Brad Stevens has said the first time he watched Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant on the floor together for Brooklyn, five minutes was enough to realize how good this new Eastern Conference power could be.
Or already is, probably.
Perhaps when healthy when Kemba Walker is back in uniform the Celtics will be better equipped to deal with this dangerous team. But as evidenced by their 123-95 Christmas Day loss to the Nets, the Celtics are a weapon or two shy of matching their new divisional rival.
Irving finished with 37 points and Durant, on the power of a 16-point third quarter that triggered the landslide, had 29 on 9-for-16 shooting.
The Celtics thus wasted a 27-point performance by Jaylen Brown and another 20 from Jayson Tatum. Oddly enough, Tatum has yet to attempt a free throw after two regular-season games.
Durants 16-point third quarter (he combined with Irving for 25 in that stretch) was devastating for the Celtics, erasing a 54-51 halftime advantage and replacing it with an 86-77 Brooklyn lead at the start of the fourth. Durant had 25 points, Irving another 26, and both Nets were gliding through Celtics coverage.
But it was a unit with both players on the bench that increased the edge for Brooklyn, with a Landry Shamet 3-pointer good for a 95-79 Nets lead with 9:44 left in the game.
Brown, repeatedly driving the paint, scored the next five points for the Celtics. Irving and Durant checked back in with 7:08 left, and the former didnt need long to hit a 3-pointer for a 102-88 lead. Durant followed by blowing past Tatum for a 16-point edge with 5:20 left, Irving drove the next time down, and the Nets brilliant two-man game again took charge.
Irvings up-top bomb with 3:40 left was good for a 111-90 lead, and 33 seconds later the former Celtic laced a cross-court bounce pass to Spencer Dinwiddie. His 3-pointer with 2:39 left gave the Nets a 116-92 lead and, essentially, the game.
The first half was one long scramble, with neither side able to create separation the Celtics leading by as many as five points and the Nets with a peak of six. The result was a 54-51 Celtics lead, with Tatum warming to a 12-point first half, including a towering and deep 3-pointer over Irving.
The former Celtic was also off to a hot start with 17 points and five assists. A flurry by Durant staked the Nets to a five-point cushion early in the third quarter, boosting it to eight with an up-top 3-pointer over the fingertips of Grant Williams.
Durant spun around Tatum for a dunk and Brooklyns lead stretched to 80-70, with Irving coming back with a pull-up that forced a Celtics’ timeout. Irving and Durant had combined for 23 third-quarter points at this stage.
Tatum came out of a timeout with back-to-back drives, but as the quarter expired, the Nets had staked out a solid 86-77 lead.read more
Kyrie Irving’s 37 points leads Nets past Celtics on Christmas
