BOSTON — The clock ticked towards zero and along the Nets sideline two future Hall of Famers with more than 200 playoff games between them looked shook. This was a game Brooklyn had to win. Needed to win. Should have won. A 10-point halftime lead. Help from the supporting cast. A Celtics defense that in the first half allowed the Nets to shoot 61%. A team with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving would have to kick the game away to lose this one.
And it did. Badly. The Nets shot 31% in the second half. Durant, in those final 24 minutes, didn’t make a field goal. Irving, lustily booed for the second game in a row, finished 4-of-13. Seven Celtics finished in double-figures. Payton Pritchard— Payton Pritchard!—scored 10 in 16 minutes. Durant and Irving rank among the NBA’s most feared fourth-quarter scorers. Boston throttled the Nets 29–17 over the final 12 minutes.
Boston 114, Brooklyn 107.
