The Brooklyn Nets have an opportunity to lock up their first-round playoff series when they host the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night in Game 5 at Barclays Center.
The second-seeded Nets are up 3-1 in the series after Sunday night’s 141-126 win in which they elevated their offensive game even further.
Brooklyn set an NBA record for offensive efficiency in the regular season even while having the combined talents of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden rarely operating together. With Harden returning from a hamstring strain in time for the playoffs, the results have been explosive.
In Sunday’s win, the Nets had an offensive rating of 143.9 points scored per 100 possessions. Through four games, Brooklyn’s offensive rating of 127.6 is the NBA’s highest in this season’s playoffs. For reference, the Nets’ NBA record offensive rating during the season was 117.3. The Nets have scored 130-plus points twice in four games, both times reaching the 100-point mark before the end of the third quarter.
As for the combination of Harden, Durant, and Irving, the trio scored 104 points in Game 4 after combining for 96 in Game 3. Brooklyn’s starting lineup of those three plus Joe Harris and Blake Griffin is plus 48 in 53 minutes through four games with shooting splits of 56.3 and 47.8 percent and an offensive rating of 137.4. Durant is the playoffs’ leading scorer, averaging 34.8 points per game while shooting 55.5 percent.
KYRIE IRVING SCORES 39
It was an inhospitable crowd in Boston for Kyrie Irving throughout the weekend and it escalated when a fan threw a water bottle at the former Celtics guard as he exited the court after Sunday night’s win. While the Celtics still had limited capacity for Friday’s Game 3, TD Garden had a sellout crowd of 17,226 on Sunday.
“I’ve been part of a lot of hostile environments since I was a kid,” said Irving. “It’s not the first time in my life that I’ve had to bounce back from one of those types of performances that isn’t typical of me, in terms of the big stage, and I can’t do it alone. So in between the last day or so, just spending some time with my teammates, spending time with myself and having conversations to keep me balanced and grounded and go out there and have fun and play basketball at a high level. I’m grateful to be able to put on a uniform and just go out there and perform with some guys who are very selfless and just wanted to see some good basketball out there and we did the little things to help each other win.”
Irving and the Nets departed Boston with a 3-1 series lead after their 141-126 win on Sunday night, with a virtuoso performance from the Brooklyn guard. Irving put up 23 points in the first half to help drive the Nets to a 13-point lead at the break and went on to finish with 39 while making six 3-pointers, leading the Nets in rebounds as well with 11 for a double-double.
“Kyrie has been through some tough times in his life that’s off the basketball court, so him coming in here, this is his sanctuary,” said Kevin Durant. “No matter what’s being said from the stands, he knows that everybody in between those lines respects him for who he is as a player, as a person, and his teammates have his back. We didn’t worry about handling this crowd. Everybody throws insults at every player in this league. He came out here and wanted to play better than he did last game, and he came out here and executed.”
“Mental toughness? One of the best I’ve ever seen,” said James Harden. “For him, all the emotions or whatever is going through his mind, which I’m sure a million things go through his mind. He goes out there, blocks everything out and just be himself and from a guy that probably would say he didn’t play his best game in Game 3 came in and had a killer instinct, killer mentality, and had a will to win Game 4. It showed. He was aggressive and when Ky’s aggressive like that, nobody can guard him. That gives our team energy as well. Big-time effort from him, big-time effort from our team.”
BACK TO DEFENSE
After a historic scoring performance, the first thing James Harden and Kevin Durant wanted to talk about after Sunday’s win was defense. While Jayson Tatum followed up his Game 3 50-point game with 40 points, the Nets limited Boston’s complementary players. Evan Fournier, Marcus Smart, and Tristan Thompson had combined for 59 points on 61.1 percent shooting in Game 3 but didn’t come close to matching that in Game 4.
“Evan Fournier 5-for-15. Marcus Smart 4-for-12, 2-for-9 from three,” said Durant. “We tried to take those guys out. We know once they get it going, their team can change and become high powered. So Tatum, he’s gonna get his looks, he’s gonna get his touches. But the other guys we did a solid job on.”