If they average 30 and 35 points per game, that's only 65 points. Where are the rest of the points coming from? The Brooklyn Nets are playing the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. The seven to nine other NBA players on the Nets weren't capable of walking up a staircase and placing the ball in the basket, so it was as if people genuinely believed that if Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were to play some of the best basketball of their lives. The Nets role players are the reason that this series has been competitive. Brooklyn is likely to lose this series on Monday or Wednesday. It has been the role players who have picked up the slack for the Nets, as they are having their worst playoff set since 2010 when the Oklahoma City Thunder lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games. In the first game of the series, Irving was brilliant. He was unstoppable for the entire game, scoring 39 points on 60/60/100 shooting splits, even though he wanted to call it a game. The rest of the Nets had to come from somewhere because of the fact that the Celtics rushed him with pressure defense all day and he shot only 38 percent from the field. The key contributors in this game were Goran Dragi and Nic Claxton. They combined for 27 points. In the first game of the series, it was Claxton who manned the paint for more than 30 minutes, even though he had started every game for the Nets. He had 13 points, but he also had eight rebound and three blocks. Steve Nash has received a lot of criticism for his coaching in this first round, one of which is the decision not to start Claxton. It was chilling! It has four different speeds, ten different heads for different body parts, and is very easy to use.
Dragi is a veteran at point guard. The 35-year-old, one-time all-star has played most of his playoff ball with the Miami Heat. He was picked up by the Nets after he was traded to the Spurs. Dragi came off the bench in Game 1 and was a steadying force for the Nets, something that some believed the Nets didn't have on their roster. Dragi gave them 26 minutes in Game 1 and has been a third ball-handling threat in each game, though he only played eight minutes yesterday.
Bruce Brown has been the best player in this series. The player averaged 24.6 minutes per game. He has played 36 and a half minutes in this series. In the first two games of the series, his energy and defense was needed by the Nets, but in the last two games he has excelled.
He has set personal playoff-career highs in both games. Irving had 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 unbelievably awful 23.5 percent from the field, but Brown had 23 points, eight rebound, and the Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the series. His defense helped hold Jaylen Brown to under 25 points and the other two to under 19 points. Even though he had no assists, Dragi was still strong, with 18 points on 57.1 percent shooting, and the Nets had four 3-pointers and 16 points.
Brown had a new playoff-career high of 26 points. He was the Nets' leading scorer and played 40 minutes while shooting 52.6 percent from the field. In a must-win game, one of the best scorers in NBA history, only managed 11 field goal attempts.
It was a desperate effort by the Nets to pull out a win at home, with Patty Mills having his best game of the series making four out of five 3-pointers, Steve Nash putting in a few minutes in the fourth quarter, and the Nets even having a player in the game. They had stout defense because of the two three-pointers made by Griffin. They couldn't reduce the deficit under five points in the fourth.
Even if the Nets are swept by the Celtics, they should be proud. The players who were criticized going into this series have kept the Nets in all three games, and much credit goes to the Celtics defense for that. Not bad for players who talked about not being able to score a point in this series.
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