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      Nets Eliminated by Celtics in NBA Playoffs

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      The early playoff exit was a stunning end to a season that began with championship dreams behind Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.The Nets were expecting to vie for N.B.A. championships, and perhaps some day they will. But that day is not now, and another abbreviated postseason appearance ended on Monday when the Boston Celtics defeated them, 116-112, to complete a four-game sweep in their first-round playoff series.It was a fitting finale to a disjointed season for the seventh-seeded Nets, who spent months cycling through a motley cast of characters. They were undone by injuries and absences, by a mishmash roster that could not unearth a coherent brand of basketball, and, finally, by a superior opponent that put its suffocating clamps on two of the planet’s best players.The Celtics produced the league’s top-ranked defense in the regular season, and they proved it was no fluke against Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Ime Udoka, the Celtics’ first-year coach, was one of Coach Steve Nash’s assistants in Brooklyn last season, and he applied his institutional knowledge throughout the series.Next up for the second-seeded Celtics is the winner of the first-round series between the Chicago Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks. The defending champion Bucks have a three-games-to-one lead entering Game 5 of their series on Wednesday.The Nets, who had the second-highest payroll in the league this season, will try to recalibrate. Nash, who was hired by the Nets in 2020 without any head coaching experience, has now presided over two early postseason exits. (The Nets lost to the Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.) Irving, who can become an unrestricted free agent, has said that he intends to re-sign with the team. But he appeared in only 29 regular-season games this season because of his refusal to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.The season was also interrupted by a midseason trade with the Philadelphia 76ers, who acquired James Harden in exchange for a package that included Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and draft picks. Simmons arrived in Brooklyn with a balky back and said he had been dealing with mental health issues for months. He never appeared in uniform.As for the Harden experiment, it was a bust. Harden, Durant and Irving played together in just 16 games over two seasons, including the playoffs.Before Game 4, Nash reflected on the Nets’ tumultuous season and spun it forward, saying it had made the team “better” and “stronger.”“We took the challenge and we all grew from it,” he said. “And at some point, those challenges will afford us a lot. We hope that we don’t have to face so many going forward, though.”Durant missed 21 games after spraining his knee in January, then played heavy minutes late in the regular season as the team scrambled for a spot in the play-in tournament. After Durant attempted just 11 field goals against the Celtics in Game 3, Nash acknowledged that fatigue may have played a role.Kevin Durant of the Nets had 39 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists in Game 4. After taking just 11 shots in Game 3, he had 31 attempts in Game 4.Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times“Kevin’s had to play 40-plus minutes for five-plus weeks after missing six, seven weeks,” he said, adding, “I’m sure that’s taken a big toll.”And there were the team’s highly publicized absences. Simmons watched the first three games of the series from the bench in street clothes. Harden now plays in Philadelphia. And Joe Harris, one of the team’s best shooters, had a bone particle removed from his left ankle in November. When his rehabilitation had a setback, he underwent another surgical procedure in March that ended his season.Against the Celtics, the Nets missed Harris’s length on defense along with his ability to stretch the floor as a 3-point threat. As a result, the Celtics could be even more aggressive about sticking multiple defenders on Durant whenever he touched the ball.The series itself was a swift descent into futility. After the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum won Game 1 with a buzzer-beating layup, Irving used several profanities to describe his interactions with fans who were sitting courtside in Boston. (The N.B.A. subsequently fined Irving $50,000 for making obscene gestures.) After the Nets got thumped in Game 2, Irving heaped praise on the Celtics’ young core, telling reporters that “their time is now.” And after he struggled in Game 3, Durant sounded baffled at his postgame news conference. What could he possibly do to keep the series alive? He did not have any immediate solutions.“Maybe shoot more, maybe be smarter,” he said in a slow monotone. “Catch the ball closer to the rim. Play faster. Catch and shoot more.”Durant said he would try to “figure it out” by studying more film ahead of Game 4.Now, the Nets have an entire summer to search for answers.Nets fans during game 4.Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times More

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      The Nets Need a Miracle. Or Two. Or Three. Or Four.

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      No N.B.A. team has won a playoff series after losing the first three games. That’s the Nets’ challenge now, and Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant don’t look ready.As an unmistakable feeling of desperation closed in on the Nets, Coach Steve Nash reached toward the deepest recesses of his bench on Saturday and summoned a former star in twilight. Blake Griffin shed his warm-ups, along with some cobwebs, and reported to the scorer’s table.Griffin, 33, has a bum ankle and a surgically repaired knee that at a previous stage of his career — back when he was dunking over midsize sedans as one of the faces of the N.B.A. — had a full allotment of cartilage. But he had not caught a whiff of playing time in 21 days, dating to the regular season. Now, with the Nets trailing the Celtics in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series, Nash turned to Blake for something, anything — a spark, a lift, maybe even a miracle.The Nets were willing to take what they could get, and for a few glorious minutes at Barclays Center, Griffin delivered. He sank a couple of 3-pointers. He grappled for rebounds. He even tried to defend Jayson Tatum as the Celtics hunted for favorable one-on-one matchups against him.Miracles alone do not win playoff series, much less championships. And while there was a time, not so long ago, when the Nets were celebrated as the latest superteam that seemed bound for great things, they have discovered the hard way that titles cannot be store-bought or hastily cobbled together after months of injuries and dysfunction.The Nets turned to Blake Griffin for the first time this series on Saturday. But a few quick 3-pointers and rebounds from him weren’t the miracle the team needed.Michelle Farsi for The New York Times“I just felt like we didn’t have the right spirit throughout the entire game,” Griffin said after the Nets’ 109-103 loss, which pushed them to the brink of an early off-season.Boston, a team that has been ascendant under Ime Udoka, its first-year coach, can close out the Nets with a series sweep on Monday night, and it is probably only a matter of time before this one gets wrapped up regardless: No team in N.B.A. history has come back from a three-games-to-none series deficit.Aside from that inconvenient truth, the Nets appear acutely aware that the Celtics are a more complete, cohesive team. Just listen to them. Griffin cited the Celtics’ top-ranked defense. (“This is a great defensive team,” he said.) Kevin Durant cited their length. (“I just think they got more size than us,” he said.) And Nash cited their ability to drive to the basket. (“We haven’t been able to contain the basketball,” he said.) This is not a winning formula for the Nets.On Saturday, the Nets offered up plenty of small moments that typified larger problems. But consider one of their final possessions, as Durant dribbled against the Celtics’ Grant Williams with the hope of creating some space. Finding none, Durant threw a bounce pass to Kyrie Irving that was intercepted by Tatum, who raced away for a dunk that punctuated the win. It was the Nets’ 21st and final turnover of the game.“Poor decision-making,” Nash said. “Not connecting simple passes, and they’re going the other way.”The Celtics have smothered Durant, limiting him to 22 points a game on 36.5 percent shooting. On Saturday, he tried just 11 field goals. His postgame news conference sounded vaguely like therapy.“I’ve just been thinking too much, to be honest, this whole series,” he said.Kyrie Irving struggled in Game 3, missing all seven of his 3-point attempts. He finished with 16 points in the loss.Michelle Farsi for The New York TimesAfter shooting 4 of 17 from the field in Game 2, Durant had come into Game 3 wanting to find his teammates more often and “let the ball find me” within the flow of the offense, he said. But he was already questioning himself as he scrutinized another miserable box score in a series full of them.“I probably should’ve took more shots,” he said, adding: “In my mind, I’m just trying to see how I can help everybody. Sometimes, I end up taking myself out of the game.”Durant was not the only star who struggled. Irving shot 6 of 17 from the field and missed all seven of his 3-point attempts. Nash blamed fatigue for part of their woes. Irving is fasting for Ramadan. Durant has been supplying huge minutes for weeks — first when the Nets were scrambling to secure a spot in the postseason, and now as they try to survive against a superior opponent.“They’ve both got to be tired,” Nash said. “Fasting can’t be easy, you know? If I go play tennis and I haven’t eaten, I feel like I’m going to fall over. So I can’t imagine how he feels in an N.B.A. playoff game.”At the same time, the series has offered contrasting approaches to team building. The Celtics’ core is largely made up of players whom they drafted and developed, a list highlighted by Tatum and Jaylen Brown. That list also includes Marcus Smart, the N.B.A.’s defensive player of the year, and Robert Williams, the fourth-year center who returned to the rotation on Saturday about three weeks after knee surgery.The Nets were constructed with a championship-or-bust approach, but inconsistency on and off the court has made a deep playoff run seem out of reach.Michelle Farsi for The New York TimesIn that way, the Celtics are reminiscent of contenders like the Golden State Warriors and the Memphis Grizzlies, teams that developed continuity and chemistry by sticking with their young players.The Nets went the other way, acquiring high-priced stars like Durant and Irving while trading away their draft picks and prospects. It was championship or bust from the start. Sometimes that experiment pans out. The Los Angeles Lakers, after all, won the championship in 2020 by following a similar script. But that seems to be the exception these days, and the Lakers have since crumbled into a pile of very expensive and aging dust after mortgaging their future to try to win now. The Nets may not be far behind.The Nets, of course, have had a particularly disjointed season, and even before the start of Game 3, Nash was rattling off an abridged list of the challenges his team had faced: not having Irving for much of the season because he refused to be vaccinated; trading James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers; losing Durant for six weeks because of a sprained ligament in his knee. Nash said he was not making excuses, but. …“We’ve had very few pockets with everyone able to play,” he said.At this point, they may have only one of them left. More

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      The Nets May Be in Trouble. But They Still Have Kevin Durant.

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      The brilliant Durant who so often appears in critical moments? He’s been missing in the playoffs against the Celtics. “I just got to go out there and play,” he said.BOSTON — Kevin Durant had no room. He admitted as much. Whenever he had the ball against the Celtics on Wednesday night, and even when he did not, defenders were crowding his space, shadowing him, draping themselves all over him like Saran wrap. They were on the perimeter, and in the paint, and at the elbow. How was it possible that only five of them were on the court at once?“They’re mucking up actions when I run off stuff,” said Durant, who singled out the Celtics’ Al Horford for “leaving his man to come over and hit me sometimes.” Durant went on: “Just two or three guys hitting me wherever I go. And that’s just the nature of the beast in the playoffs.”It was nearing 11 p.m. as Durant offered up his post-mortem of the Nets’ 114-107 loss to the Celtics in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series, and he did not necessarily seem concerned. In fact, his analysis came off as dispassionate: Here were the facts, and it was his job to remedy the issues as the Nets seek to rebound from their two-games-to-none deficit in the best-of-seven series. It heads to Brooklyn for Game 3 on Saturday night.“It’s on me to just finish it and figure it out,” he said. “I’m not expecting my teammates or the defense to give me anything. I just got to go out there and play.”Durant is having an atypical series. In the Nets’ loss in Game 1 on Sunday, he shot 9 of 24 from the field and committed six turnovers. In Game 2, he shot 4 of 17 from the field and committed six turnovers. The Celtics, with their length and toughness, produced the N.B.A.’s top-ranked defense during the regular season, and now they are putting the clamps on the best all-around scorer on the planet. It is no fluke.“When you’re a great scorer, or you’re a consistent scorer, you’re used to seeing open space, and you’re usually shaking guys with one or two moves,” said the Nets’ Kyrie Irving, who had his own problems, scoring 10 points while shooting 4 of 13 from the field. “But with this defense, those two or three moves, guys are staying on your hip.”You may have heard this already, but the Nets have had a turbulent season. At one point, James Harden played for them, until they traded him away for Ben Simmons. Irving was not allowed to play for the Nets, and then he was — but only on the road, up until about a month ago. And stay tuned: Simmons may actually make his debut for the team in this series. The bottom line is that the Nets have never had much cohesion.It would be a mistake, of course, to count them out. Durant and Irving are capable of doing extraordinary things all by themselves. But the Celtics are determined — they trailed on Wednesday by as many as 17 points before mounting a comeback — and they have two stars of their own, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who have finally unlocked their own brand of chemistry. Irving sounded like their publicist.“I’m not surprised at all,” Irving said. “I just think the timing is right. Their window is now for these young guys that are on this team that have matured. They’ve been through series together, they’ve been through seasons together, and they’ve been through battles together.”On Wednesday, the Celtics were ready for a fight. A couple of hours before the game, Marcus Smart, the team’s starting point guard, made a statement when he showed up to the arena wearing a bedazzled boxing robe with the acronym “D.P.O.Y.” splashed across the back. In a pregame ceremony, he formally accepted the N.B.A.’s Defensive Player of the Year Award from a cast of luminaries that included Gary Payton, who was the last guard to claim the award, for the 1995-96 season.Durant shot just four of 17 from the field in the Nets’ Game 2 loss to the Celtics on Wednesday.Michael Dwyer/Associated PressStill, pretty much everyone in the building expected Durant to bounce back from his struggles in Game 1, and for good reason. Last season, he averaged 41.8 points in the four games that followed playoff losses for the Nets. Ime Udoka, the coach of the Celtics, was acutely aware of that statistic. He cited it before Wednesday’s game.“Just understanding what he’s going to come out and try to do,” Udoka said. “We all know that.”Udoka, especially. Last season, he was one of Nets Coach Steve Nash’s assistants. Udoka has institutional knowledge, and he has been putting it to use.“They switch everything,” Durant said. “They’re basically playing a zone so it’s easier for every player. They don’t have to chase over screens, don’t have to fight through stuff. Just use your length, sit in the lane and help.”At his postgame news conference, Durant kept glancing at the box score as if it were a riddle he needed to solve. He made a few observations. He observed, for example, that the Celtics had seven players score at least 10 points, which was indicative of their balance. He also observed that “they made a few more shots than us.”Solutions were not forthcoming — not yet. On the one hand, the Celtics merely maintained their home-court advantage in the series. On the other hand, the Nets are in dire straits: They need to win four out of the next five games, potentially. The math is unforgiving.“To be honest with you, we don’t really have time to be disappointed,” Irving said.Perhaps Durant’s minutes are beginning to take a toll. In the final weeks of the regular season, the Nets needed to scramble to assure themselves of a spot in the postseason, and Durant shouldered a heavy load: 42 minutes against the Charlotte Hornets, 45 minutes against the Milwaukee Bucks, 42 minutes against the Atlanta Hawks. He also supplied more than 40 minutes in the final game of the regular season, a 5-of-17 shooting performance against the Indiana Pacers. It was, in its own way, a sign of things to come against the Celtics.Ahead of Saturday’s game, Durant said he would study film. He expressed faith in his teammates.“The name of our game is just to play extremely hard,” he said.The problem? That’s the Celtics’ game, too. More

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      Boston Celtics Buzzer-Beater Takes Down Kyrie Irving and the Nets

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      Irving, the Nets guard, had a brilliant Game 1 against Boston on Sunday, but the Celtics, led by Jayson Tatum and his buzzer-beater, ended up on top.BOSTON — There was a time when Celtics fans were excited about Kyrie Irving. They can recall the summer of 2017, when Irving forced his way out of Cleveland and landed in Boston, where he delighted in the Celtics’ illustrious past and pledged to do what he could to help the team win.But over Irving’s two seasons with the Celtics, all that communal excitement morphed into a bunch of different stuff: tolerance as he struggled with injuries, then impatience as he criticized teammates, then something that resembled rage as it became clear that he and Boston were bound for a divorce.On Sunday afternoon, Irving was back in Boston, where a fervent crowd at TD Garden christened Game 1 of the Celtics’ first-round playoff series with the Nets by booing Irving at every opportunity. They booed him when he emerged from the visitors’ tunnel for warm-ups. They booed him during introductions. They booed him whenever he touched the ball. And he nearly silenced them with another tour de force in a career full of them.But in the opener of a best-of-seven-game clash between teams with outsize goals, Jayson Tatum sent the arena into a state of pandemonium with a layup at the buzzer that gave the Celtics a 115-114 win. Game 2 is in Boston on Wednesday.“It was fulfilling for us, especially the way we started this year off,” Celtics guard Marcus Smart said. “The resilience we have, the approach we have, the work we put in and learning — we had a lot of games to learn from early in the year.”As the series continues, the Celtics will need to put all that knowledge to use against Irving, who was spectacular in Game 1. He finished with 39 points and 6 assists, and his 3-pointer with 45.9 seconds left put the Nets ahead by 3. In the process, he reminded Boston why the city wanted him in the first place, while underscoring all the bitterness that has followed.Those feelings resurfaced at various points of the game. On at least two occasions, Irving appeared to raise his middle fingers at fans sitting near the court. He said in his postgame news conference that people in the crowd were swearing at him and referring to him using explicit terms.“It’s nothing new when I come into this building, what it’s going to be like,” he said. “But the same energy they have for me, I’m going to have the same energy for them.”He added: “There’s only so much you take as a competitor. We’re the ones expected to be docile and humble and take a humble approach. Nah.”For most of the game, Irving let his play do the talking. The Celtics were undaunted in the final minute, though, and after Jaylen Brown drove for a layup, the Nets’ Kevin Durant missed a long 3-pointer. At the other end, Smart found Tatum, who spun past Irving for a layup with the clock winding down. It was his easiest bucket of the night.“I think that’s kind of a microcosm of our season: guys moving the ball, playing unselfish,” Celtics Coach Ime Udoka said. “It all came together on the last possession.”Tatum finished with 31 points, and Brown had 23. Smart had an astounding all-around game, collecting 20 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals. Durant had 23 points and shot just 9 of 24.For the second straight postseason, the Nets and the Celtics are meeting in the first round. Last year, the Nets advanced in five games in a series that only inflamed the dynamic between Irving, who appeared to stomp on the Celtics’ logo at midcourt, and Boston fans, one of whom chucked a water bottle at him.Irving shooting over Boston guard Marcus Smart, a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year Award. The Boston fans booed Irving, a former Celtic, throughout the game.David Butler Ii/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThat series also helped spur significant change in the Celtics’ organization. Brad Stevens moved to the front office after eight seasons as the team’s head coach. His job was filled by Udoka, a longtime N.B.A. assistant and Gregg Popovich disciple who seems to have unlocked the collaborative potential of Tatum and Brown. Remember when the Celtics had a losing record, 23-24, in late January? They closed the regular season by going 28-7.Udoka entered the series uniquely familiar with the Nets. Last season, as one of Coach Steve Nash’s assistants, Udoka got to know Irving and Durant — and their gifts.Amid a sloppy, foul-marred start, the Celtics’ top-ranked defense gave the Nets fits, forcing seven first-quarter turnovers. The game’s assembled stars — Irving, Durant, Brown and Tatum — combined to miss 12 of their first 14 field-goal attempts.Irving got going early in the second quarter with a pair of 3-pointers, the second on a pull-up in transition. The game was tied at 61 at halftime before the Celtics began to roll — a jolt that was predictably predicated on their defense. Late in the third quarter, Jaylen Brown blocked the Nets’ Bruce Brown at the rim, then raced away to convert a layup at the other end. Then the Nets took their turn, but Tatum blocked a jump shot by Durant, then hit a 3-pointer to extend Boston’s lead to 11.Irving was virtually unstoppable in the fourth quarter, scoring 18 points on 7 of 9 shooting, which set the stage for the game’s dramatic conclusion.“I don’t know that there’s any atmospheres that are going to rattle him,” Nash said, adding: “The guy’s done about all you can do in the game.”The Nets secured the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the play-in tournament on Tuesday. The Celtics had an even longer layoff, with a full week to prepare, since they closed their regular season on April 10 as the No. 2 seed.Boston’s Jaylen Brown, left, driving against Kevin Durant. Brown had 23 points on 9 of 19 shooting.Maddie Meyer/Getty ImagesThe Celtics were without Robert Williams, their rim-protecting, fourth-year center. Williams was having a breakout season when he tore the meniscus in his left knee last month and had surgery. Udoka said the Celtics were preparing as if Williams would not be available for the series, though Udoka did not rule out the possibility — however remote — of Williams returning. “He’s progressing nicely,” Udoka said.Before the game, the Celtics’ game operations crew spiced things up a bit on the arena’s video board by flashing a quote from Bruce Brown about how the Nets could “attack” Al Horford and Daniel Theis in Williams’s absence. (The crowd booed.) Horford was terrific on Sunday, finishing with 20 points and 15 rebounds, and he was animated throughout the game. Having Williams, of course, would only enhance the team’s championship hopes.The Nets are used to waiting, too. They waited for Irving to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, and when he was unwilling to do so, they waited for New York City to lift its vaccine mandates so that he could play in home games. Now, the Nets are waiting — still waiting — for Ben Simmons to take the court for the first time since they acquired him in a midseason trade with the Philadelphia 76ers.Simmons, who has not played since last postseason, has been dealing with a balky back since arriving in Brooklyn, and no one has any idea what he would look like if he were actually to take the floor against the Celtics. On Saturday, apparently for the benefit of reporters who were monitoring his progress, Simmons dunked at practice.“Make sure you get this,” he said to those who were filming him with their cellphones.On Sunday, Simmons wore mirrored sunglasses on the visitors’ bench as Irving and the rest of the Nets went about their business in a hostile environment. For one afternoon, at least, and by the slimmest of margins, the Celtics were the more complete team. More

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      Nets Beat Cavaliers in Play-In and Will Face Celtics Next

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      For three quarters, the Nets again showed their best side. A matchup against the Celtics in the playoffs will require a more complete effort.For much of their N.B.A. play-in game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night, the Nets looked like the fearsome team that many observers had long said lay hidden behind their mediocre record. Kevin Durant was magnificent. Kyrie Irving didn’t miss a shot until the fourth quarter. Multiple teammates made significant contributions well above what was usually expected of them.And yet, the game still came down to the final minutes after Cleveland, which had trailed by 20 points after the first quarter and then by 22 in the third, cut its deficit to 6 with a just over a minute left.The job got done in the end: The Nets pulled out a 115-108 victory to claim the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference, and a matchup with the Boston Celtics in the first round. But the game was the latest example of a Nets performance that could be quantified as a head-scratching mix of world-beating talent and worrisome lethargy.For the glass-half-full crowd, the Nets stars Irving and Durant combined for 59 points on 31 shots while handing out 23 assists, another stat-sheet-filling display from one of the most talented tandems in the N.B.A. It was, again, a tantalizing glimpse into what their partnership could be at its peak — a summit that has been a rare sighting in their time together in Brooklyn.Kevin Durant scored 25 points against the Cavaliers, but needed 42 minutes to do it.Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesBut it wasn’t just them. Bruce Brown, the team’s consummate role player, had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, often offering himself as a crucial release valve on offense when Durant and Irving would get blitzed by defenders. Andre Drummond punished Cleveland on the boards, scoring 16 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in only 19 minutes. Nic Claxton, the spry reserve center, added 13 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks off the bench.But the glass-half-empty set had evidence, too, after the Nets nearly blew yet another lead down the stretch against a lesser team. On Sunday at home against the Indiana Pacers, one of the worst teams in the N.B.A., the Nets endured a similar ending that became uncomfortably close. In the game before that — also against Cleveland — the Nets blew a double-digit, third-quarter lead. Before that was a game against the Knicks, another less talented team playing out the string; the Nets trailed by 21 points in the first half that time.All three of those games required fourth-quarter rallies to win, but all three repeated a pattern that has played out for much of the season: The Nets, while supremely talented in a couple of spots, are a squad that struggles to put together wire-to-wire performances. And in the playoffs, against the best teams in the league, that may be their Achilles’ heel.“That’s a part of our journey too,” Nets Coach Steve Nash said Tuesday of trying to find a way to change his team’s penchant for flirting with disaster. “It’s not just go out there and build 20-point leads. Turn it into 30.”In the opening game of their first-round series on Sunday, the Nets will travel to Boston and find a Celtics squad that is not the same team the Nets easily dispatched last season. And, thanks to the Nets’ Brown, the Celtics now will have some bulletin board material as motivation.Asked about the Celtics on Tuesday, Brown suggested the absence of Robert Williams III, Boston’s starting center and one of the league’s best defenders, would mean that “they have less of a presence in the paint.”Nets forward Bruce Brown drew a rebuke from Durant for some comments about the Celtics. Vincent Carchietta/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe comments did not sit well with Durant, who dismissed them as “caffeine pride talking.” Brown had said that, with Williams out, the Nets “could attack” Boston’s Al Horford and Daniel Theis, who round out the Celtics’ big man rotation. Durant grimaced and noted, “Them two dudes can do the same stuff.”Durant’s fitness is another lingering concern for the Nets entering the Celtics series. Just getting into the play-in tournament required a heavy workload for Durant, who played 42 minutes on Tuesday night. Since the All-Star break, Durant has averaged 38.6 minutes a game. While other stars around the league were able to manage their minutes — and save their legs — during the stretch run, the 33-year-old Durant had to expend more energy than usual just to drag his team into the playoffs.One way or another, the Nets will enter the playoffs much as they did last season: With high expectations and little time together. Last year, that was a result of injuries and a trade for James Harden. This year, it is a result of injuries and the decision to trade Harden away (not to mention Irving’s extended absence over his refusal to be vaccinated against the coronavirus).“We’re just such a new group,” Nash said. “I think that was like the seventh game those nine players tonight have played together. So every day is a day for us to learn about ourselves.”All season, though, the Nets have bet that talent trumps cohesion. It is why they shuffled players in and out of the rotation with frequency, why they were willing to trade Harden. Tuesday night’s victory showed a tease of the championship potential in the group.In the first three quarters, anyway. More

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      Playoff Makeovers May Upend the N.B.A. Championship Chase

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      Injured stars could return for the postseason, creating an undercurrent of unpredictability for their opponents.Stephen Curry appeared at a recent practice for the Golden State Warriors without a walking boot on his sprained left foot. In Los Angeles, the Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard, who has not played all season, was spotted by local reporters participating in shooting drills. And the Denver Nuggets’ Jamal Murray, also sidelined since last season, is again soaring for dunks, according to some impeccable sources: his own teammates.“Just a matter of time, I guess,” Nuggets guard Monte Morris told reporters recently, “so hopefully we can get him back and make that push.”Ahead of the start of the N.B.A. playoffs on Saturday, a slew of teams, many of them contenders, could be primed for makeovers. Golden State could stage an on-court reunion of its Big Three — Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — for the first time in the playoffs since 2019. The Nuggets have left the door ajar for Murray’s long-awaited return from knee surgery. The Clippers only recently reintroduced Paul George to their starting lineup after he had been absent since December with a torn ligament in his elbow, and is it possible that Leonard, who injured his right knee last June, could make a surprise appearance in the coming weeks?The list goes on. Ja Morant, the All-Star point guard of the Memphis Grizzlies, just returned from injury over the weekend. And there are teams like the Nets, who now have the luxury of playing Kyrie Irving in home games, and the Milwaukee Bucks, the defending champions, who have been building Brook Lopez’s minutes after he missed 67 games with a bad back. Chris Paul of the Phoenix Suns is getting back into rhythm after missing a month with a thumb injury.What does it all mean? Potential headaches for opponents, and an undercurrent of unpredictability that will run through the early rounds of the postseason.Suns guard Chris Paul missed a month down the stretch because of a thumb injury. He averaged 12.7 points and 11.2 assists per game in his first six games back.Joe Rondone/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“I think it’s unusual that we’re waiting to hear about that from so many teams,” Stan Van Gundy, the former N.B.A. coach, said in a telephone interview, “and that guys could come back in the playoffs who either haven’t played all year or for a good part of the year.”Facing teams with stars who may or may not play creates a unique set of challenges for opposing coaches, said Eric Musselman, a former coach of the Warriors and the Sacramento Kings who now coaches the men’s basketball team at Arkansas. On the one hand, he said, you want to relay to your team that the injured player will be a threat if he actually appears in uniform.“I’ll never say, ‘This guy might be out of sync,’ or, ‘He’s going to be rusty,’” Musselman said. “It’s always: ‘This guy is an All-Star, he’s been working out, and he’s in playoff shape.’ You need to be ready for anything.”On the other hand, Musselman said, you need to guard against a letdown in focus and intensity if that player winds up sitting out. Uncertainty, in its own way, can create a competitive advantage.So even if the Nuggets decide not to play Murray in the playoffs, or the Nets officially pull the plug on Ben Simmons and his balky back, it might behoove those teams to keep that information to themselves, Van Gundy said. There is no harm, he said, in leaving opponents guessing. Force them to concoct multiple game plans. Make them plan for something that will never happen.“I’m going to want to add to your preparation time,” said Van Gundy, now an analyst for TNT and Turner Sports.Van Gundy cited the Orlando Magic’s 2009 playoff run when they faced the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Kevin Garnett, the Celtics’ star center, had been sidelined for several weeks with an injured knee, and Van Gundy, who was the Magic’s coach at the time, said he knew there was “virtually no chance” that Garnett would make an appearance in the series. But Garnett was still a presence on Orlando’s scouting report, and the team still studied film of him.Jamal Murray has yet to play this season after injuring his knee last year, but he could be a difference-maker for the Nuggets in the playoffs.Ethan Mito/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images“If he came back, we didn’t want to lose a game in a seven-game series because we got caught by surprise,” Van Gundy said.Over the coming days and weeks, opposing coaches will overprepare for the possibility that long-injured stars could return, said Brendan Suhr, a former longtime N.B.A. assistant. And if one does?“I’m immediately going to trap him,” Suhr said. “I’m going to try to do stuff he’s not used to seeing. I would make it very difficult for him. Because his workouts, especially his noncontact workouts, were very soft — coming off pick-and-rolls, getting into rhythm, making shots. And now I’m going to force him to make very tough, under-pressure decisions.”At the other end of the court, make that player defend. “Especially if he’s coming back from a leg injury,” Suhr said.With all that in mind, teams with stars on the mend must weigh the delicate calculus about whether to bring them back at all — and if so, when. Will they be ineffective? Susceptible to further harm? Van Gundy recalled a conversation he had with Tyronn Lue, the coach of the Clippers, last month, before George returned to the team’s lineup on March 29.“He was talking about how there would be a cutoff point in terms of bringing Paul George back,” Van Gundy said. “If he couldn’t get in X amount of regular-season games, he wouldn’t want to play him in the playoffs.”There are, of course, cautionary tales from playoffs past. Consider Golden State’s tortured postseason experience in 2019, when Kevin Durant, who was then one of the team’s stars, strained his right calf in the Western Conference semifinals. After missing nine straight games, he returned for Game 5 of the N.B.A. finals against the Toronto Raptors and ruptured his right Achilles’ tendon. The Warriors lost the series, and Durant missed the entire 2019-20 season after signing with the Nets.Michael Malone, the coach of the Nuggets, told reporters this month that Murray “wants to be back” and that the team was “keeping hope alive.” Nikola Jokic, the Nuggets’ do-everything center and a favorite to repeat as the league’s most valuable player, sounded more cautious about the situation.The Grizzlies have been fearsome with and without Ja Morant, center, who is expected to return for the playoffs.Petre Thomas/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“I told him, ‘If you’re not 100 percent ready to go, don’t come back,’” Jokic said. “It’s stupid. You’re going to get injured. I mean, if you’re not 100 percent ready to go, especially for the playoffs …”His voice trailed off.After getting past the Garnett-less Celtics in 2009, the Magic advanced to the N.B.A. finals that year against the Los Angeles Lakers. Ahead of Game 1, Van Gundy decided to activate Jameer Nelson, his starting point guard. Nelson had missed the previous four months with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Van Gundy opted to bring him off the bench against the Lakers.“He was our leader, and he was having an All-Star year until he got hurt,” Van Gundy recalled.And because Nelson was returning from a shoulder injury, that meant that he had been able to run and stay in relatively decent shape during his long layoff.“That’s a little different than if you’ve got a knee injury and you’re limited in what you can do,” Van Gundy said.Still, even with Nelson back in the rotation, the Magic lost the series in five games. Van Gundy has never regretted the move.“You want to go into the biggest games with your best people,” he said. More

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      Nets Fined $50,000 for Letting Kyrie Irving Into Home Locker Room

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      Irving is not allowed to be with the Nets at Barclays Center because he has not been vaccinated against Covid-19.The N.B.A. fined the Nets $50,000 for allowing guard Kyrie Irving to enter the team’s home locker room during Sunday’s game against the Knicks even though Irving had not been vaccinated against Covid-19 and thus was not allowed to be with the team at Barclays Center.Irving had attended the game as a spectator, with a seat in the front row.Under New York City law, Irving cannot play in games at Barclays Center because of a vaccine mandate for New York City-based workers who perform in-person work. While Mayor Eric Adams loosened some vaccine requirements this month, he has left in place the private sector mandate. Under the N.B.A.’s health and safety protocols, teams are obliged to follow local rules.The Nets declined to comment.During a public appearance on Sunday, Adams responded to a heckler who urged him to let Irving play: “Listen, you’re right. Kyrie can play tomorrow: Get vaccinated.”Nets forward Kevin Durant called the rule “ridiculous” after the game against the Knicks. He also criticized the mayor.“It just feels like, at this point now, somebody is trying to make a statement or point to flex their authority,” Durant told reporters. “Everybody out here is looking for attention. That’s what I feel like the mayor wants right now: some attention.”Minutes after the N.B.A. announced the Nets’ fine on Monday, Durant issued a statement through the Nets and softened his stance toward Mr. Adams.“The last two years have been a difficult and painful time for New Yorkers, as well as a very confusing time with the changing landscape of the rules and mandates,” the statement read. “I do appreciate the task the mayor has in front of him with all the city has been through. My frustration with the situation doesn’t change the fact that I will always be committed to helping the communities and cities I live in and play in.”Irving’s vaccination status has vexed the Nets for the entire season. He has played in only 18 of the team’s 68 games, in part because the mandate has barred him from playing home games, and he has refused to be vaccinated. Irving is allowed to play in road games where cities do not have vaccine mandates. Only Toronto, where the Raptors play, prohibits unvaccinated visiting players from competing.Irving’s limited availability has contributed to the Nets’ free-fall from one of the best teams in the N.B.A. to one fighting just to make the playoffs with 14 games left. Unless Adams changes his mind, Irving will be eligible for only four of the team’s remaining games.The downturn in positive tests nationwide and the lifting of other mandates had raised optimism within the Nets organization that Irving’s return as a full-time player was imminent. While Irving’s limitations under the mandate have received outsize attention because of his celebrity, the rule applies to New York City employees at more than 180,000 businesses, as well as other local sports teams like the Knicks.Adam Silver, the N.B.A. commissioner, told ESPN last month that he felt the rule disallowing Irving from playing in home games “doesn’t quite make sense” because opposing players who are unvaccinated are allowed to play at New York City venues. Later that day, Adams agreed with Silver, saying that the rule was “unfair,” but also that lifting the mandate would “send mixed messages.”The N.B.A. pushed for its own vaccine mandate for players before the season, but the players’ union said no.Irving’s attendance at Sunday’s nationally televised game against the Knicks created a spectacle. Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, the N.B.A.’s biggest star, weighed in on Twitter during the game, writing that the law “literally makes ABSOLUTELY ZERO SENSE!!!”He added: “They say if common sense was common then we’d all have it. Ain’t that the truth. #FreeKyrie.” More

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      The Nets Were to Be a Team of Destiny. But Not This Kind.

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      The collapse of the Nets’ superteam of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving echoes the falls of other starry groupings. But they had a chance to be different.WASHINGTON — Nets Coach Steve Nash gave a pained smile in the barren hallway leading to the court at Capital One Arena. The Nets were in the middle of an implosion, having lost nine straight games, soon to be 10. He was asked about his unequivocal statement just days before that James Harden, the Nets’ All-Star guard, wouldn’t be traded.“I still feel the same way,” Nash said. “Nothing’s changed.”When pressed, Nash said, “He’s not told me he doesn’t want to stay, so I’m working off our conversations, which is he wants to be here and we want him here.”It seemed like wishful thinking Thursday morning, the day of the trade deadline. Within hours, Harden was gone, breaking up one of the most highly touted so-called superteams in N.B.A. history. The Nets traded Harden, the former Most Valuable Player Award winner, to the Philadelphia 76ers for a package centered on Ben Simmons, a three-time All-Star who had not played all season for personal reasons.Call it an extraordinary ending, but not a surprise. Harden has played with Chris Paul, Dwight Howard and Russell Westbrook — all likely future Hall of Famers he encountered in their relative primes. None of those pairings worked out. Then just over a year ago, he forced his way off the Houston Rockets to team up with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in Brooklyn. He had shown up to Houston’s training camp late and out of shape, then showed such little interest in games that he was told to stay home. The message to the Rockets from Harden was clear: Trade me or I’ll make myself a spectacle.The Nets knew who they were getting in Harden when they gave up so much to get him. They did it anyway. Live by player empowerment. Die by player empowerment.“I’ve been in a situation too where I’ve asked for a trade and I understand it,” Irving said to reporters, referring to his demand to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017 with two years left on his contract. “So I’m not here to judge him. I’m not here to talk bad on James.”Late Thursday, the Nets’ Twitter account posted an image of Harden with the caption, “Thank you for everything.”“Make no bones about it: We went all in on getting James Harden and inviting him into the group,” Nets General Manager Sean Marks said at a news conference Friday. “These decisions to move on from a player like that of that caliber are never easy ones.”The SuperteamWhen Harden came to the Nets, he had established himself as one of the best scorers ever, a man who could single-handedly power an offense with layups, step-backs and a torrent of free throws.Harden is a brilliant scorer who is frustrating to defend. But in his last game with the Nets, against the Kings on Feb. 2, he made just two shots.Thearon W. Henderson/Getty ImagesHe had become known for wearing down defenders with his penchant for hooking their arms so quickly that it seemed as if he were being held — drawing fouls and annoying opposing coaches and players to no end. His tactics were becoming so prevalent across the league that the N.B.A. shifted its officiating emphasis this season to stop them. The change slowed him down for a few weeks, but then he adapted and looked, again, as if he might become the third superstar of a championship team.But it’s worth remembering that the Nets didn’t need him.If any player can match Harden’s offensive firepower, it’s Durant — a virtually unguardable forward too quick for defenders his size and too big for guards at his speed. His lanky frame and extended reach often make opponents look feeble as they put their hands up to try to block his shot. Durant is easily one of the three best players in the N.B.A. every year.Not to mention Irving, who is also an elite scorer who operates with the ball seemingly on an invisible string, and who can change directions at any second with either hand. Defenders have to guess which way Irving will drive — and most of the time, they guess wrong. If they guess right, Irving, with a herky-jerky hesitation dribble, can easily reverse. Either way, defenders are left in the dust.With Irving, Durant and Jarrett Allen, the center whom the Nets traded away with Caris LeVert and draft picks to get Harden, the Nets still would have been the most talented team in the league last season. Allen was clearly on his way to becoming the double-double anchor he now is for Cleveland. And since trading for Harden, the Nets have piled on more big names including Blake Griffin (six All-Star games), LaMarcus Aldridge (seven), Paul Millsap (four) and Patty Mills, one of the best backup point guards.The only modern precedent for a core group at the level of Harden, Irving and Durant was when Durant went to the Golden State Warriors, where he won two championships alongside Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. With Harden, it should’ve been déjà vu. It ended up being a repeat, just not the one the Nets wanted.In 2013, with the franchise struggling to attract fans in its new home of Brooklyn, the Nets acquired Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett from the Boston Celtics to team with Deron Williams and Joe Johnson. On paper, it was a brilliant move, giving the Nets a roster of All-Stars ready to compete for a championship, at the cost of lots of draft picks — one pick which became Jaylen Brown, a Celtics guard who was an All-Star last year — and cap space. (Sound familiar?) They won one playoff series before the team fell apart. (Again: Sound familiar?)How It Fell ApartIt’s unclear why or when Harden became so disenchanted with the Nets that he wanted another change of scenery. Marks said that trade discussions began in earnest in the last couple of days. Just a week ago, Harden posted a picture on Twitter of himself on the court with Irving and Durant with the caption “Scary Hours!”The Coronavirus Pandemic: Key Things to KnowCard 1 of 4Covid boosters. More