“If Kyrie and KD are averaging 30 and 35 points per game, that’s only 65 points. Where do the rest of the points come from?”
I heard a version of this take a few times before the start of the Brooklyn Nets’ first-round series against the Boston Celtics. It was as if people actually believed that if Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant played some of the best basketball games of their lives, the seven to nine other NBA players on the Nets’ roster wouldn’t be able to walk up a flight of stairs and to place the basketball ball in the rim.
In fact, the Nets roleplayers are the reason this series was competitive at all. Brooklyn is 3-0 down against the Celtics and is likely to lose that streak on either Monday or Wednesday. However, with Durant having his worst playoff set since his rookie year in 2010 — when the Oklahoma City Thunder lost to eventual NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in six games — it was the role players who closed the gap for the Nets while Durant and Irving failed to finish the job late in the game.
Irving was spectacular in Game 1 against the Celtics. He attacked all hostilities – no matter what he wanted to call it – in TD Garden and was unstoppable for most of the game, scoring 39 points on 60/60/100 shooting splits. Still, with Durant scoring 23 points while shooting just 38 percent from the field as the Celtics rushed him with pressure defense all day, the Nets’ remaining 114 points had to come from somewhere.
The main players in this game were Goran Dragić and Nic Claxton. They scored a combined 27 points at 63.1 percent shooting. While Andre Drummond has started every game for the Nets in this series — and played well in Game 1, too — it was Claxton who occupied the color for more than 30 minutes. He did some damage down there, with eight rebounds and three blocks to his 13 points. Claxton has been a force in all series and Steve Nash’s decision not to start him is one of the many criticisms he has received for his coaching in that first round.
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Dragić is a grizzled veteran point guard. The 35-year-old former All-Star played most of his playoff ball with the Miami Heat. The Nets picked him up after he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs and bought him out of his contract. In Game 1 against Boston, Dragić came off the bench as a stabilizing force for the Nets, as did another creator of dribbling – something some felt the Nets didn’t make their list after Durant and Irvng. Dragić gave them 26 necessary minutes in Game 1 and has been a reliable third threat handling the ball in every game – although he questionably played just eight minutes yesterday.
The Nets’ best player in this series was Bruce Brown. The 25-year-old forward has averaged 24.6 minutes per game this season. In this first-round series he has played an average of 36.5 minutes per game. His energy and defense were much needed by the Nets in Game 1, but in Games 2 and 3 he exceeded what could reasonably have been expected from his nine points per game this season.
He has set personal playoff career highs in back-to-back games. When Irving’s performance in Game 2 came back down to earth with 10 points on 30.8 percent shooting and Durant had to live at the free throw line to score 27 points because he shot an incredibly awful 23.5 percent from the field, Brown scored 23 Points, eight rebounds and four assists with 66.7/75/100 shooting splits. Also, his defense helped keep both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum under 25 points and Tatum at 31.3 percent from the field on 19 points. Dragić was strong again despite having no assists, with 18 points on 57.1 percent shooting and a weak Seth Curry giving the Nets four 3-points and 16 points.
Brown led the lead again yesterday with a new playoff career high of 26 points. Not only did he lead the Nets in scoring, he led them in field goal attempts with 19 and played 40 minutes while still shooting 52.6 percent from the field. Durant, one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, managed just 11 field goal attempts in a must-win game.
It was a desperate attempt by the Nets to secure a win at home, with Patty Mills having his best game of the series, scoring four out of five 3-pointers. Steve Nash even used Blake Griffin for a few minutes in the fourth quarter. Griffin made consecutive threes and gave them a strong defense. It doesn’t matter, in fourth you couldn’t reduce the gap to less than five points.
Even if the Nets are swept by the Celtics, they should be proud as a team. As badly as Durant and Irving have played most of this series – kudos to the Celtics defense for that – the players who have been vilified in this series have held the nets in all three games. Not bad for players some talked about like they couldn’t score in this series.
