The Nets took a 1-0 series lead over the Boston Celtics with their 104-93 win on Saturday.
Here are some takeaways…
1. It took a while for Brooklyn to pull away, as they were up just 82-79 midway through the fourth quarter, but a 17-3 run brought the Nets’ lead to 17 points, their largest of the game. The Celtics 2-for-13 (15.4 percent) from behind the arc in the second half after going 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) in the first.
2. The Celtics opened up the game on a 13-4 run, with Jayson Tatum scoring seven of those points. Leading by eight with 5:07 left in the first, the Celtics knocked four of their first seven from deep, prompting Steve Nash to call a timeout. Brooklyn then slowly went on a 6-0 run to creep to within two points, but Boston led 21-16 through one. Meanwhile, the Nets missed all nine of their shots from behind the arc in the first quarter.
3, The Celtics increased their lead to 12 points early in the second quarter, and Nash called another timeout 2:47 into the period. The timeout worked, as they went on a 13-4 run over the next several minutes, but couldn’t get past their three-point deficit through the remainder of the quarter and 53-47 at half. In the first half, Brooklyn hit just one of 13 three-pointers and had eight turnovers.
4. Brooklyn took a 54-53 lead early in the third on a stepback three from James Harden – their first lead since 2-0. The Nets opened up the third quarter on an 18-4 run to lead by eight, and led by as many as nine. Kevin Durant started to cook up, scoring nine points in the first 4:20 of the third quarter, and 13 in its entirety. Brooklyn was much better from deep this quarter, going 5-for-12 (41.7 percent), and led 78-73.
5. Durant (32), Harden, (21), and Kyrie Irving (29) combined to score 82 of the Nets’ 104 points.
6. The Nets’ defense kept Tatum, Kemba Walker, and Evan Fournier in check, though, as they combined to hit just 15 of 46 (32.6 percent) from the field. Brooklyn held the Celtics to just 40 points in the second half.