The “Brooklyn Big Three” went from icy to totally on fire.
Kevin Durant had 32 points and 12 rebounds, Kyrie Irving had 29 points and the Nets bounced back from the icy start of their superstars to defeat the Boston Celtics 104-93 on Saturday in Game 1 of their first-round series at the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Maybe it was the Celtics’ weak defensive work. Perhaps the support of the New York public influenced.
But the fact is that the Brooklyn figures woke up.
James Harden finished with 21 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, in just the ninth joint appearance for the trio of the season. During the first half, the three combined to miss their 11 triples, but woke up in the second half with an 18-4 streak to start the third period and tip the balance in favor of the Nets for good.
“I think once you focus your energy on defense, the game starts to change you,” Durant said. “They could see this in us during the second half.”
Durant, Irving and Harden scored 28 of the Nets’ 31 points in that span, and Joe Harris – who had Brooklyn’s only 3-pointer in the first half – contributed the remaining three points.
Harris scored 10 points for the Nets, who announced a sold-out attendance of 14,391 fans and will host Game 2 on Tuesday night.
Harden acknowledged that it took him a while to adjust to the noise of the crowd.
“At first it threw me off a bit, but in the second half we felt more comfortable, and the shots started to come in,” he said.
Jayson Tatum scored 22 points, but was just 6 of 20 from the field goal, and couldn’t match his 50-point performance in the Play-in tournament when Boston defeated Washington to clinch seventh place in the seed.
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