Celtics need to pick up the pace to keep up with Nets | Celtics
NEW YORK — No team in the NBA this season has gone up against a fully-healthy Brooklyn Nets team. The Boston Celtics experienced just how endless the Nets’ talent can seem Saturday, facing a star-studded squad aiming for an NBA championship.
The Nets’ starting lineup in Game 1 of the NBA playoffs was the first time they featured that five-man group as injuries and other factors limited them during the season. The Celtics played respectably, keeping the Nets in check offensively. But the Boston offense faltered in a 104-93 loss Saturday at Barclays Center.
The C’s took to the practice court and film room Sunday to check on all those mistakes. Boston coach Brad Stevens said the top six players in minutes from the game — the starting lineup and Robert Williams III — did not practice Sunday. Game 2 is at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, giving the Celtics another day of prep between games.
“The biggest thing is that this was the first time that we played against that team,” Stevens said after practice Sunday. “And I thought we did a lot of good things, but we said it last night, we’ve got to play better offensively to have a chance to win.”
The Celtics were brutal offensively aside from one quarter (32 points in the second; 61 points combined in the other three quarters). The Nets kept just about every Celtic in check while they made their swings offensively in the second half. While the C’s gave the Nets’ defense credit, Kemba Walker said he thought the Celtics earned “good looks that we missed.”
Boston had a 52-47 halftime lead, where a significant part of that run came off 3-pointers. They followed that up with a second half where the Celtics’ shot-making all but disappeared. That’s on the players, Walker said, as they go back and trust the game plan the coaches draw up.
“We have a really smart couch, a really smart coaching staff that puts us in position to win games,” Walker said. “We just have to do better on that end. All of that is in our game plan. We just have to go out there and execute.”
