Eastern Conference | Round 1 | (2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Brooklyn Nets (BOSTON WINS 4-0)

[Hello Brooklyn]

Nets need to get Nick Claxton a shooting coach. If he had made 50% of his free throws the Nets would probably have won game 4.

Every game it was something new and bizarre

Last second defensive collapses, KD turning into Brandon Jennings, Claxton having the worst FT shooting night in playoff history.

[stillgotgame]

While I'm enjoying the RGM pile crapping on the Nets.

I wanted to call out that Kyrie hung back, gave everybody hugs and was a great sport about it. Credit where credit is due, I didn't see that coming.

He’s up for a contract extension. Would you hug a couple people for $250M?

[celticfan42487]

While I'm enjoying the RGM pile crapping on the Nets.

I wanted to call out that Kyrie hung back, gave everybody hugs and was a great sport about it. Credit where credit is due, I didn't see that coming.

He’s up for a contract extension. Would you hug a couple people for $250M?

Irving checked out of caring a long time ago, and specifically for this series around the end of game 1 and likely in his mind blames Durant for the loss so why try.

That's Irving, why should he care. He has to go find out about the next conspiracy.

And much to a lot of people's shame Tatum and Smart always loved Irving and they're all buddy buddy. They even told the Boston crowd to stop booing him. They're all friends who don't put meaning into the game the way most great players did before the 2010s with a couple of exceptions (Kobe, KG, ect)

[Joshyjess]

Personally, I think the Nets should see what they can get for both Kyrie and Simmons, and then build around their guys who gave it their all in the playoffs with Durant being the Star, and playing sort of a mentor role for the next year. I mean, sure, next year they might have both Irving and Simmons show up and the team clicks like they were hoping to do this year, but honestly, I just don't see that happening. Both Irving and Simmons are head-cases who you will never be able to count on. In spite of some bad games this series Durant is still one of the best players in the game today, but he's declining. Use him to help develope some younger guys. Rather than tyring to win it all now (which mostly likely won't work), plan for a 2 or 3 year window where they are deveolping the talent they have (plus hopefully what they might be able to get for Kryie) and just play with passion for a couple of years.
And Seondly - get Claxton a shooting couch - Yikes! The kids got a ton of talent, and plays harder than Kryie and Simmons combined, but wow was that some ugly free throw shooting!

[Deivork]

Read on Twitter

I'm just glad the series ended tonight because I can guarantee that brothers would have been refereeing game 5.

This is not nothing. If I hate something in sports it's cheating the competition. This is at least something suspect for real.

[PizzaSteve]

While I'm enjoying the RGM pile crapping on the Nets.

I wanted to call out that Kyrie hung back, gave everybody hugs and was a great sport about it. Credit where credit is due, I didn't see that coming.

He’s up for a contract extension. Would you hug a couple people for $250M?

Irving checked out of caring a long time ago, and specifically for this series around the end of game 1 and likely in his mind blames Durant for the loss so why try.

That's Irving, why should he care. He has to go find out about the next conspiracy.

And much to a lot of people's shame Tatum and Smart always loved Irving and they're all buddy buddy. They even told the Boston crowd to stop booing him. They're all friends who don't put meaning into the game the way most great players did before the 2010s with a couple of exceptions (Kobe, KG, ect)

Honestly, my one memory of the game was that he seemed happy to lose.

[jfs1000d]

Read on Twitter

I'm just glad the series ended tonight because I can guarantee that brothers would have been refereeing game 5.

This is not nothing. If I hate something in sports it's cheating the competition. This is at least something suspect for real.

I don’t know what happened on Monday in regards to refs.

First quarter, Celtics in bonus early. Some soft, but fair calls.

Then, for some reason, lopsided in the nets favor. Tatum’s fouls were ridiculous, especially no. 6.


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[jfs1000d]

My other issue with nets…unless it is shaq or wilt out there, you can’t play as a sub 60 FT shooter. Drummond was unplayable, and Claxton, though effective, was essentially a turnover at the line.


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[celtxman]

Trading for Harden ruined any chance at a title the Nets under Kyrie & KD had.

when the Nets were at their best was when Harden was a legitimate MVP candidate last year. When Irving, Harden, and KD played together they were 13-3 including 5-1 in the playoffs.
I certainly have issues with how Harden left Houston and Brooklyn and this kind of stufff hopefully will lead to Collective Bargaining Agreememt changes. Another topic for another day.
Ultimately the Nets got Harden not only to have a third star but protection against Irving's narcissism. You want to go AWOL Kyrie, you being traded is now on the table. On December 2 Ian Begley, SNY Insider or the Nets wrote the Nets, while not initiating calls, were open to taking calls to get Irving out of town. Translation: get rid of Irving for whatever you can salvage, build around Durant and Harden.
Durant gets injured and will be out an extended time. Kyrie won't budge on the vaccination and suddenly Harden feels like he's back in Houston and Kyrie is getting special treatment.
It doesn't matter if you agree or disagree about Irving's vaccination stance. But that decision and his incessant drama cost the Nets dearly.

[slicedbread2]

Well I'm happy the Celtics won. From 1-8 you got a mean lean green eating machine that devoured Durant and made an extraordinary player look ordinary while pestering Irving all series and making him take tough shots. This team is gonna be a problem and they'll most likely face another daunting task in the Bucks who have the ultimate cheat code in Giannis. While they are missing Middleton who may miss a good chunk of the 2nd round, they are still lethal and are the defending champs so it'll be a great test to see this incarnation of the Celtics squad go to work.

As for Brooklyn, it was a merciful end to a painful and joyless season. Quite frankly a lot of questions that'll need to be addressed going forward:

1) Steve Nash. Dude looked clueless out there and they really missed D'Antoni badly. They need at least an offensive coordinator out there along with a defensive coordinator to help out as Nash was brought in due to Durant and Irving's insistence. Honestly this was a horrible spot for him to be in and he should've spent at least some time being an assistant before taking on a head coach position. In his defense, it's hard to establish chemistry when one of your main cornerstones refuses to swallow his pride and get over himself. The overuse of Durant led to him getting hurt which really sucked.

The team building has been a nightmare, but it doesn't help that Nash couldn't establish proper rotations and playing the younger guys more. Relying on vets who are at the end of the line is usually a recipe for disaster. The whole isolation ball with KD+Kai is really infuriating and while Nash deserves blame, it's hard to change the bad habits of players who are adamant about playing a certain way. Is he the long term answer? I don't think so for this team, but Durant and Irving wanted him so sorry Nets fans.

2) Kevin Durant. His leadership or lack thereof has really showed. He should've put his foot on the ground and drag Kyrie's butt to getting vaccinated because winning is a byproduct of learning to play together and when a main piece of your core isn't gonna cooperate it becomes a massive problem. He should've smoothed over the issues that were arising with Harden and Irving although ultimately these 3 egos were never gonna work out in the grand scheme of things.

3) Kyrie Irving. What else can you say? Dude's an absolute headache everywhere he's gone and his insistence on not wanting to be coached along with Durant resulted in the Nets placating them by getting a yes man. It doesn't help that he's gone AWOL a lot during his time in Brooklyn and quite frankly I'd be leery of committing a long-term contract to him because he's broken trust and cannot be counted upon to do what's needed. Sad thing is he's insanely talented but he's his own worse enemy. Will this loss give him a dose of humility needed to help this team going forward? Doubtful

4) Ben Simmons. He was practically the consolation prize for James Harden who made it known that he was gonna opt out of his contract to go join Philly and the Nets decided to cut their losses on him as he practically quit on the Nets and saw it as a sinking ship. The Nets did get 2 1sts in 22 and 28 so they could use the Philly 1st in this year's draft to try and find a piece to mould into a rotation player. Curry is ok, but really a 6th man and Drummond is a fine back up C although the Nets have his non-bird rights and who knows if he'll come back. To say the Nets are having buyer's remorse over trading for Harden would be an understatement considering they mortgaged their future till 2027 for a dude who didn't even last a full season with them and it sucks, but those are the breaks.

The biggest annoyance with Ben is that he's a quitter. If he made it known that he wasn't gonna be able to play at all, nobody would've been mad with him. The fact that he made it known that he may be able to play in game 3/4 only to back out at the last minute is a horrible look. If he played even for a few minutes and it didn't work out because of the back injury, then nobody would be mad. I can only imagine the anger his teammates must have towards him knowing that he ain't going anywhere due to his contract.

On paper Simmons should be a great fit next to Kai and Durant+hopefully Joe Harris being healthy could make them better on paper. Hopefully Claxton works with a shooting coach to fix that shooting motion on his FT's because that was painful. Do I see this team looking better next year? I don't think so as Irving and Simmons are too damn unreliable and I'll admit to being wrong if those 2 are willing to put their best foot forward, but I wouldn't bet my life savings on that.

[My Main Man]

I only caught the last quarter and a half and I was watching it while simultaneously trying to get my kid ready for bed so I wasn't laser focused. Catching up now and seeing people talk about Claxton's free throws, I was expecting it to be around the 50% mark. I just checked and he was 9.1% on his FTs?!?! I assume that is an all time playoff low, right? I'm sure someone has gone 0/2 or something but has anyone shot that low of a percentage with more than 5 or so FT attempts?

EDIT: God, I love statmuse. Looks like Wilt did 9.1% too once. https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/worst-free-throw-percentage-in-a-game-with-at-least-10-free-throws-attempted-playoffs

Regular season is a different story. Shaq, Wilt, and Dudly reign supreme in that category. https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/worst-free-throw-percentage-in-a-game-with-at-least-10-free-throws-attempted#:~:text=Shaquille%20O'Neal%20and%20Wilt,throw%20attempts%2C%20at%200.0%20percent.

[Dennis 37]

There is no way the Celtics would have won if KD had played the whole series.

[Triple M]

The Celtics look mentally tougher and despite a 4-0 sweep this was a good test. The Celtics haven't had many tight games in crunch time but were able to close out pretty consistently vs the Nets. Going forward the Celtics will need to take another step up vs the defending champs.