The Brooklyn Nets pushed offensive basketball to its limits on Sunday night, and will bring a 3-1 playoff series lead back home to Brooklyn as a result.
In setting a franchise playoff scoring record, the Nets rolled up a 141-126 win on the Boston Celtics with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden combining for 104 points.
Durant became the first player in franchise history to score at least 35 points in consecutive playoff games; Durant and Irving became the second set of Nets teammates to score at least 35 points in a playoff game after Durant and Harden did so in Game 3; and the Nets became the second team in NBA history to have multiple 35-point scorers in consecutive games per ESPN Stats & Info.
“We didn’t force anything, we played within the offense and James was incredible at controlling the ball,” said Durant. “Kyrie scored efficiently. I got some efficient shots. I think down the line, we just played a nice, efficient game.”
That nice, efficient game generated an offensive rating of 143.9 points per 100 possessions — for reference, the Nets’ NBA-record offensive rating for the season was 117.3 — and Brooklyn had a 73.3 true shooting percentage for the game.
The Nets matched a franchise playoff record with 73 first-half points and reached the 100-point mark before the end of the third quarter for the second time in the franchise’s playoff history, with the first occasion in Game 2 of this same series. Their biggest lead was a 26-point advantage in the third quarter.
Overall, Brooklyn shot 57.8 percent, and the Nets made 16-of-27 3-pointers (59.3 percent) and 29-of-30 free throws. A game after they recorded a season-low 16 assists, Harden had a career playoff high 18 assists all on his own and the Nets had 29 assists in total.
“We ran more actions,” said Nets head coach Steve Nash. “We were still, I think, terrific in isolation but we ran more action, got more people involved, had a lot more assists, a lot more balance and clearly we had a great shooting night as well.”
Durant scored 42 points on 14-of-20 shooting, and he’s now averaging 34.7 points on 55.5 percent shooting in the series. He made all three of his 3-pointers and all 11 of his free throws and added five assists, four rebounds, and two blocks.
Irving scored 39 points with six 3-pointers and made all 11 of his free throws, adding 11 rebounds for a double-double plus two steals.
“That's Kyrie Irving,” said Nash. “He didn't have a great game last time out. My money is on him any time after a performance like he had where he couldn't quite get into the game in Game 3. So, I had a good feeling about him tonight and he was outstanding. I just loved his will to take some of this adversity and have a good game. He was terrific.”
Harden had a double-double as well with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go with those 18 assists. He added five rebounds, three blocks, and two steals, directing the second unit that opened up the second quarter and put Brooklyn in the lead for good.
“I thought he was terrific,” said Nash. “Vision is outstanding and his ability to find guys out of the pick-and-roll when they doubled the screen. So, it was fun to watch and when he is able to pick the gym apart like that it's pretty special.”
Bruce Brown had 14 points and seven rebounds and Joe Harris scored 14 points with four rebounds and three assists.
With the Celtics up 24-17 midway through the first quarter, the Nets evened the game with a 12-3 run as Durant and Irving combined for all the points, with Irving’s two free throws tying the game at 37 with 3:44 to go in the quarter.
Boston took a 34-33 lead into the second quarter, but the Nets were just about to break the game open. Brooklyn took charge with a 16-6 run to start the quarter as Landry Shamet scored in the lane and Harden hit a 3-pointer. Harden threw down a dunk trailing into the lane off a feed from Harris, Tyler Johnson hit a jumper and Harris hit a 3-pointer for a 45-37 lead. Marcus Smart converted a three-point play for Boston, and Harden scored on consecutive drives to put the Nets up 49-40.
The Nets pushed their lead to 16 on another Harden drive in the final minutes of the half before going into the break up 73-60. Brooklyn made 17-of-24 shots and 5-of-8 3-pointers in the quarter while Harden had 15 points and six assists.
“Just being aggressive, not to score but just to be a playmaker,” said Harden. “Credit the guys. They made shots and finished the basketball well, but our pace, our energy, our movement was very, very good. I just saw spots on the floor where I could be aggressive and when I saw somebody open to get them the ball. We made shots. I just tried to communicate, especially with guys like Bruce, where to be on the court to get him going a little bit. You play like that, I don’t know how many assists we had as a team, but play like that, 29 assists, the ball’s moving, guys are getting open shots.”
The Brooklyn lead was 84-68 in the third quarter when the Nets added on a 10-2 run for a 24-point lead midway through the quarter. The lead hit 26 points on an Irving 3-pointer with 3:40 to go in the quarter and Shamet’s 3-pointer put the Nets up 110-83 on the way to a 112-91 lead going into the fourth quarter.