BOSTON – The Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets battled it out on Sunday afternoon at the TD Garden in Boston for Game 1, and it turned into an all-out war as the Celtics won 115-114.
Jayson Tatum, to no one’s surprise, led the offensive attack for the Celtics. Tatum shot just 9-18 from the field, while going 3-7 beyond the arc for a total of 31 points, along with four boards and eight assists. Jaylen Brown had 23 points, five rebounds and three assists.
The victory came after arguably the best defensive possession by the Celtics with Marcus Smart covering Irving and Al Horford coming to assist on the double-team. Irving kicked the ball out to Durant with less than five seconds left on the shot clock, and with Tatum’s aggressive defense, that forced Durant into an off-the-mark three, which allowed Horford to pick up the rebound with 12 seconds remaining in the game.
“Just trusting one another. Trusting me to play one-on-one with Kyrie. Trusting JT and Jaylen to play one-on-one with KD and those guys,” Smart told the media about the defensive stops. “Then when we get beat, knowing, trusting and allowing ourselves to be there for one another. That’s how we got those stops and that’s what it’s going to take.”
On offense the Celtics managed to get the ball up the court to Brown, who found Smart open on the perimeter, where Smart faked a three. This allowed a lane to open up for Tatum as he received a pass from Smart to drive past Irving and lay the ball into the basket as the final second came off the clock.
“I think it just shows the progression of our team, you know, how far we’ve come from game one in those first two months when we were average and we were struggling,” said Tatum about the final play of the game. “We’ve just been playing the right way the last couple of months, that’s a reason why we’ve been so successful, especially in big moments. It’s all about just trying to make the right play.”
Defense is going to be the biggest factor for the Celtics to win this series. The slow offensive start for both teams was more than likely a fluke, and being able to contain Durant and Irving for more than half of the contest is going to be extremely challenging going forward. Fixing mistakes and tightening up on defense is where the Celtics are going to have to improve for Game 2.
With Game 2 set for Wednesday at TD Garden, the two days off are going to be crucial in the Celtics performance. With the Game 1 jitters and nerves out of the way, the Cs should settle down and tighten up on all aspects of the game, putting their elite performance over the last couple of months on display.
