The Brooklyn Nets beat the Boston Celtics for the second time with an outstanding performance and showed why they are one of the top favorites for the title. The 130-108 victory didn’t even need the Big Three to perform, instead Joe Harris had the hot hand.
Brooklyn Nets (2) – Boston Celtics (7) 130:108 (BOXSCORE), Serie: 2-0
The best shooter on the team scored 22 of his 25 points (9/14 FG, 7/10 threesomes) in the first half and sank six of his eight threesomes. Kevin Durant (26, 8/12 FG, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks), James Harden (20, 6/12 FG, 7 assists) and Kyrie Irving (15, 6/12 FG, 6 assists) kept changing scoring from. Jayson Tatum (9, 3/12 FG) was again not very lucky with the guests and injured his eye early in the second half. The best Celtics scorers were Marcus Smart (19, 5/8 threesomes), Kemba Walker (17) and Evan Fournier (16, 4/5 threesomes).
In Game 1, the Celtics had fought bravely, but this time the favorite from Brooklyn already made nails in the first quarter and set a new playoff franchise record with 40 points in the first twelve minutes. In the meantime, the Nets put down an 18-0 run after Boston got off to a good start.
The Nets had already scored more points after a quarter than in the entire first half of Game 1. Hot shooting helped, Brooklyn netted six of the first nine threes, Joe Harris alone (16 points in the first quarter) had all of his four attempts sunk.
Boston was completely overwhelmed against this force and hardly anything wanted to succeed offensively. After 16 minutes the guests had just 2 assists, the Nets already had 15 on their account. Harden and the benchmob extended the lead, in the meantime there were already 27 in the middle of the second quarter, Irving and Durant watched it comfortably from the bench.
Brooklyn Nets do their magic against Boston Celtics
The only downer on the part of the Nets was Jeff Green’s injury, who injured his foot in the second quarter and never returned, otherwise it was an all-round successful first half, which Brooklyn won 71:47. The Nets only gave the ball three times, hit over 50 percent each from the two-man and three-man range and kept the Celtics out of the field at just 38 percent.
And even after the change, things didn’t get any better for the guests. Brooklyn controlled the pace, and after three minutes Tatum also disappeared into the dressing room after he got Durant’s hand in the face while fighting for the ball. For Brooklyn it was now a show Blake Griffin (11) provided the highlight of the game with a left-handed dunk over Tristan Thompson, a minute later he repeated this against Robert Williams, both with a foul.
Thanks to Marcus Smart (all 19 points in the third quarter) the guests even shortened it to -20, a fast Nets run, in which Irving in particular shone, but nipped any comeback hopes in the bud. At 117: 91 with eight minutes left on the clock, Harden, the last star, had finished work and garbage time had rang in.
The series is now moving to Boston, Game 3 will take place on Saturday night at 2.30 a.m. German time (live on DAZN).
Nets vs. Celtics: the series at a glance
| game | date | Time | Home | Away | Result |
| 1 | 23. May | 2 O ‘clock | Nets | Celtics | 104:93 |
| 2 | 26. May | 1:30 | Nets | Celtics | 130:108 |
| 3 | 29. May | 2.30 a.m. | Celtics | Nets | |
| 4 | May 31 | 1 O ‘clock | Celtics | Nets | |
| 5* | 2. June | 1:30 | Nets | Celtics | |
| 6* | 4. June | tba | Celtics | Nets | |
| 7* | 6. June | tba | Nets | Celtics |
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