After a well-contested first half, the Nets broke open Game 1 vs. Boston with an 18-4 run to open the half.
The most efficient offense in NBA history wasn’t very sharp in the first 24 minutes of its first playoff game. The Brooklyn Nets’ “Big 3” of Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving combined to shoot just 11-for-32 in the first half of Game 1 of their first round series against the Boston Celtics. But the Nets did enough in the second half on both ends of the floor to earn a 104-93 victory on Saturday.
Number to Know
240 — According to Second Spectrum tracking, the Nets passed the ball just 240 times, tied for their third-lowest total of the season, in Game 1. It was a slow-paced game (93 possessions for each team), but the Nets’ 2.58 passes per possession was well below their regular-season average (2.84).
This was an iso-fest, with a lot of 1-on-1 basketball. Both teams switched almost every screen and both teams were happy to target certain matchups. And, though the Nets have three of the best isolation players in the league, that worked out better for the Celtics in the first half. They picked on Blake Griffin, attacked the paint, and generated much better shots than the Nets, who scored just 47 points on their 48 first-half possessions with minimal ball movement.
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