge way on offense, finishing with 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 11 assists. The Celtics also got some great production off the bench - which was critical because they dealt with foul trouble. Derrick White had his best game of the series, as he was back up to 26 minutes and scored a big 9 points - largely attacking the basket. Grant Williams was massive for the Celts yet again, adding 14 points, including 12 in the first half on 4/5 from deep. He was arguably the MVP of the first half.
The Celtics were also able to sustain their outstanding defense that has been on display this entire series. Tatum set the tone yet again, but Grant Williams may have been the most impressive defender on the floor, routinely locking down KD and Kyrie, among others. Everybody knew that Durant would be more assertive, and that he would undoubtedly shoot more, but the Celtics kept hounding him and forcing him into difficult contested shots. Despite scoring 39 points, Durant shot just 13/31, 3/11 on threes, and turned the ball over four times. Irving was largely taken out of the game again, outside of a few open threes. He finished with a pedestrian 20 points on 6/13 shooting and looked disengaged on both ends at times. The Celtics were clearly able to get Irving out of his comfort zone and it led to one of the worst series’ of his career. Seth Curry came up large for Brooklyn, scoring a much-needed 23 points on 9/13 shooting, but the Celts were able to take advantage of him on defense. Nic Claxton also played well for the Nets on both ends, but he set a playoff record by missing his first ten free throw attempts before finally hitting one. At one point in the third quarter, Udoka even called for the hack-a-Clax, forcing him to shoot a pair and breaking the flow of the Nets offense.
Beyond that, the story of the game was the officiating. The foul trouble started almost immediately. Al Horford was only able to play 5 first half minutes after picking up his third foul. Durant, Dragic, and Curry also each had three fouls before halftime. But things really got interesting when Jayson Tatum picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter. He had to sit for a long stretch, then upon his return he quickly fouled out on an extremely questionable call as he was jockeying for position with Goran Dragic with 2:49 to play and the Celtics clinging to a 109-103 lead. Immediately following the call, Irving came down and hit a three, then the Nets got a stop and Durant hit a runner to cut the lead to 109-108 with a minute and a half to play and momentum squarely in the Nets favor.
After that all hell broke loose. Jaylen Brown got to the rim and got the Celtics a huge basket to go back up by 3. After an empty possession on each end, Kevin Durant was fouled by Smart in the backcourt with 22 seconds left (another questionable call), sending him to the line for two. Durant shockingly missed the second attempt, which you’d think would force Brooklyn to foul. Except Brown got the rebound and launched a quick outlet over the top to Smart. Marcus drove to the basket, missing a layup but setting up Horford for an easy tip-in to put the Celtics up 113-109 with just 13 seconds remaining and putting the finishing touches on an incredible series by the Celtics.
It’s hard to state what an impressive but also expected performance this was by the Celtics for four straight games.They outplayed and outcoached the Nets, but they were also just the better team. The better personnel, with the better scheme, with home court advantage, executed better and swept the series. There is shock value here because the Nets of course have the megastar in Kevin Durant and another superstar in Kyrie Irving, but the Celtics stars shone much brighter in this series. Tatum was the best player on both ends this entire series. Brown was arguably second. Al Horford and Marcus Smart weren’t too far behind. The Celtics built cohesion over the course of this season and the team looks like a well oiled machine on both ends. Meanwhile the Nets put zero value in the regular season and it showed. For all their “skill” and “talent” they were completely overmatched by the Celtics over the course of this series. It’s very difficult for me to be overly critical of Durant in this series; I genuinely think the Celtics gameplan and execution against him were incredible. They should get the credit and that should be the story - not Durant struggling. As for his sidekick, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but after a spectacular game 1, Kyrie Irving was basically a non-factor or a negative for the rest of the series. He shot 37% from the floor over the final three games, and I don’t think it’s out of bounds to question his effort and engagement levels. When it comes to these Nets, I don’t think now is the time to get into legacy and narrative talk, so there won’t be any “passing of the torch” talk from me or anything like that. But there are several massive discussions that are coming this offseason.
What’s truly crazy is the Celtics didn’t even play that well, especially offensively. If anything, they probably let the Nets off the hook at times and made some of these games closer than they should have been. There was a lack of crispness at times, and they got away from their pace and ball movements. Having said that, the Nets were the Vegas favorites to win the title before this season started and they still had the second best odds in the East when the playoffs started (behind only the Bucks). This outcome was far from a foregone conclusion and many “experts” were picking the Nets to win and decrying the Boston decision to face the Nets in round one. Even for a sweep, it was a close series. The total margin was only 18 points and every game came down to the final minutes.
But in the end, that was the most impressive thing about the Celtics in this series. Their bugaboo all season, even when things were going great, was close games and crunch time. And yet, in the biggest games the Celtics were at their best in the biggest moments. Per Sean Grande, in the regular season, Boston was 11-18 in games decided by 7 points or fewer. In the postseason so far they are 4-0. Time and again this team rose to the occasion and out-executed the Nets in winning time. Of course there was the buzzer-beater by Tatum to win game 1 after blowing a 15 point lead. Then in game 2 the Celtics erased a 17 point deficit to eke out another home win. In game 3 the Celtics took things on the road and pulled away down the stretch. And finally in the closeout game, the Celtics lose Tatum. The refs are seemingly against them. Everything is pointing to a Boston collapse. But in the face of adversity the Celtics passed their toughest test yet; keeping their heads and holding off the desperate Nets even without Jayson Tatum. This win speaks volumes about the culture and the mindset of this entire Boston Celtics organization; Brad Stevens and Ime Udoka both deserve a ton of credit.
Further to the point about this culture, let’s not allow for revisionist history. The Celtics could have taken the easy way out and lost on purpose to avoid the Nets. For weeks at the end of the season the media focused on avoiding the Nets and what teams would do to jockey for their most favorable positioning in the playoffs. Well the one team who clearly was not scared of the Nets was the Boston Celtics. They embraced the challenge head on and now they are the only team in the first round to sweep their series across the NBA. As Marcus so eloquently summed it up during his postgame presser, “We don’t duck or dodge nobody”. The Celtics talked about it as a group, and decided they wanted to win, earn the best possible seed, and face whatever opponent that may mean, knowing it would likely be the Nets. They decided if you want to win a championship, you have to believe you can beat anyone. They clearly believe it, and in round one they backed up that belief. This was only round one, but it was a hell of an opening statement.
Now the Celtics will get some well deserved rest as they wait to face the winner of the Milwaukee Bucks and Chicago Bulls series. The Bucks lead the series 3-1 and look to close it out at home on Wednesday night. That would certainly set up a juicy second round matchup for the Celtics against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the defending champs. There is a LOT to digest and break down for that potential second round series, but for now let’s enjoy this great round one victory, and wait to see who the next opponent will be (it will be the Bucks).
Full second round series preview to come once the matchup is (officially) confirmed
Ben Handler