NEW YORK — You can’t guard James Harden straight up. He’s going to get by you.
You can’t guard Kevin Durant straight up. He’s going to shoot over you.
You can’t guard Kyrie Irving straight up. It’s just bad for your mental health.
Therein lies the problem for all teams the Nets will face on their road to championship glory, a problem compounded by the spacing and rim pressure supporting the Brooklyn Big 3.
Neither Harden, Durant nor Irving blew the lid off Barclays Center in the Nets’ 130-108 rout of the Celtics in Game 2 of their first-round series on Tuesday night. As the Cetlics overhelped, overreacted and overestimated their defensive capabilities, the Nets made the right pass, time and time again.
More often than not to Joe Harris.
Hot Hand Harris lived up to the nickname (that I just coined for him). He made each of his first four 3s and scored 16 points in the game’s first six minutes. He tallied 25 points in total and shot 7 of 10 from deep, tying Deron Williams’ franchise record for most 3s made in a playoff game.
The Celtics continued to leave him open, despite his standing as the NBA’s most efficient 3-point shooter at a clip of 47.5% during the regular season.
That’s just shy of one made three for every two attempts. And that’s who the Celtics opted to leave open as they fell to an unenviable 0-2 series deficit in Brooklyn.
Tuesday night was the coming out party for a Nets team that is the healthiest it’s been all season. As the lead ballooned, Harden hunted ankles, Blake Griffin hunted posters, and the Celtics hunted for answers to the Nets’ stingy defense.
Jayson Tatum shot 6 of 20 in Game 1, then followed that performance with a 3-of-12 shooting night for nine points in Game 2. The Celtics’ All-Star left the game in the third quarter after taking a shot to the eye, but the damage had already been done. The game was decided within the opening minutes.
Durant finished with 26 points, including one picture-perfect dunk over Celtics big man Tristan Thompson. Harden finished with 20 points and seven assists, and Irving scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. It was a light night for the Nets’ stars who played more facilitator than scorer, combining for 18 assists as a trio on the night.
The Nets recorded 31 assists on 46 made baskets, a testament to the selflessness they displayed working the ball around the floor for the best available shot. It was a recipe for success the team is all too familiar with, having dominated in games they veer from the iso-heavy style of play that suits their superstar scorers.
Teams that fall down 0-2 in an NBA playoff series have just a 6% chance of running the table in the ensuing games. It’s a much harder feat when the team with the series lead has three shoo-in Hall of Famers on their roster.
That may be the harsh reality the Celtics face as they head home to a Boston fan base that knows the inevitable is around the corner. It’s not always going to be the Big 3. If you lose track of a shooter, he’s liable to make you pay.
