Eastern Conference | Round 1 | (2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Brooklyn Nets

[Hello Brooklyn]

Irving can play as well or better than either Jay but Jayson Tatum can’t play as well or better than Durant? Last I checked Tatum has multiple 50’s against him and a 40 point performance all in the past year.

Have you ever seen Tatum play at Durant's level for an entire series? Durant is an MVP/FMVP/scoring champ that - even after a long playoff career with ups and downs averages 29/7/4 on .600 TS in the playoffs.

By comparison, Tatum's career playoff averages are 21/6/3 on .560 TS

Durant is just very dominant and efficient compared to Tatum and has proven it. Tatum isn't some bum, he's a great player but Durant is arguably a top-3 player in the league.

As far as Irving and Brown, other than defense they're very similar in offensive output with Kyrie having more experience.

It should be a fun series to see who steps up and who wilts.

It's not really about them as players but who they'll be going up against. One has to contend with several very good to elite perimeter defenders while the other will have stretches being defended by Kyrie, Dragic, Mills and Curry. Durant and 6'4 Bruce Brown are basically all the Nets have as far as perimeter defense and KD is also the rim protector. So given the dynamics of the two teams, it's possible both play at the same level or even Tatum is more productive.

Kessler Edwards is a pretty decent defender also. I would look to him to get a lot of minutes vs the Celtics.

Not saying he can do much to Tatum. But he won't be absolutely destroyed like Curry or Dragic would be.

[Lunartic]

Irving can play as well or better than either Jay but Jayson Tatum can’t play as well or better than Durant? Last I checked Tatum has multiple 50’s against him and a 40 point performance all in the past year.

Have you ever seen Tatum play at Durant's level for an entire series? Durant is an MVP/FMVP/scoring champ that - even after a long playoff career with ups and downs averages 29/7/4 on .600 TS in the playoffs.

By comparison, Tatum's career playoff averages are 21/6/3 on .560 TS

Durant is just very dominant and efficient compared to Tatum and has proven it. Tatum isn't some bum, he's a great player but Durant is arguably a top-3 player in the league.

As far as Irving and Brown, other than defense they're very similar in offensive output with Kyrie having more experience.

It should be a fun series to see who steps up and who wilts.

It's not really about them as players but who they'll be going up against. One has to contend with several very good to elite perimeter defenders while the other will have stretches being defended by Kyrie, Dragic, Mills and Curry. Durant and 6'4 Bruce Brown are basically all the Nets have as far as perimeter defense and KD is also the rim protector. So given the dynamics of the two teams, it's possible both play at the same level or even Tatum is more productive.

That's reasonable

Make a prediction, who will have the best offensive output in the series? If what you say is true, KD should perform worse than Tatum offensively.

[Fencer reregistered]

Good luck hacking Ben all night, putting yourself over the limit and then putting KD/Kyrie on the line who both shoot 90%. I'm sure it will work out great.

Who says all night? If Ben plays in the 4th, we have a ton of players on the bench to foul him. It’s not like KD gets to the line that much anyways, same with kyrie. Also most teams gets into the penalty anyways. Plus good luck with your horrible bench. You might need to play KD and Kyrie 40 plus mins for you to have a decent chance. Not sure they would hold up till the end of the series. Plus with Ben playing, i like our chances playing 4 v 5, coz ben is as useless on offense as a scorers table lol.

The Celtics bench is good?

I'll take Patty Mills and Claxton over anyone on your bench.

Payton Pritchard is a better shooter, scorer and rebounder than Patty Mills.
Everybody is a better defender than Patty Mills.
Payton Pritchard is not the best guard on the Celtics bench.

[GeorgeSears]

Kyrie's legacy is on the line here. He put the team in this current predicament where they have to play as the 7th seed and against a team like the Celtics. If the Nets lose, it's on him.

[Hello Brooklyn]

Who says all night? If Ben plays in the 4th, we have a ton of players on the bench to foul him. It’s not like KD gets to the line that much anyways, same with kyrie. Also most teams gets into the penalty anyways. Plus good luck with your horrible bench. You might need to play KD and Kyrie 40 plus mins for you to have a decent chance. Not sure they would hold up till the end of the series. Plus with Ben playing, i like our chances playing 4 v 5, coz ben is as useless on offense as a scorers table lol.

The Celtics bench is good?

I'll take Patty Mills and Claxton over anyone on your bench.

Payton Pritchard is a better shooter, scorer and rebounder than Patty Mills.
Everybody is a better defender than Patty Mills.
Payton Pritchard is not the best guard on the Celtics bench.

LOL no hes not. He shoots a slightly higher percentage on a much lower volume.

Scores half the points Mills does.

And the defender thing isn't even true. Rebounding is marginally better at best.

Not to mention hes has very little if any playoff experience. Whereas Mills is a multiple time Champion.

[Jaqua92]

Have you ever seen Tatum play at Durant's level for an entire series? Durant is an MVP/FMVP/scoring champ that - even after a long playoff career with ups and downs averages 29/7/4 on .600 TS in the playoffs.

By comparison, Tatum's career playoff averages are 21/6/3 on .560 TS

Durant is just very dominant and efficient compared to Tatum and has proven it. Tatum isn't some bum, he's a great player but Durant is arguably a top-3 player in the league.

As far as Irving and Brown, other than defense they're very similar in offensive output with Kyrie having more experience.

It should be a fun series to see who steps up and who wilts.

It's not really about them as players but who they'll be going up against. One has to contend with several very good to elite perimeter defenders while the other will have stretches being defended by Kyrie, Dragic, Mills and Curry. Durant and 6'4 Bruce Brown are basically all the Nets have as far as perimeter defense and KD is also the rim protector. So given the dynamics of the two teams, it's possible both play at the same level or even Tatum is more productive.

That's reasonable

Make a prediction, who will have the best offensive output in the series? If what you say is true, KD should perform worse than Tatum offensively.

KD will.

But Tatum can play on the same tier, just not as good..last year he averaged something like 30/8/5 for the series or something.

Tatum has made the leap to bonafide top 10. Is he KD? Hell no. Will he ever be? Hell no. If the series comes down to JT vs KD, will Boston win? No.

But Tatum can play close *enough* and seems to have a better system around him that's better coached.


Even if Tatum outplays KD, I don't think you'd have any Boston fan saying he's better, not until KD hits his clear post prime. Which he isn't. He's in that LeBron 2nd Cleveland / 2nd 3 peat MJ space.

His combination of output and athleticism may not be peak, but his feel for the game is so next level that he is effective as ever.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Fencer reregistered]

The Celtics bench is good?

I'll take Patty Mills and Claxton over anyone on your bench.

Payton Pritchard is a better shooter, scorer and rebounder than Patty Mills.
Everybody is a better defender than Patty Mills.
Payton Pritchard is not the best guard on the Celtics bench.

LOL no hes not. He shoots a slightly higher percentage on a much lower volume.

Scores half the points Mills does.

And the defender thing isn't even true. Rebounding is marginally better at best.

Not to mention hes has very little if any playoff experience. Whereas Mills is a multiple time Champion.

Actually, Pritchard shoots and scores somewhat more per minute than Mills does.

Pritchard just plays a lot fewer minutes than Mills, because his teammates are better than he is, while Mills is one of the best the Nets have. (Well, in fairness, I presume Kyrie's absences had a lot to do with it too.) In particular, Pritchard is the worst defender in the Celtics rotation, despite being better than many Nets.

Oh yes -- Pritchard has been trending sharply upward over the course of the season. I don't think the same is true of Mills. Quite the contrary.

I will, however, freely concede that several Nets bench players USED to be excellent, notably Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge. Does your training staff have any time machines available for use?

[Curmudgeon]

Kyrie's legacy is on the line here. He put the team in this current predicament where they have to play as the 7th seed and against a team like the Celtics. If the Nets lose, it's on him.

Meh. I don't think anyone's legacy is on the line in a first round playoff series.

[sam_I_am]

If Durant and Kyrie are firing on all cylinders, they don’t need the bench players to do too much. They need to generate more shots by rebounding, defending and they need to make the layups and wide open looks created. The Nets have 4 geezers on the bench and have to hope one of them will show up to work without a limp on a given day, have a throwback game and score 15 pts. The series will ultimately boil down to whether KD at age 33 can still dominate in the playoffs the way he once did at 29 with a lot less star power around him than he ever had before. With all due respect to Bucks and Heat, I believe these 2 teams will ultimately be the toughest teams to beat should they get Williams and Simmons back at full speed. Right now, I guess both teams preferred to play each other now.

[Fencer reregistered]

Kyrie's legacy is on the line here. He put the team in this current predicament where they have to play as the 7th seed and against a team like the Celtics. If the Nets lose, it's on him.

Meh. I don't think anyone's legacy is on the line in a first round playoff series.

While the point was overstated, it wasn't ridiculous.

And it isn't really about the first-round series, but rather the regular season that preceded it.

When has a team looked back on the year and been delighted to have had Kyrie? Has it happened since he left Cleveland?

[bisme37]

Hey Nets fans, what's the deal with Seth Curry?

I know he's banged up but don't even really know what's wrong with him. He played the other night but looked gimpy and wasn't hitting shots.

Is he supposed to be good to go for this series? Seems like a much bigger issue for the Nets than trying to convince C's fans we should be worried about Ben Simmons.

[Pachinko_]

He can play Point Guard and pass a lot without scoring as well.

I don't think he would actually score 0 points btw. Just saying it would be possible.

Nah man there's no room for a PG on that team... You give the ball to KD half the time and to Kyrie the other half and that's the offense, those guys are not waiting for anyone to bring the ball up and start a play.

[danvato]

Who says all night? If Ben plays in the 4th, we have a ton of players on the bench to foul him. It’s not like KD gets to the line that much anyways, same with kyrie. Also most teams gets into the penalty anyways. Plus good luck with your horrible bench. You might need to play KD and Kyrie 40 plus mins for you to have a decent chance. Not sure they would hold up till the end of the series. Plus with Ben playing, i like our chances playing 4 v 5, coz ben is as useless on offense as a scorers table lol.

Thats a weird take. Kind of shows you don't know what you're talking about.

There is not "might need to play KD and kyrie 40+ min" they ARE playing 40 and have been most of the year. There is zero problem with this, it's the play-offs.

[Slax]

I don’t think he’s expected to play that important of a role. If he’s working out, great, but whatever he can give them is really just a bonus.

I don't see how he can simultaneously be a much needed addition to their rotation this season and not expected to play that important a role.

They lose nothing if he stinks,he’s never played.All they need him to do is attack when KD and Kyrie are doubled,defend and rebound. He’s 6 10 and very athletic, should be able to do that. To clarify, if he’s able to give them close to his normal stuff,thatd be a much needed addition (size, defense, attacking the rim). There’s no reason to think he can’t do that 25 min a night, they wouldn’t put him out there if he wasn’t in shape and again he doesn’t need to be in superstar shape. Guy is a natural freak athlete, despite his offensive short comings shooting a basketball.

He's still not medically cleared to run sprints and he hasn't played or even practiced with any NBA team five-on-five in close to a year. Seems like a slim chance he's going to be in good physical condition or have any rapport with the rest of the team a week and a half from now. I'm sure he will be a nice piece for you guys next year, but if they bring him back and expect him to be a high intensity defender/rebounder/attacker right off the bat, they will probably be better off with Nic Claxton or Kessler Edwards on the court, and also Simmons might risk getting re-injured from playing aggressive full contact basketball while out of shape. I can't stress enough how bad an idea it would be to rush him back like that.

I get it, I went through this same process when Hayward missed a season and there was some reporting that MAYBE he would be back for the playoffs, which obviously never panned out. The thought that there was maybe a secret weapon being held back was tantalizing to me as a fan of a team that was frustrated by injuries, I'm sure it is for you all too.

And I'll eat crow on this if he comes back, stays healthy, and provides useful contributions to the team. It's not literally impossible. It just strikes me as a REALLY bad idea to take that risk, and I will be surprised if Nash actually goes through with it.

[Slax]

Hey Nets fans, what's the deal with Seth Curry?

I know he's banged up but don't even really know what's wrong with him. He played the other night but looked gimpy and wasn't hitting shots.

Is he supposed to be good to go for this series? Seems like a much bigger issue for the Nets than trying to convince C's fans we should be worried about Ben Simmons.

Ongoing ankle pain that he has been dealing with for months and has seemingly gotten worse over the last few weeks: https://www.netsdaily.com/2022/4/5/23012043/nash-getting-seth-curry-rest-is-a-priority-but-doesnt-know-if-it-can-fix-his-left-ankle-soreness. The Nets have not been very transparent on exactly what is causing it or how bad it is or how badly it might affect him in the playoffs. It seems to be agreed that it will require evaluation over the offseason. Maybe a Nets fan can provide more details.

I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that he will have a good series in spite of the pain, but who knows.

[bisme37]

Yahoo Sports

No matter which projection system you prefer, they're in agreement on the most likely team to win the NBA championship. And it's not the Phoenix Suns.

The Boston Celtics have captured the hearts of the computers. The Celtics are favored to win the NBA title by three different projections sites, and by a wide margin in two of them.

That's a reason the odds at BetMGM have moved from Celtics +1000 to +750 since Monday.

Celtics are favorites of analytics

According to ESPN's BPI, the Celtics have a staggering 39 percent chance to win the NBA Finals. The Suns are second at 20.8 percent and no other team is in double digits.

If you prefer Five Thirty Eight's projections, the Celtics are at 31 percent to win the title. The Suns are at 21 percent, the Milwaukee Bucks are at 13 percent and those are the only teams above 10 percent.

Then at Basketball Reference, the Celtics lead the way with a 26.9 percent chance to win it all. The Suns are 23.3 percent and no other team is above 10 percent.

Three different projection sets, three votes for the Celtics. Two have the Celtics far ahead of the field.

...

https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-betting-analytics-projections-love-boston-celtics-to-take-the-nba-championship-142332938.html

[cupcakesnake]

"captured the hearts of computers" is such a good line

[3pt_chucker]

Hey Nets fans, what's the deal with Seth Curry?

I know he's banged up but don't even really know what's wrong with him. He played the other night but looked gimpy and wasn't hitting shots.

Is he supposed to be good to go for this series? Seems like a much bigger issue for the Nets than trying to convince C's fans we should be worried about Ben Simmons.

He has a bad ankle, so he's not as dynamic as he should be. He's probably going to need surgery or rest and PT in the offseason.

Since March 10th when his ankle was probably worse, he's shooting 49% from 3 on 6.4 attempts

People are overreacting to the Cleveland game because he had 0 pts. A big reason is because of how the Cavs were defending which is to limit the 3pt shooting from him and force Bruce Brown/Clax/Drummond to beat them.

Based on how the Celtics defend(unless they change), he'll have a bigger role in the offense and will be fine. The amount of rest from play-in game + in between Games 1-3, really benefits his ankle as well.

[Run DLC]

First time that I’ll ever root for the Celtics. **** you KD!

[3pt_chucker]

At the beginning of the series, I believe the Nets goal will be to play Theis off the floor and force the Celtics to go smaller with Grant Williams.

If the Celtics put Tatum on Durant and Brown and Smart on KAI/Curry, then that leaves Theis for Bruce Brown and Horford on Drummond(to start the game). The Nets will 100% run Bruce Brown as the screener, for KAI/KD and that will put Boston in a bind and KD/KAI will be going at Theis over and over. If the Celtics decide to trap/double off this action(like the Cavs did) we saw how great both KD and KAI is at passing the ball out of doubles and Bruce Brown as a Draymond role can be super effective. The Nets have also shown willingness to have Brown initiate the action which results in the same thing: KD/KAI attacking Theis.

The Celtics can counter by either switching the matchups to force Curry or Drummond be the screener. This will probably result in more 3's for Seth and Bruce Brown or Drummond with great match-ups at the rim. I think Drummond can avg a double double this series, unless the Celtics target him defensively(which they should).
They can also go smaller with Williams, which I think the Nets won't mind either option.

On the other end, I think the Celtics will relentlessly hunt Curry and also exploit Kyrie on Tatum. That's a huge advantage and I expect if it happens often, Clax mins will go up dramatically or might even start by game 3. He is probably the only one who can make things tough on Tatum other than KD(disregard Simmons until he plays). Foul trouble will be huge if Claxton racks up fouls because Tatum ight avg 40+pts in the series

Key stats for the Nets:
1) Last 15 games, the Nets have an awesome(for them haha) 105.2 defensive rating in 332 mins with Nic Claxton on the floor
2) Last 15 games, the 3 man lineup of KD-Brown-Clax have a +15.9 net rating(114 OFF; 98 DEF)
3) Seth Curry is shooting 40% from 3 (5 ATT) vs the Celtics with the Nets.
4) Patty Mills is shooting 47% from 3 (4.8 ATT) vs the Celtics
5) Drummond avgs 5 O-rebs per 100 possessions with Al Horford in the game

Worrying stats for the Nets (2 games the Nets were depleted):
1) Tatum vs the Nets: ~30pts on 48-38-80 +8.3
2) Marcus Smart is shooting 50% from 3 (8 ATT!!!) vs the Nets this season
3) Smart-Brown-Tatum-Horford-Theis lineup in 4 games(59 mins): +33.9 Net Rating(129 OFF; 95.2 DEF)