As the Brooklyn Nets take a 2-1 lead into Game 4 of their first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics on Sunday, Nets head coach Steve Nash is looking to emphasize physicality in the bid to bring a commanding series lead back home to Brooklyn.
“It’s been a message for us all along,” said Nash. “I think we won in many ways the first two games because of our physicality. We struggle on the glass but otherwise the physicality was really good. Yesterday it maybe took a step back. Like I said, second efforts, discipline, I don’t care if there’s 100,000 people in there. If you make the second efforts and play with more discipline we can limit some of the things that really hurt us in Game 3.”
The Nets had a 15-point lead in the blink of an eye on Friday night, but everything changed after a Boston timeout with Brooklyn up 19-4 at the 8:35 mark of the first quarter. The Celtics outscored the Nets 29-13 the rest of the quarter to jump into the lead and Brooklyn never regained that early rhythm or momentum.
“A combination of the extra effort and discipline,” said Nash. “We had too many breakdowns that were simple, just lacked discipline in different scenarios and maybe just didn’t make enough of that second effort, that kind of frenetic energy we had in Games 1 and 2.”
FILLING IN FOR JEFF GREEN
Veteran forward Jeff Green was rock-solid reliable in a season of shifting rosters and availability for Brooklyn, but the Nets were without him in Game 3 and will be for the rest of the series due to a plantar fascia strain. Green was second in games played and third in minutes played for Brooklyn this season.
“Everything that he brings in terms of just basketball attributes, physical attributes, where he helps us in so many different levels,” said Joe Harris. “Just leadership. Jeff is sort of this calming presence where he’s a veteran guy, been around, played in a lot of big games. He’s kind of the glue that holds a lot of this stuff together. He’s definitely missed right now, but it’s an opportunity for other guys to step up, and we have confidence in any of the rest, but we definitely miss Jeff.”
Steve Nash said prior to the game that Nic Claxton would likely see a bigger role and that “there’s definitely minutes for a ninth or 10th person to play” after going nine-deep with Green through two games. That turned out to be guard Tyler Johnson, who played 10 minutes after not being part of the rotation in the first two games. Claxton played 16 minutes after playing 11 in Game 1 and 17 in Game 2.
“Nic had an up and down night,” said Nash. “Young player trying to figure it out in a big moment. That’s gonna come for Nic. We believe in him, we want to support him. Anyone can play for us. You look down our bench we believe and trust in all these guys. There’s probably not enough minutes to go around but we can always push different buttons and play different guys and that kind of happens from a judging the flow of the game standpoint.”
DEFENDING THE GLASS
Offensive rebounding was a strength for Boston throughout the regular season, and through the first three games of the series they’ve upped their game there. The Celtics have a playoff high 34.8 offensive rebounding percentage and they’ve averaged 13.0 offensive rebounds and 15.0 second chance points, numbers that would have led the NBA during the regular season.
“Too often yesterday we didn’t hit them or it was just one guy,” said Steve Nash. “We’ve got to do a better job of not letting them have free runs to the basket. That’s the discipline portion and then having guys come in and help is the second efforts portion. Let’s start there. I don’t know that we’re ever going to be great in that category or ever going to stop them, but we have to limit the discrepancy and we gave them too many free runs to the basket yesterday and too many times where we left a guy on an island.”
“It has to be by committee,” said Blake Griffin. “With us switching a lot, it's not always like big-on-big box out. So if I'm out on somebody else, I’ve got to come in and help rebound. Everybody does. (Tristan Thompson is) a great offensive rebounder; so is Robert Williams. And between Marcus Smart and Tristan I think they had 10 last night, so it's a team thing, coming back in, contesting, coming back in and helping not just box out but go get the ball once we get a stop.”
OFFENSIVE RHYTHM
As the Nets get used to integrating Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden all playing together, there’s a tricky balance to navigate on the offensive end. They’ve got three of the best one-on-one scorers in NBA history, but they also want to keep all involved in the flow of the offense.
“We just have such good playmakers that we want to put them in situations where they’re facilitating and creating with the ball in their hands,” said Joe Harris. “But we also want to make it easier on them, too, and make it tougher on the Celtics, make them guard action. If that means you end up getting to an isolation, it means you’ve guarded some actions. It’s not just right into it. It’s definitely something that we’ll look at here on film. But it’s not to say that the offense wasn’t any good because we still were pretty efficient offensively.”
Through three games, the Nets have been swinging from one degree to the other. In Game 1, the Nets had 40 isolations and 18 assists. In Game 2, it was 21 isolations and 31 assists. In Game 3, Brooklyn swung back in the other direction, to 28 isolations and 16 assists. The Nets never had fewer than 18 assists in a game during the regular season.
In Game 3, Harden, Durant, and Irving were the only Nets to score in double figures, with Harden putting up 41 points and Durant 39 as the pair combined to shoot 57.1 percent.
“We talked with the guys about ball movement, trying to get to our actions more often,” said Steve Nash. “They’re so good at isolation that sometimes they’re having success in isolation but maybe it’s hard to see how it’s limiting the overall picture. We have to find that balance. We’re going to isolate but being able to get to our actions more often is definitely something we talked about.”
DEFENDING JAYSON TATUM
Through the first two games of the series, the Nets had limited Boston’s Jayson Tatum to 9-of-32 shooting and 31 points, with Tatum leaving Game 2 early in the third quarter after being poked in the eye. In Game 3 back in Boston, Tatum broke loose for 50 points, shooting 50 percent and hitting five 3-pointers.
“He hit some tough ones over us tonight, I don't think he got anything easy but for a scorer like that, once you start to see the ball go into the rim, things become, it just pushes the team to another level,” said Kevin Durant. “I feel like the fadeaways he was making, the stepback 3s, those are his shots, but still got to contest on them. So I feel like we have to be more physical with our switches and rebounding and getting out in transition. Watch some film and see how we can get better.”
Steve Nash had said before Game 3 that Tatum would eventually find the mark but felt afterward the Nets “could have been much harder on him.”
“I think there’s two components to it,” said Nash. “One, we’ll refine what we’re doing. We’ll look at the tape and get better at it. And then the other part of it is just having that fight and just trying to make it as hard as possible for them in general and for Tatum. We know what he’s capable of. He’s had three other I think 50-point performances before this one in the last three or four weeks. We did a good job at home but that’s a job that’s gonna take a lot of resilience and continue to be there to guard him and to make it difficult for him as a group. Put different people on him, be able to support those who need support and be able to lock him up when we have guys that can guard him.”