BOSTON – The Boston Celtics have arguably been the hottest team in the NBA post All-star break, and they show no signs of cooling off. The Cs and the Nets are no strangers to each other, as they met four times this season with the Celtics taking the win in three of those meetings. So, what’s it going to take for the two-seeded Celtics to take on the seventh-seeded Brooklyn Nets?
The first thing the Celtics are going to need to do is expose the weak defense of the Nets. By running the pick and roll to get the opportunistic matchups they want, the C’s would be able to facilitate the ball wherever it needs to go for the best possible shot selection. While the Nets do have a few solid defenders in Andre Drummond and Nic Claxton when they’re on the floor, having Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown be able to switch on and off whoever they want at-will is going to be a huge factor.
With a lot of attention on Kevin Durant coming into this series and how much of a game-changer he can be, people are forgetting that Tatum has been playing just as good as Durant, and arguably Brown as well. So, the Celtics are going to have to acknowledge where their strengths are and adjust accordingly.
Another big piece to the winning puzzle for the Celtics is going to be their defense, both on the perimeter and in the paint. With Robert Williams III out, big men Al Horford and Daniel Theis are going to need to step-up big inside; however, behind comments from Bruce Brown Jr. saying the Nets can attack Horford and Theis, they’re going to be extra motivated. Theis didn’t mince words when asked about the comments.
“He said what he said,” said Theis. “So for us, show it on the court. If he thinks the way he thinks, we’re going to prove him wrong.”
The Perimeter defense is going to need to step-up big behind Defensive Player of the Year favorite Marcus Smart. Smart needs to go out and play the aggressive defense that helped lead the Celtics to an impressive 106.2 defense rating on the season, and shut down the 3-point shot. Now, stopping Durant and Kyrie Irving is not going to be an easy task, however if Smart can lead the way to shutting down one of those guys, the high powered offense behind Tatum and Brown should be able to help elevate the Celtics to the first dub of the series.
Regardless of what happens in the first game, there are still potentially six more games to give either team the edge, and no matter what the outcome of the series is, the Celtics have proved to almost everyone that they’re a force to be reckoned with.
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